Psychology and Spirituality Part 4

November 11, 2024

Psychology and Spirituality Part 4

Spiritual Consciousness profoundly determines the way we think and behave. Our soul sets the tone for our lives. As our deepest self, it knows our purpose and tries to accomplish it. The soul’s still small voice guides us if we listen to it, taking us to the relationships and circumstances that help achieve our purpose. Sometimes, those relationships and circumstances are not pleasant, but they are exactly what we need in order to grow our souls. Barriers to the soul’s expression include the ego’s passion, avoidances, traps, fixations, and an impervious allegiance to its perception of reality. Wars have been fought, and millions have died to defend their perceptions of reality, which may not have been accurate.

However, our ego is essential to our well-being because it protects us from circumstances that would ostensibly prevent us from realizing our goals and otherwise harm us. It is an unhealthy form; the ego fosters its self-image and the story about itself. It wants to make its story come true and its image believable. These are compelling reasons to stubbornly cling to the ego even though it frequently causes suffering.

If the ego has a distorted view of reality, it tries to achieve its ends through its passions, avoidances, traps, and fixations. However, if it has moved into a healthy space, it submits its image and story to the soul so that the Divine can fully express itself through us. As a mental structure, the ego knows it cannot do what the soul can. Therefore, when it reaches a critical mass of suffering, it realizes that the soul and its purpose are our true identity and our reason for living. The resulting cooperation between the ego and the soul is called the amalgamation process, which puts the two in a healthy and conscious union.

Our psychological processes, thinking, emotions, and behavior, are vastly affected by whether we are led by ego or soul. If our soul leads us, our thinking processes, emotions, and behavior interface directly with our essence and are experienced from the primary connection with the soul. For example, we do not gauge success and failure in terms of the ego’s goals. Instead, we think, feel and behave according to the soul. The soul sees humanity as works in progress, as soul children just trying to exist in this topsy-turvy world and pilgrims on their way to union with the Divine. The soul is aware of our purpose and our destiny. Therefore, it has done away with the ego’s need to compare everything and everyone to its story of how the world should be and how people should perceive them.

I just looked out the window and saw a lady on a walking trail. She wore jogging clothes and carried a water bottle. She walked with a slight but perceptible limp. My ego quickly categorized her as a physically impaired person. But was it my soul who urged me to look closer? I could tell she walked with determination as if to heal the limp. So, my ego set up another category for her: a person who wanted to overcome her impediment. My soul’s heart went out to her. My ego would have returned to my work, having correctly categorized her. But my soul’s eyes saw that she was me. I, too, am limping and also, like her, determined to move forward. My soul prayed for her and all of us who struggle with our impediments. Then I was led to share this experience with you right now.

Spiritual practice: Take in an experience of your own… a vignette such as the one I described above. Can you distinguish between your ego’s need to judge and categorize and your soul’s perceptions of the situation? Do they contradict one another, or do they finally work in tandem?

Self-inquiry: Why do you think going with the ego’s take on relationships or situations is easier?

Dear God,

Bless me today as I seek to see the spirit within everything. I need to loosen my stubborn attachments to my ego and forgive all the times I allowed it to push me forward, but it only held me back. Amen