In Defense of EGO: "The Power of FAITH"

You hear the whisper... 

"...In-vesti-gate........"

What is this?

Well it turns out that when you "investigate," you enter into a world of alternate reality, co-existing side by side with the world we consider "normal" for our humanity.

"Investigation Discovery," a television network operated by Discovery Communications, became my companion during the recent holiday season, spent amid heavy snowstorms and extremely cold weather in the Chicago Metro area. Since then, I've continued to watch ID myriad of times. What especially fascinates me about the show is that all the stories are real.

Seeing life only from the perspective of form, i.e. "me" vs. "you,"
keeps us separated.

We see within these stories the lowest form of animal behavior and depravity, co-existing within our human nature. What is especially poignant to me is that when people can pass themselves off as "normal," we accept bizarre behavior on face value. Most of the individuals involved in committing the horrific crimes featured on ID appear to be fully functioning individuals, except for the bouts of anger and control that surface when we first meet them. The first set of bizarre incidents often are ignored or forgiven, and left untreated, these individuals degenerate into full-fledged animals.

We can all learn from the stories unfolding on ID that we should never become so smug in our own humanity that we believe the incidents and events are far removed from our own lives and people in our lives.

Indeed, were we to pay attention, we would see that the husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, enemies, children ...scheming, plotting, planning and executing brutal murders can be any of us on a very, very, very bad day. What we see played out on screen are the results of people moving through life "unconscious" of an existence outside their sphere of reference. It also highlights the illnesses that result from having little or no awareness of our  inner selves, our Souls, and its purpose in our lives..  

Aside from the lack of spiritual awareness, we also should not overlook the fact that our animal impulses, though dormant, remain very strong instinctual responses when we get into a bind. 
Many of the tools used in the ID murders are often knives and axes! And we're talking about events that happened in the late 20th century and still are happening now in the early 21st century! The animal traits of murdering in vicious ways have remained with us, despite the many centuries of evolution of the human species.  

We can wonder: Will we ever get "it" right? 

Through many years of spiritual and mystical studies, I am now of the firm opinion that there will never be a universal form of "rightness" for "it." 

Humanity, represented by the "it," continues to evolve. We will continue to do so at differing levels at different periods in the space/time continuum. So that we can live in peace with each other, we must recognize that to a large extent each of us is at a different level and stage of evolution in our lives.

The miracle of our humanity is that there are not more murders and other atrocities being committed in the course of a normal day. As a species, we should take a certain level of pride at the relatively minute numbers of truly horrific incidents occurring in our societies today.  Indeed, we should celebrate the billions of us co-existing in peace on Earth every day, fighting the good fight to play by the same rules of decency and humanity.

Most of the time, we get it right, as we currently are co-existing at an extremely high level of evolution.

AHHHH... How very, very far we've come from the beginning of our days, where leveling brutality was the main means for us to communicate with each other. Let's celebrate this triumph of the human spirit!

As we look to this celebration, let's also look to the source of our beingness that allowed for this level of evolution over the years! This "beingness" was with us from the beginning of all time and will be with us to everlasting.

Of course, I speak here of God!

God is the one presence and power that has remained consistent and unchanging over the centuries, even as our humanity has assumed different forms and continue to unfold at different levels.

Remaining unchanged and unchanging over the centuries is the Cosmic Presence, Universal Consciousness, that oversees all and allows us to unfold at these varying levels during our time on Earth.  The fact that our Soul guides us moment by moment, helping us stay conscious of our actions and intentions throughout our days, does not mean that this presence is not at work throughout the world. 

When bad things happen, or we see truly hateful human behavior leveled from one man to another, we want to believe there is an absence of God. But this is not true. God is all in all and sees all. 

This Cosmic Consciousness has seen so much advancement in our humanity! From our days of running around killing each other at every turn to today, when we occasionally degrade to the level of wild animals who seek out and destroy their prey. God, overall, must be very pleased!

(See this recent Deepak Chopra piece: "What Is Cosmic Consciousness? Part 2") 

The soul is each human's share of God, and character is the muscle which tries to reveal its mysteries-Charles Ives,  Essays Before a Sonata (Via Gratefulness.org, Word For The Day, Jan. 17, 2014) 

The presence and power and energy that allows us to unfold in myriad of ways, as we stumble, yet advance, through our human walk on earth is our Soul. 

Yes, our Soul is the ever-present power in our lives, allowing us to connect to the greater consciousness that is God. Our Soul helps the human self (the ego) to become all we're capable of becoming while yet we breathe. This is the consciousness that permits us to unfold and demonstrate our varying levels of  humanity.

If God is the Presence, the witness and the Consciousness that rules the world, then our Soul is the essence that rules our lives, our bodies and our immediate consciousness.

God is the presence of all that is within all that exists. Our Soul is the essence of all that exists within our lives. God, as cosmic consciousness, sees the evil, the good, the unformed, the formed, the striving and the lazing, all unfolding through our individual consciousness, our humanity, when we are connected or disconnected from our Souls.

  

We certainly have to wonder how does this all fit together, each of us moving through life at varying paces and at different levels of our humanity. How can we get it right and what can we do on an individual basis to keep it all together? 

The answer lies in that intangible gift and power called: Faith.

Going beyond the limited parameters of our ego, which allows us each a sense of self,  we can navigate our way through the labyrinth of life by faith in the Presence and Power of of God that oversees all. Faith is the gift that humanity has received as a way of bringing us peace in our troubled selves. Knowing that our essence (Soul)  is connected to the greater whole and has existed before the form we know ourselves to be in this life, and will exist after, should bring us peace. We are able to get out of the limitations of ourselves and see the bigger picture.

When we become stuck in the form of ego, which simply is our individual masks of separation from the oneness that connects us, we lose sight of our greater selves and our connection to the whole.

So that we may  move us from fear of each other and life itself to a higher consciousness, we must lift our thoughts to the Cosmic Consciousness overseeing us all.We must lift our eyes to God with childlike faith that his will is being done on Earth as it is in the "heaven" of Cosmic Consciousness that sees the bigger, the much, much bigger picture beyond our troubled Souls and failing areas of our humanity.

By staying connected to our Souls, our guiding light on Earth, we are navigating our way to higher levels of humanity. When we are witnesses to a puncture in the overall fabric of that humanity... we can and should:

1. Pray.

2. Have Faith.

3. Remember God who continues to be with us in all as all.

Namaste',

Che'

NOTE: See January 2014 for listing of Twelve Powers.
In March, we will focus on "The Power of Love."