Art by Justin Bonnet

..”They say that our ego is created when we cling to our past and define ourselves based on labels, but are we echos of the past? If we define our-self based on memory, yet in a sense we lose our memory each and every night as we lay down to sleep, for we do not carry the process of actually laying down to sleep with us into dreamland, but we are still alive, so who are we when asleep? And there are even those who get amnesia, yet still remain living…who are they? Why is it in dreaming we still carry the sense of our being, yet carry little to no memory of this world we live in? Who are you then and who are you now? When we define ourselves based on the past and on labels, it is easy to see why they say ego is an illusion, as for many the sense of self has become something more like a myth or a ghost.

‘Ego’ is a psychology term, not a hippie dream, its your ‘sense’ of self, but not the real thing, for we are far more then the labels that define us. As Carl Jung once said, ‘The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.’ And later in his life he concluded with this, ‘I had to abandon the idea of the superordinate position of the ego…I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point — namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation…I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.’

When we strip away the details of the night and the day, and what we will find is One in the same, for its better to see the self has whole and complete, rather than dividing IT into bits and pieces! So instead of denying our unconscious ego, it would be best to look closer at these currents which drive our being. Some will say that we should use the ego as a tool, but just as a tool like a hammer, use it, strike your nails, then put it away, for You are not the hammer! And this IS what happens to most, they go so far out they ‘think’ they are their roles, people like Kanye West are a good example of having this over inflated ego.

Think about when you see a good movie, or a play, you know what you’re about to see is not real, yet a good actor or actress will draw you in, suspending truth and tricking your mind into believing what you’re seeing is real, even for but a brief moment. We hang on the edge of our seats with suspense, jump out of our chairs during a frightening scene, some even cry when something sad happens, but none of it is real. And this IS going on in the world today for most, the actor within us has gone so far off into their ‘role’ of daily routines and habits, that we have fooled ourselves into thinking that this is who we are, but we have forgotten that this IS only a show, as far too many take too serious what the gods made for play! We all know that we rarely show our true self in full form to strangers, or at times even to those we love, as we play roles that only limit us, instead of expressing our true self with a fearless heart. But illusions are dissolving daily, for everyday is a new awakening as the old show comes to its finale, yet the ego will continue to run the show through the unconscious, until its last dying breath is discovered. The time has arrived to go beyond the limited illusion of ego, and to Awaken to the limitless expression that IS the real You, as only that will make the world a better place for us to live in, as we return to the harmony within this living universe!” ~Alistar Valadez…