A widely shared vision in some spiritual approaches today states that it is important and even necessary to assert your personal power, according to the principle of sovereignty. You are warned as a seeker against the spiritual teachings which say that ego is the source of all sufferings, and that it is the main hindrance on the path to self- realization. A so-called new definition of spirituality is proposed.

In contradiction with the message of the great mystics, it is often an invitation for people to let their ego express itself freely. This approach certainly fits our contemporary society and its exaggerated individualism, and it obviously flatters the ego of many seekers. However it makes lose sight of the reality of the path that leads to conscience awakening. The deep transformation that such a realization requires cannot be the work of the ego, even if the ego is necessarily a part of the path that takes the seeker to realization.

Understanding is the key that enables us to know what is the right attitude to have as far as our ego is concerned. As we grow, we discover how important it is to know and express oneself as an individual, and to explore the different sides of one's being to find fulfillment. When our approach becomes spiritual, we sense that the part of ourselves which remains to be discovered is beyond our ego, our personality and its limitation. We understand that our ego is only a part of ourselves, and is not our reality.

Nevertheless, the temptation to fight against or try and get rid of one's ego is truly a trap to avoid for the spiritual seeker. For everything we try to suppress is buried in our innermost being and unfailingly ends up in arising again, sooner or later. Understanding as for it frees us from this dilemma, giving us the ability to discern between the illusion created by our fake self, ego and the reality of who we are, of our consciousness.

Actually Buddha did not declare war on his ego, he transcended it. He dispersed the veil of illusion created by his self and discovered his divine nature. This is also the essential message of the spiritual teachings whose depth reflects the experience of people who have reached the peak of spiritual realization : we have to the lift the curtain on the illusion created by our ephemeral and illusory personality to be able to see Reality, and our own divinity.

In such a state of consciousness, the idea of ego and the feeling of being separated disappear. The one who reaches this state of consciousness, by experiencing unity, intuitively knows that he has never been apart, and that all his sufferings originated in his identification with his ego. This is the reason why spiritual teachers keep repeating that our ego is the cause of our suffering.

This statement is the fruit of their experience. However it is not a precept we should adhere to, but a truth we can sense and that remains to be discovered and experienced for each of us, individually.

Laurence