EGO AND SOUL

I begin by sharing one of my personal journeys:

I love telling stories — always have. My mother said that I started talking before the age of one and I could form full sentences. "You began to talk too early and never stopped," she used to say. However, I didn't like talking about just the weather, or what was in style, etc. My conversations needed to be meaningful. Even as a child, my love for animals and life was obvious and has always been part of me. So my stories were always filled with life and how it all was more than the eyes could see.

My Soul was expressed so easily and effortlessly. I seemed to have a gift for knowing what to say under any circumstances.

Growing up, my favorite play was writing stories. As early as the age of five, or even before I knew how to write, I used an old record player that opened like a secretary desk and pretended it was my writing table. I would pile it up with blank papers, some with scribbles on them.

Eventually, the question became, what am I going to be when I grow up? I was warned that being a writer would not be an option. Since I had a severe case of dyslexia, my attempts at writing suffered substantially. So I was discouraged from that — writers should know grammar and how to spell.

I was finally being domesticated, and my Ego was getting fully formed. However, my Soul also needed to be expressed somehow. What could I do with the gift of easily expressing my thoughts and feelings?

Voila! Sales was the answer, a career in sales — I can talk to just about anyone! Could that also mean I can sell anything? The answer was no. I discovered that I could only sell products or services that I believed in. Otherwise, there would be no enthusiasm or passion. Over the years, though I did well in sales, there was always that empty feeling inside. I became bored once I knew all the tricks. The only option was to move on to the next service or product.

When I reached 40 my strong desire to write returned, not just poetry and journals like I had been doing up to then, but stories and personal thoughts. My Soul let me become aware of it again.

I decided I needed help. I found a teacher who would give me private writing lessons. I began my class once a week at his house.

He told me, "Elizabeth you are a gifted writer, but yes, you have to polish your work. You must learn the proper way to channel your gift."

I responded, "My intention is not to write things for others to read, but for my own personal pleasure, since I cannot really write properly."

He then said, "Do you know that whatever you have to say only you can say? However you choose to write it, it can be corrected by anyone who can edit. Do not use your dyslexia as an excuse. Write, write every day. You will be surprised. One day you will feel the need to say something that only you can say and you'll want to share it with the world!"

But because the Ego wants to perpetuate itself, its strength overpowered my teacher's advice and any possibility of my Soul's full expression.

Almost 20 years have passed since my teacher told me that. It was not until a few years back when the passing of my mother caused my ground to shake, that I re-thought my beliefs, my values and especially where I stood career wise.

Since then, I have written a novel, for my own pleasure, and this book you are now reading. I am now involved in changing the patterns of my life and in the lives of those I love, leading back to my true Divine nature.

My Soul path finally won.

Now that I have told you a bit of my story, let's dive into some explanations about "Ego" and "Soul."

Ego and Soul definitions:

Ego.

1. The "I" or self of any person; a thinking, feeling, and conscious being, able to distinguish itself from other selves.

2. In psychoanalytic theory, the portion of the psyche experienced as the "self" or "I." It is the part that remembers, evaluates, plans, and in other ways is responsive to and acts in the surrounding physical and social world. The conscious, rational part of the soul that experiences and reacts to the external world and mediates between the needs of the id and the superego.

Dictionary.com

Essentially, our Ego is the part of us that we learned to become. We have discovered through our family, social interaction, and the subsequent domestication, that which has turned us into the social being we are at present. We look at ourselves in the mirror and the image we see is what we believe ourselves to be.

We can be, for example, an intellectual wearing glasses, who everyone looks to for information.

Or we can be a housewife with kids who is also a perfect hostess, seen as someone who cares.

Of course, as indicated, the Ego feels and believes that whatever we are experiencing is real. Therefore, we believe that what we feel, how we behave, think or react is who we are, when in reality, it's what we have learned to consider as real. We most likely feel offended, hurt, or abandoned whenever someone does not behave according to what we know is right or is consistent with our expectations. The more we reinforce our belief system the more real it becomes. The information perceived by our body now turns into a reality, not only in the present but in similar occurrences in the future. We will attract more of the same to ourselves unless we change beliefs and patterns.

Simply put, Ego perceives life in black and white and is judgmental. It is the basic instinct from the body's consciousness. However, when we look at our life from a Soul consciousness, we first understand that whatever happens is like a play in a theater, it does not really affect our makeup, but simply how we play the game. The school in which we are residing allows us to move toward the full understanding of our personal divinity and thereon learn to love ourselves unconditionally, and as a result love all others the same way.

Soul

1. The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity.

2. The spiritual nature of humans, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.

Dictionary.com

Soul is the part of us that will outlive the body and therefore become separate from it. It has been my experience a Soul Path feels like a calling, it resonates within, and it feels like an integrated part of myself. We most likely experience it with our eyes closed, like a child playing; it feels light, joyful and interesting. It is natural. The talent is inborn though we might have to improve certain skills to develop it. The Soul Path isn't acquired, just improved upon.

Ego Path calls for a reason why to do something. We may or may not enjoy doing it. We may feel the need to force ourselves to accomplish it. In this case, the...