In Defense of EGO: The Power of Zeal

Without any agenda of looking good and appearing happy and free, animals can be the best models
of ZEAL we can find among us.

I searched and searched  for pictures of zealous individuals for this month's post on "The Power of Zeal."  But the only ones I found, all looked staged.

So it made me wonder: Do we, humans, always have the "valley of the shadow" of darkness looming somewhere in the background of our happy faces, so that if we use X-Ray eyes we can see through the facade?

Maybe, I was just being cynical, thus overly critical. Maybe, I'd watched one too many ID shows, where perfectly happy couples, families and friends winded up taking down each other for money...for fame...for greed.

Perhaps that's the reason, hard as I looked, I could not help but see, with my X-Ray eyes, just poses. So, I used the above photo of horses...looking untamed and running wild. Even if those, too, are staged, at least you know for sure the horses are wildly happy!

Starting with this platform as a base, i.e. humans do not really express Zeal, they just act that way, we begin to examine, in truth, the Power of Zeal.    

So what is this elusive power, Zeal?

Following Henry Ford's definition of enthusiasm, Zeal then should not be so hard for us to find.

We all approach our work, our careers, our lives, trying to walk through our days with enthusiasm. What then are we not communicating in our ways and our walk? Or, more specifically, what is blocking the total view of this unencumbered walk through life?

Fear.

Fear of judgment.

Fear of failure.

Fear of not being quite enough.

We can build up as much enthusiasm and joy in our hearts for the project we have at hand. Anticipation of perfect and only perfect results, yet...when alone with our thoughts...

Walk into the beauty of nature, see the birds,  presented here by LaBioguia,
to enter into an untroubled life. 

We need to take a walk or ride through nature...enjoy a view of the birds. We need to go out and ...relax. Breathe and let go. Enjoy the flowers of life.

All these are great techniques for releasing stress and trying to overcome our apprehensions of not completely succeeding to the end.

Great techniques. But why do we need them?

We're not focusing on the moment at hand.

When we to enter fully into our work...our projects, getting totally lost in them, do we have time to worry? Absolutely NOT.

The moments of greatest joy all of us can point to are those where we were "lost" to ourselves.

So, we have to get lost to find joy!?

This is the crux of the challenge to our feeling complete joy and enthusiasm throughout life: we are unable to live fully in the moment, allowing the Spirit within us to guide us through moment by moment the work that is ours to do.

The ego always is at work...as is our mind. Working. Churning. Doubting. Fearing.

"Be Still and Know," The lord of our being invites us. Don't fight with your mind, as Osho, the mystic says in a 21-Day Meditation program offered by Mentors' Channel earlier this year (Access the program here: 21-Day meditation program via Mentors' Channel)

"Mind exists with your cooperation or your conflict…When you fight with the mind, you are giving energy to it…So whether you cooperate or you conflict, in both the cases the mind becomes stronger and stronger. Just watch. Just be a witness. And, by and by, you will see gaps arising. "

We're often also advised: "Whatever you do, do so with enthusiasm." 

Few, though,  urge us to stay in the moment of all that we do.

This is the true secret to expressing the Power of Zeal.

"I fairly sizzle with Zeal and Enthusiasm, springing forth with a mighty leap to do the things that ought to be done by me." said Charles Fillmore, founder of Unity, while in his 90s.

To be in our 90's and fairly sizzling with zeal and enthusiasm for life. What a goal!?

How to live life fearlessly?

Begin where you are.
(Here's also a link to Silent Unity's Fearless Living 30-day program that began on Nov. 1.)


*First, Gratitude for all there is currently in your life.

Be grateful for all things, even those that may not, on the surface, seem to be working in the best ways for us at this time:

Let Thankfulness become a way of life...not just something you do when something good happens.  Change your consciousness and awareness to realize that everything that happens in your life is working for your good....yes, even the seemingly "bad things." 

"We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat.... There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is."

David Steindl-Rast, founder, Gratefulness.org

Give Thanks for All.

Next, remember, you're the co-creator of your life. You are steering its direction in every moment....with your thoughts.

So, think pure thoughts. Think positive thoughts. Think righteous thoughts. Think holy thoughts.


Remember, too, "thoughts are things," so they are creating your reality.

Let go, then sink into your task of the moment...and trust.
Don't give your ego a foothold in your life...other than to urge you to keep going.

Know which master you serve: the Spirit within you.

You are the vessel...the Spirit...your Soul is the doer, the master. [As much as we talk about the Soul being IN us, do you know WE are IN the Soul...the Universal Soul?]

Let it through.

Photo Credit: 1,000,000 Pictures. (As are two below)

"Just by walking into the unknown you create the path. The path is not already there; just by walking, you create it." 
Osho, 21-Day Meditation, Mentors' Channel

This may sound uncannily negative but is sound advice, especially were you test it for yourself: Do not share your plans or goals with those who have no vested interest in your success. Go into your secret chamber and pray when you have an extra moment. People, when they are steeped in their own unhappiness or sense of failure, do not want to see happy people around them. Your joy reminds them of what they lack, Osho says.

"Misery makes you special," Osho says. "People will find it difficult to be happy."

"That's when friends come to visit and console you." Those are the same friends, he says, who will be jealous of you when you're happy. "No one likes a happy person because it hurts the egos of others."

Photo Credit: Yehuda Edri

Even though happiness is a universal phenomenon and a habit of all other animals and species, Osho says, humans find it extremely difficult to be happy...as they must then walk alone.

"Intelligence gives you the courage to be alone, and intelligence gives you the vision to be creative. A great urge, a great hunger arises to be creative. And only then, as a consequence, you can be happy, you can be blissful."-Osho

Are you ready to be happy? Are you ready to truly enter into life, using your Power of Zeal?

Maybe, the next time I'm looking for a truly happy "human" picture of Zeal... I'll find yours...without the shadows lurking behind?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Namaste',
Che'
*NOTE: If you have not yet read it, I strongly recommend
"Thank You Power," the 2007 book by TV Personality Deborah Norville. Make it a MUST READ for your Thanksgiving 2014 holiday.