As we continue to explore the in’s and out’s - the blessings and challenges of embracing our humanity as a spiritual practice and path, we come to realize how deeply we are attached to who we believe we are. Our identity is paramount in the formation of our health and wellbeing, our achievements and successes, our goals and our dreams and a driving factor in all our relationships. Or is it? I love when a question is posed, and someone responds: “Yes and No!”
Whose mindset and perception is most operative in our daily decision making process, our communications and behaviours? Is it our Ego nature (probability - assessed from past experience and limited beliefs) or our Essence nature (possibility guided by Spiritual Intelligence?) Where does our first thought and reaction/response come from?
At this point, most of you would answer, “a bit of both.” Yes? Both our Ego and Essence are in a lifelong dance in which we take turns as the leader. Would you agree? What might life be like if we decided to let our Essence lead? Have you any picture at all? Would it be of value to you to allow yourself to paint that picture through listening, receiving and imagination?
In order to deepen our relationship with ourselves and with the Spirit of our understanding, we must be willing to let go our attachment to our present identity - over and over and over again. That means our spiritual practice becomes the art of detachment to what has gone before and our imaginings of who we want to become. In corresponding proportion, detachment from identifying ourselves in the time-space continuum will increase our ability to become as who we are being right now.
You may counter by saying, well, there is no movement in that! That seems like a rather flat existence. That defense has absolutely no merit in Principle and here’s why: Life is always evolving, moving forward in greater ways. This energy of Life is us, expanding in consciousness through expression and, therefore, through experience, it’s unlimited nature. We may not observe the effects of the movement of this universal creative process, where unformed energy becomes matter, but with each new life-affirming thought, our belief system is moving towards change. This is the exquisite movement of the One Mind, the One Power and Presence being realized by us, as only It can be known - right where we are, in the present moment.
To be present is to be focused and, by that very experience, be detached from anything else. Invariably, as we move into deeper attention on what is, our perception expands through the intimate and fluid merging with the infinite All, which is both non-specific and specific all at the same time. We feel a deep sense of connection, in which we recognize who we truly are. And who we truly are is not attached to person, place or thing, preference or memory. It is only aware of the feeling of unification and oneness and perceives and accepts life, both inside and outside of the Self, simply as what it is.
So, this brings us full circle to the relationship of our Ego, experiencing its essence through detachment, with our Essence, observing Ego through non-attachment. Our identity is the driving force in our expression and experience; indeed, it just depends upon the lens through which you are perceiving yourself! The dance will continue because awareness increases and consciousness expands. We begin to understand that one cannot exist without the other and, subsequently, see the value of not being attached to either but instead, the value in embracing both.
Rev. Nadene Rogers