Radical Happiness Blog

From Living in the Now by Gina Lake, now available as an ebook for only $.99.

Most of you reading this are pretty clear that you aren't your personality. Spiritual experiences bring us the realization that we aren't just physical beings, but spiritual beings in a physical body. The human vehicle that Consciousness is inhabiting includes a mind, conditioning, an ego, and a personality. This human vehicle is programmed to behave and respond to life in a certain way.

Part of this programming is the ego, which every human being has. The ego gives us the sense that we are an individual. Without this, we wouldn't answer when someone called our name or be able to function. So the ego serves the Creator, the Oneness, by creating the illusion that we are separate individuals rather than all One, as we are in truth. In addition to causing a sense of being separate from other human beings, the ego causes us to have certain desires—the desire for money, power, security, safety, recognition, comfort, superiority, and so on. These desires actually stem from the sense of separateness, and they result in the various human emotions: anger, hatred, greed, lust, jealousy, pride, shame, guilt, fear, hopelessness, depression, resentment, envy, and sadness.

Being awake is being aligned with our natural Self, which has no self-images or a face and is not trying to be anything or get anywhere. Being awake is just being—without all of the ideas about who you are or are not, without a story about where you or your life is going, and without dreams or a desire for anything other than what is here right now and experiencing whatever is being experienced.

Being awake is too simple to be of interest to the ego. Being awake just isn’t special enough for the ego. When you are awake—when you are just being—there is no sense of a me who can feel special. There’s neither feeling special nor not feeling special, but just being as it is being experienced now. That’s a bad deal for the ego, which would rather be a spiritual me who is trying to awaken than be awake and not exist!

Human beings don’t trust life. Why? Because we have an ego, and egos are programmed to not trust life. Why? That’s a deeper question and may not be entirely answerable. The answer, in part, is that the ego is an aspect of the human animal that keeps us safe, so it’s always on the lookout for what might be dangerous or a threat to our safety. As a result, we notice movement, inconsistencies, differences, details, and the slightest changes in our environment, all in service to our safety. Our ego is there to watch our back. It thinks of everything that could go wrong. It assumes the worst and attempts to plan for it. This is valuable, of course. But the ego’s viewpoint is narrow—“Life is dangerous!”—and the ego doesn’t notice or acknowledge the other half of the truth: Life is supportive.

Isn’t it interesting that we can even talk about the ego this objectively? It must not be who we really are. The ego and its perceptions must not be the whole story. What is it that is able to be aware of this aspect of our humanity and able to recognize that the ego’s perceptions aren’t necessarily the whole truth, or at least able to contemplate this possibility? Our mind has the capacity to reason, think, evaluate, and decide whether the ego’s reactions to life are helpful or not, whether they even need to be paid attention to at a particular time. There’s something else here that’s aware of the dangers the ego perceives in the environment or in another person and concludes whether or not it’s an actual threat. What is this that uses the mind but isn’t the mind or the ego? What is it that is wise?

For those of you who received a Kindle, Nook, iPad, or other e-reader as a gift for the holidays, here are some free e-books to download by Gina Lake and her husband, Nirmala:

What About Love? Reminders for Being Loving by Gina Lake is a collection of 23 essays and 58 short quotes about love and relationship taken from Gina Lake’s many books, which are meant to expand your understanding of love, drop you into a more loving space, and inspire you daily to be more loving.

Radiance: Experiencing Divine Presence by Gina Lake shows you how to experience the Divine in the world in simple ways by being very present. It is possible to experience the mysterious truth that everything is an expression of the Divine by paying close attention to the many signs that reveal this great Mystery.

That Is That: Essays About True Nature by Nirmala  is a collection of articles and answers to questions posed by spiritual seekers. It captures the essence of spiritual inquiry and provides the reader with a real transmission of Presence on every page.

Gifts With No Giver: A Love Affair With Truth is a collection of nondual spiritual poetry written from the Heart by Nirmala, who is a spiritual teacher in the Advaita tradition. This spiritual poetry attempts to capture the undying presence of love in all of its forms. Let your soul be deeply touched by the Rumi-like words of a lover drunk with a passion for the truth.