Ego, Higher Awareness and Discernment

Crown Chakra and Enlightenment
The Crown Chakra is the chakra most often associated with unity consciousness and enlightenment. Enlightenment is the level of those who have created spiritual patterns that have been followed by large portions of humanity throughout the ages. It is from this state that we have been given great teachings that provide inspiration and raise levels of awareness.

At this level there is no longer a separate ego or an individualized personal self. Identification has expanded into the greater Self, Consciousness and Divinity. No division is seen between one’s self and all of life. “The self merges back into the Self. This is the state of nonduality, or complete Oneness.”

Obviously most of us do not function in this realm! In fact it seems that our current evolutionary task is to bring more of the spiritual into our human experience even as we move toward greater enlightenment in the future.

We can take heart that great beings have demonstrated that enlightenment is possible for everyone. In an enlightened state there is no localization of consciousness; only awareness which is present everywhere.’ It is from this place that there is greater concern for the whole of humanity and its well being as opposed to individualized concerns and ambitions.

Enlightened Moments
Many people have had fleeting moments of this experience through expanded states of consciousness arrived at in meditation, near death experiences or through a peak experience that brings them beyond the normal functioning of the mind.

Meditation is perhaps the simplest and most effective means of developing the ability to transcend the ego since most of us are not willing to purposely engage in a near death experience and peak experiences can be hard to come by!

As we engage in a routine meditation practice we are able to tame the conscious mind, and become more open to the higher frequencies of universal consciousness. Meditation intrinsically helps to develop an enhanced perspective that allows us to become aware of the lower mind (ego) and its various machinations that keep us stuck or locked in struggle and repetitive behaviors that imprison us.

Meditation improves health while moving toward greater enlightenment
With practice meditation takes your awareness beyond time, ego, thought, sensation, emotion and memory. As you move in the direction of Source frequencies, you move away from the tyranny of the lower mind. After a while you begin to recognize a transcendent experience as a sense of fullness, of steadiness or of an appreciation for the infinite.

Mediation practice helps enhance any other work you may be doing ten fold. It helps cleanse and strengthen the nervous system, as well as increases perception, insight and concentration. Although it may seem counter intuitive, taking time to meditate regularly actually expands time, effectiveness and opportunities in other areas of your life.

Consciously discerning the voice of the ego
Of course we can also use our cognition to learn the common voices that lead us away from higher level function as well. Here are a few examples of the differences between the lower and higher mind to help you to begin to notice what state you may be operating out of at any given moment:

Normal Awareness Processes through nervous system   Interprets through rational mind Filters through past experience Me centered Concern: survival, physical well being Cause and effect thinking

Higher Awareness Information processed via subtle energy   Senses energy Interdimensional, not limited to time Network of relationships, the whole Heart centered Intuitive

Although it is unlikely that we will operate in an enlightened state on a daily basis, we CAN develop skills of enlightenment and higher awareness. Becoming more heart-focused in everything we do is one of the most effective things we can do toward this end. Our individual Self will benefit as will everyone we touch. To become more heart-focused, provide more undivided attention every day to those around you. Observe with open eyes and listen with open ears. Leave judgment aside and just take note of all that is around you. When you find yourself heading towards a familiar “trap” (anything that doesn’t feel good!), stop, take note and bring yourself back to a neutral and nonjudgmental state. Bring yourself to a state of observation, a state where nothing is right or wrong, a state where everything simply IS.

When our thoughts, words and deeds are heart-based, judgment is replaced by understanding and compassion. Rather than feeling that others are right or wrong, we begin to understand how or why they might be in a particular situation or having a particular experience. We begin to understand how we could be in their very shoes if the circumstances were different.

When our actions are heart-based we are operating outside the mind and outside the ego. We live and act out of a deep inner sense of love. This is more a state of being than a feeling of sentimentality, romance or attachment. It is a space we uncover, discover and learn to live from independent of externals. Developing this way of being can help move us on toward enlightenment one human step at a time.

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