November 2008

admin@polarisrising.com — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:52:32 -0600

In this month people are primarily focused on picking up the pieces.

In other words, there has been a great deal of change occurring around the world. This change has manifested politically, economically, socially, and environmentally. The change has affected everyone living at present around the world in one way or another, even when they don't necessarily feel directly connected. And because there has been so much happening, this is a month to pick up the pieces. Picking up the pieces means checking in to see where you are, looking at the aftermath, and finding a new direction based on where you are at present. For some of you, your lives have changed so quickly that your heads are spinning, and this is now the month to assess where you are and to figure out on some level where you want to go.

Again, this manifests for different people in different ways. Some people have been affected very tangibly: their homes were destroyed in hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. Their homes were taken away from them with economic crises and disasters: bankruptcies, etc. Those people are living very tangibly and materially the changes that we all feel on a certain energetic level.

In addition, there is the growth element that's attached to all this change. It is one thing to undergo change, to undergo forces that swirl around you that cause you to reflect on your life, redirect your energy, and to make new choices and present yourself with new challenges, and it is quite another thing to assess what all this really means to you. So many of you again have been living a life of change, things happening around you and to you, very tangible things, and now it is the time that you are putting your energy towards what this means to you on an internal level, how this will reflect upon your future choices that are still yet to come.

This next year - meaning one year from now - will of course continue to look like a time of change. But many of you will find that there is a leveling out occurring. There is going to be for most of you a feeling of respite, a plateau, a time to look inward. This may not occur until mid-to-late spring of the upcoming calendar year, but most of you at some point in the upcoming twelve months feel this sense of rest, collection, and gathering together of Who You Are.

And then there will of course be yet again another outward outpouring of your energy and a redirection of your efforts into creating a new path for your life.

But this month, the month of November, is primarily concerned about picking up the pieces, focusing on what has just happened, starting to make sense of what that means to you and what choices that you will continue to make in the future as a result.

A Focus On Ego

admin@polarisrising.com — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:45:56 -0600

Question: I'd like to ask about the ego, especially about how the word is used in our culture—it's often made out to be an enemy, something to be extinguished. It seems that there is such a thing, and it is related to barriers and limitations to awareness. I'm wondering how to bridge the gap; I have a negative reaction to the term. Could you expand on it? Also, many people wish to extinguish the ego to obtain enlightenment. What's the benefit to that?

Let us explain the ego as we see it. As you may have noticed, we seldom use the term "ego". It has its roots in the English language in the psychological studies that were done about 100 years ago in western psychology and philosophy. There is quite an emotional attachment to the word, and there is also an attachment to the entire didactic system of philosophy/psychology that was developed at that time. In other words, use of the term "ego" tends to evoke the intellectual, theoretical, and the teacher/student dynamic; the teacher has all the power and the knowledge, and the student is the one who being "fixed", manipulated, or is learning from the "teacher".

This is a term we prefer not to use. However, in the work of Eckhart Tolle we see that this term has a much broader meaning, and that is fine! It can be difficult for the individual, however, to apply that broader meaning and to maintain the sense of it within the more narrow scope of connotation that the word evokes.

In terms of extinguishing what we feel is meant by the ego in order to attain enlightenment, what we feel is meant by this term ego, this broader sense, is simply conscious awareness of Self. This is also what has been termed in the Michael Teachings as "personality"; you can think of those two terms along the same lines. Ego is the conscious awareness of Self.

To attain enlightenment by extinguishing the ego would connote that enlightenment is attained only by awareness of All That Is, rather than by the perceived limitations of Self, however far the Self extends. In many ways this is consistent with our view of "enlightenment": it is a momentary conscious awareness of the interconnection and oneness of everything, of All That Is, including Self. In other words, enlightenment is about turning the notion of Self inside out.

However, we do not see this as a state that people are necessarily capable of maintaining for more than a fragmentary flash. Having done so at one time, however, allows you to make your way back to that moment energetically and to bring a sense of that awareness into your everyday life. There is some validity and truth to the notion that "extinguishing ego leads to enlightenment." However, using those words has a negative connotation. They imply that conscious awareness of Self is somehow a negative thing and therefore must be erased.

In our view, even though it can be useful to have those momentary, fragmentary awarenesses of the oneness of everything, it is more useful to simply give as much attention as you can possibly muster into whatever is happening to you at any given moment. In other words, being fully present in your body—in the space around you, in the world around you, in the situation you are in, in the emotion you are feeling—is more easily obtainable and more likely to bring vast changes in you and how you experience life joyfully.

In other words, being immersed in the moment, as much as you can be, is an easy way to bring joy to your life.

The Polaris Material

November 2008

A Focus On Ego