“Ego & God”
by Kelvin Chin
Life After Life Expert
A Miracle Worker
Jesus did perform miracles.
However, they were only “miracles” because his ability to transform what most consider physical reality into something less material and more energetic was “miraculous.” Water into wine. Five loaves and two fish to feed thousands.
But the greatest miracle he performed was the teaching of principles that prompted self-empowerment. Not slavery or subservience. He was all about teaching each of us to be self-sufficient. Not dependent on him — whether he was with us in physical form, or in spirit after he died.
He wanted each of us to live that miracle in daily life. And he asked each of us to teach others how to do it in their daily lives.
Belief Only
This message from Jesus of self-empowerment has been lost for 2,000 years.
It was usurped by the easier “believe in Him only” message taught by Paul and many others. That all you had to do was believe in God or Jesus or Krishna or Buddha or your guru and all your desires would be realized. It was a simple message and an emotionally attractive message — one that many could easily get their minds and hearts around without much thinking or effort.
But, how real, how honest has this message been? How beneficial has it been for humanity? Has it promoted Jesus’s desire of empowering humanity to be stronger, wiser, more self-sufficient — and happier?
Let’s look at this more closely…
Center of the Universe
Thinking that God does everything for you — provides you with miracles, justice and forgiveness, with wins and successes, with riches whether material or spiritual — these are all examples of our spiritual insecurity. And of our hubris. For hubris — excessive pride or egotism — is borne out of insecurity.
Any so-called ‘spiritual teacher’ who preaches those sorts of messages is singing the same song that has been sung since the dawn of mankind on Earth. And by spiritual teacher, they need not be a member of a clergy. I consider anyone who promotes a value system to others to help them along life’s path a “spiritual teacher.” So, that could include motivational speakers, coaches of all kinds, or the author of the latest self-help book.
It is the all too alluring song that sounds so sweet to our ears because it tells us that we are the ‘center of the universe.’ That all roads lead through us. All miracles, all justice, all wins and successes lead through us. And to prove that is true, the spiritual teacher tells us that even God smiles on us and supports each of us, that God delivers those miracles to each of us…if we would only believe that is true. So, if we truly analyze the underlying thinking, those spiritual teachers are telling us that even God considers us the center of the universe — because God puts each of us first…as long as we believe. No wonder it makes us feel so good!
Really?
If there is a God, would he or she be so bored or lacking in creativity to be the superintendent of a universe in which he or she controlled all our actions? That it is all a ‘big game’ that God is playing and only God knows the rules? That his or her ego would be so fragile that it needed us to believe in him or her? Or that God would set things up where the concept of forgiveness (which implies judgment) would even exist?
How boring and petty a mind that would be to supervise such a system!
I know, I know...but it "feels" so good. It feels comforting and reassuring to think we are the centers of the universe...doesn't it?
And if God puts each of us at the center of the universe, how good does that feel? How important does that make us feel in his eyes?
But…does it even make sense to put each of ourselves at the center of the universe? How is that even possible?
How about trying this on for size — what if each of us were the center of our own universes?
Let’s look at that more closely…
"Center of the Universe" versus "Self-Interest"
I suggest that it is appropriate that we think of ourselves in what some might call a ‘self-interested’ way. But unlike many others, I don't consider that a bad thing. It's not an unsavory trait. It's not lacking in spirituality, nor is it lacking in caring for our fellow humanity.
It's the truth. It's reality.
Acting in our own self-interest is what we all do, all the time. How ‘good’ the actions that come out of that behavior are determined by how connected we are within ourselves, how well we “know ourselves.” And the more self-aware we are, the more likely we will do things that make us happy. And the more we do that, the less likely we will do things that make others around us and in our community (however large we want to define it) unhappy. Because what happy person in their right mind would want to surround him or herself with unhappy people?
So, we each have choices to make in life. And I maintain that it is not ‘being self-interested’ that is bad. In fact, I think it is inherent in life. But instead, it is our lack of self-awareness, our lack of knowing who we are, of what ‘makes us tick’ — that is what is ‘bad,’ what is lacking.
Because ultimately, how we choose to live our lives — through the various decisions we make in life — determines our level of happiness.
Reclaiming the awareness of that power we all have always had — reclaiming them from spiritual teachers who might prefer that we relinquish that power to divine beings whom they claim are "greater" than we are — is our birthright and how we can truly honor ourselves.
For millennia we have been told, arguably brainwashed, that we are ‘lesser,’ that we need to find the divine within us or even outside of us, that we need to believe in that, and that's all we need to do.
Looking at human history, so far that formula is not working. At least not in the past 10,000 years. The divine is not ‘within us’ or ‘outside of us.’ There is no need to call anything ‘divine’ if we truly ‘know ourselves’ in the way Jesus and other great teachers have encouraged us to.
When we think and feel ourselves as "bigger than ourselves,” we don't need to make that automatic jump to defining that experience as "divine beings.” Instead, perhaps we might realize that “it” is actually us — just a different experience of ourselves than we have been used to experiencing.
Our minds are bigger than we realize. Much bigger. And that realization is the miracle that all great teachers have encouraged us to see — and to live.
By coming to that realization, I think we'll also find greater freedom and inner peace in recognizing our own individual place in the universe. That each of us has. That each of us has always had, and will always have.
And not at the center of the universe. But instead, wherever we are.
Kelvin H. Chin is a Meditation Teacher, Life After Life Expert, and Author of “Overcoming the Fear of Death,” “Marcus Aurelius Updated: 21st Century Meditations On Living Life” and “After the Afterlife: Memories of My Past Lives.” He learned to meditate at age 19, and has been teaching Turning Within Meditation and coaching others in their self-growth for 40 years. He helps people understand their life challenges through their individual belief systems, and helps them find their own solutions. His past life memories reach back many centuries, and he accesses those memories in his teaching and his coaching in the same way all coaches draw on their own available experiences for perspective and effective analogies. He can be reached at www.TurningWithin.org.
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