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"I Am The Lord Thy God"
Summary:
The human being consists of a physical body and a soul.
The physical body is the ego. The concept of "ego" includes emotions and thoughts. Sadness and weeping, joy and laughter are physical expressions defined as the ego.
The soul is the Divine spark within us, a profound, autonomous inner knowing.
Honoring the commandment "I am the Lord thy God" means striving for a refined ego.
A refined ego exists through emotional truth and awareness without defenses.
In the course of life, the ego creates defenses expressed by familiar behavioral patterns, an instinct like an automatic pilot.
The better you know the refined ego, meaning, your emotional truth, the better you will be able to live with authenticity and freedom of choice.
Cause determines effect. The effect teaches us about the cause, and by becoming aware of the cause, we can attain the desired effect.
The cause is the starting point of action. What makes a person act? When the cause is connected to a feeling of fear, the consequence will reflect the fear, when the cause is connected to high self esteem, the effect will reflect success.
The existence of an inner dialog between the ego and the soul enables both voices to be heard within you.
The deeper the listening to these two voices, so negotiation and, ultimately, unanimous choice, are enabled.
One way of distinguishing between the voices is to compare the ego to a child and the soul to a supervisor.
A dialog between child and supervisor illustrates the dialog between ego and soul.
Negotiation is intended to reinforce the recognition that you are responsible for your lives. You create the reality of your lives when you are aware of the motives for your actions.
Identifying the starting point for action can change the effect.
When the ego does not exist as a refined choosing ego, the soul invites an alarm clock that shocks and constrains one to change.
The constraint will manifest in unwanted consequences to ensure profound observation of the emotional starting point and the refined ego that leads the soul through the physical world.
Exercise 1: The current state of the ego and the soul
Take small quiet breaths.
Change to deep breaths, relax your body and clear your mind of all thought.
You see an elevator before you. The elevator door opens. Go into the elevator. The elevator goes down:
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.
The elevator door opens and you find yourselves in a large projection hall.
Choose a place to sit in front of the screen
The screen is large… your image appears on the screen. Look at your image.
The image presents a situation from your life, like a film in which you are the main character. Other characters accompany you.
Watch the film, how do you feel about the image?
Imagine there is another voice beside you. Talk to the voice, listen to its message.
Give the voice a form. Choose an opening in your body through which the form can enter. Let the form enter your body.
Close the opening with golden light and merge it with your body.
Take eight deep breaths during the internalization process.
Return to the elevator. The door opens, go inside.
The elevator goes up: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.
The purpose of the exercise:
In this meditation, an encounter takes place between the two voices inside you – the ego and the Divine spark.
The entrance into the projection room and choosing a place to sit indicates the place that exists between you and yourself, and the degree of recognition you allow yourself.
If you find yourself sitting in a corner of the hall, you possibly have low self esteem. If you find yourself sitting in the center of the hall, you possibly don't take a stand (you choose a good place in the middle). If you find yourself in the front row, you have high self esteem and you are willing for direct observation. If you find yourself deliberating and going from one place to another, this is a reflection of how you behave in your life.
The image on the screen represents the voice of the ego and the situation shown on the screen is the ego's expression of an experience that requires attention today. The ego's expression is an emotional situation that is characteristic of the current time for you. The ego expresses its voice through the situation you see on the screen, whereas the voice heard beside you is that of the soul, which conveys the message intended for you. When you give the message a form, you are in fact enabling the voice of the soul to permeate and constitute a concrete expression within you.
Exercise 2: Keeping a journal of emotions
At the end of each day, write down in a notebook what you felt that day. Avoid writing a story and focus only on your feelings.
Describe the first feeling in one sentence. Today I felt joy, today I felt sadness, today I felt pain, or insult, or success…
After describing the first feeling at the top of the page, begin a process of inquiry into a deeper emotional truth by means of the question: Why? When answering the question, again avoid stories.
For example:
Today I felt sadness.
Why?
Because I felt I was having a hard time.
Why?
Because I'm tired of struggling.
Why?
Because I feel sick of trying.
Why?
Because I feel I'm failing.
Why?
Because I'm a failure.
"I'm a failure" is a truer, more precise feeling than the sadness written at the top of the page.
Any first sentence can be broken down and clarified by the question why.
Today I felt a failure.
Why?
Because I did not succeed.
Why?
Because I'm not good enough.
Why?
Because I make mistakes.
Why?
Because I'm afraid I won't be "the best".
"I'm afraid I won't be the best" is once again a true feeling that gives a more precise response to a feeling of failure.
The value of the exercise lies in identifying a profound starting point. When you have revealed your opinion of yourself, or a deeper feeling hidden inside you, you reveal the starting point of any action.
Once it has become a habit in your life, a description of feeling over time will reinforce your emotional awareness of your inner feelings and constitute a clearer voice for a refined ego.
Emotional clarity will be reinforced once you devote more attention to inner emotional inquiry, which can be done by asking the question why. Why do I feel this? – This emotional inquiry is not simple because it requires an answer without an explanation or a story. It directs one to a more precise and deeper feeling within.
The purpose of the exercise:
To create a close connection with emotional truths based on a high level of emotional awareness, thereby knowing your ego and your emotional and cognitive world.
Knowing the ego will clarify your emotional motives, thereby decreasing noise and increasing the possibility of hearing the voice of the soul.
The revelation enables focus and precision in relation to the emotional block that duplicates unwanted consequences.
Identification facilitates a considerable part of the solution.
Exercise 3: The inner dialog
When the two voices within you, the voice of the ego and the voice of the soul, take on a concrete existence inside you, a dialog takes place.
The ego is analogous to a childlike essence, whereas the voice of the soul is analogous to a supervisor.
Choose a subject you wish to investigate with yourself, prepare two white sheets of paper. Put the two sheets side by side.
On the right hand sheet, write the heading – the voice of the soul – supervisor.
On the left hand sheet, write the heading – the voice of the ego – the essence of the child.
On the left hand sheet, start writing the first sentences that come to mind: wishes, desires, thoughts, fears, etc.
As you write on the left hand sheet of paper, you will hear the voice of the supervisor, which is able to see a broader greater picture of the situation. The supervisor will relate to these sentences. Write the observations of the supervisor on the right hand sheet.
For example:
The essence of the child – the voice of the ego The supervisor – the voice of the soul
I want to pass the exam and I'm afraid I'll fail. I want to pass so I'll feel valuable and worthy, and I can't bear failure.
If I fail, everyone will know I'm not smart or talented, and then I'll feel ashamed and non existent. The exam is important but it is not the most important thing and it is not the last opportunity.
If you study as best you can and let go of the result for the moment, the relief will enable you to be more focused and clear thinking during the exam. Your abilities find expression all the time, and you don't have to prove all of them in this single exam.
You are not the exam and, therefore, it will not determine your worth.
If you have trouble hearing the voice of a supervisor, try imagining a supportive parent. What would this supportive parent say to you if you shared your difficulty with him/her?
The purpose of the exercise:
To reinforce your ability to hear the inner voice of the soul.
As you practice this dialog, so the voice of the soul will become more substantial; its voice is usually weaker than that of the ego, because the ego is dominant in determining needs.
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