Last night, I finished a thought-provoking book by Glenda Green called Love Without End. On the last page, there is the following statement: "In the end, one's ego is the source of all failure, because it will bring about its own demise through resistance." Glenda's book is full of wisdom and beautiful thoughts, so I find myself wondering why this one sentence has stuck with me like glue . . . there must be something within this statement that my soul is calling me to pay attention to. So, I begin my process by contemplating on what I know about the concepts held within these words. . .The concept of the ego is spoken of by many spiritual teachers. We start out as a thought in the mind of God - an infinite possibility. This little spark of Divine Intention comes down and merges with a physical body and forms a soul. We are not born with an ego. . .our egos form as we begin to interact with environments and people around us. We are given a name from a baby book or one that honors a family member - not a name that honors who we are at a soul level. We are told that we are good or naughty, smart or challenged, beautiful or not but none of these things have anything to do with who we really are. By the time we are young adults, we have a well defined structure around who we think we are - our ego. Because the ego is a "false-self", when we try to find happiness through chasing after the wants and desires of the ego we will only find ourselves feeling empty and confused. True happiness is never found by listening to the ego. True happiness only comes through the deconstruction of the ego and the reconnection of who we are at the level of the spark of Divine Intention.
The idea of resistance is like a puppy sitting at the end of his leash. He doesn't understand that a leash is an opportunity for a safe and happy walk with his beloved owner. He only understands that it is a new and unwelcome tether. . . therefore he goes into resistance and refuses to move. Our egos are much like that puppy. New ideas, new ways of thinking or looking at things often sends our egos into fear and resistance. We then find ourselves sitting stubbornly at the end of our leash instead of moving forward into a happier walk with ourselves and The Source of Love.
When I think of times of great resistance in my own life, I think of times when I "knew" that something in my life was no longer working and desperately needed to be changed - yet change terrified me. All the "what ifs" and the projected ramifications of such changes upon my life and upon the lives of my family would flood me and paralyze me. It would sometimes take years for me to come to a point of willingness where I could finally rise above my ego, let go of the resistance and allow Source to move me forward. Many times that willingness came only when I was experiencing pain beyond that which I could bear.
So, once again, I ask myself, "What am I trying to learn from Glenda's statement?" "In the end, one's ego is the source of all failure, because it will bring about its own demise through resistance." At this point, I enter the next step of my process - opening up to Divine Wisdom for help with learning what my soul is inviting me to see in this statement. I quiet my mind. I quiet my emotions. I quiet my physical body and sit with the intention to attract help. I wait patiently.
During my quiet time over the next few days, I begin to see some patterns in my life. At this point in my journey, I don't see any areas of obvious failure but I do see areas that continue to be difficult even though I have held long-time intentions that they grow healthier and become easier. I begin to become aware that much of the difficulty in these areas is caused by resistance . . . resistance to what the Divine has in mind for my life. I can now be more aware of and say hello to any egoic resistance around these issues and begin to turn them over to Spirit for help and release.
This process of watching for statements in books or lectures that seem to jump out and grab me, spending time contemplating or meditating on the words and concepts, and asking what my soul is asking me to learn from them has prompted tremendous spiritual growth in my life. Even if we are not able to audibly hear God's voice or communicate directly to our souls, our souls are working to direct us and help us. We just have to pay attention.
(photo thanks to photosearch.com)
