{"id":111923,"date":"2024-04-30T15:30:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=111923"},"modified":"2024-05-01T12:15:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T19:15:38","slug":"let-your-spiritual-ego-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/111923-let-your-spiritual-ego-lead","title":{"rendered":"Let Your Spiritual Ego Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the difference between your human ego and your spiritual ego?<\/p>\n

Many years ago I was working with my spiritual teacher, John-Roger, when he challenged me to live more from my spiritual ego than my personality or human ego.<\/p>\n

That brought me up short. Or should I say, elevated my consciousness.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the backstory. Earlier that year, I left a consulting company I had created and then spent several months languishing about what comes next. The opportunity arrived for me to have an extended sharing with J-R at a Living in Grace Retreat \u2013 not just with him, but in front of another 200 or so people attending the same retreat.<\/p>\n

When J-R called on me, I began saying that I had next to zero motivation to do much of anything. When he asked me why, I said that I had spent the previous 20 years of my life working to make a difference in the world, to make a contribution to the greater good.<\/p>\n

He asked me, \u201cwhat\u2019s the problem with that?\u201d And I said, well, if I say I\u2019m here to make a difference, I\u2019m basically judging God. Without skipping a beat, J-R wondered out loud how I came to that conclusion.<\/p>\n

My response: well, the notion that I could be making a difference is a bit like saying, \u2018Dear God, you\u2019re doing OK. But if you had me in there, boy, could we really improve things.\u2019<\/p>\n

J-R chuckled a bit and then gave me one of my most important life lessons.<\/p>\n

Paraphrasing here:<\/p>\n

If you think you\u2019re here to make a difference, then you are likely experiencing life and your work as something that comes from your ego, your personality. No matter how good that work might be, even if it appears to be making a meaningful difference, then it is pretty easy to get caught up in the human ego \u2013 kind of, \u2018look at me \u2013 look how great I am.\u2019 And that can lead to all manner of difficulties as you slide down that slippery slope.<\/p>\n

In addition to the human ego, you also have something we call the Spiritual Ego. As you attune more and more to the Spiritual Ego, you may discover or sense a call to serve \u2013 what you are calling \u2018making a difference.\u2019 And that is well and good.<\/p>\n

However, the Spiritual Ego is not designed to do work in this world. That is the domain of the human ego and personality. You, Russell, have a range of experiences and skills, as do each of us. When the Spiritual Ego calls, and you notice that call, you may discover that the Spiritual Ego needs those skills and experiences in order to deliver on the call from Spirit.<\/p>\n

In other words, Spirit can use our skills and experiences to \u2018make a difference\u2019 in the world. If you, Russell, choose to answer that call, then Spirit can, indeed, make a difference in the world, using your skills and experience.<\/p>\n

The trick is to remain ever mindful that your skills and experiences are the tools Spirit may be calling on to do that difference making work in the world. As you remain conscious and follow the inner direction, you may become even more skillful, even knowledgeable. Just keep in mind that Spirit is the architect while you are more like the carpenter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the work I do today, I liken myself to the electrical wire that runs from the outlet in the wall to the lamp. The wire is neither the source of energy nor the light that comes from the lamp. I am simply the wire that Spirit can use to get the energy to the light.<\/p>\n

And so are you. We can all let Spirit use us to bring more Light to the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Russell Bishop with John-Roger at a workshop in April 1989<\/em><\/em><\/p>\r\nEditor's Note:\u00a0 You can learn more about Russell's work here<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the difference between your human ego and your spiritual ego? Many years ago I was working with my spiritual teacher, John-Roger, when he challenged me to live more from my spiritual ego than my personality or human ego. That brought me up short. Or should I say, elevated my consciousness. Here\u2019s the backstory. Earlier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":111927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,257],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ndh-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}