Recognizing Ego: A Step towards Spiritual Salvation

According to Tolle (2005), the ego is a major obstacle in achieving spiritual happiness. The book provides insights on recognizing egoic patterns and their effects on our lives. It highlights how the ego can misperceive one's identity, causing suffering when we identify completely with form. The author emphasizes the importance of recognizing the ego within oneself to awaken consciousness and discover inner space and purpose. The book also explores the concept of spirituality, emphasizing its role in providing a sense of connection and dialogue with a Higher Power. Miller (2015) agrees that spirituality is essential for overall well-being, as it can reduce stress, anxiety, and other psychological conditions. Ultimately, the book presents a promising message, suggesting that through awakening, we can build a new earth, free from egoic limitations.

Running Head: Spiritual Child by Lisa Miller 1
Comparative reading response paper
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Subject
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Running Head: Spiritual Child by Lisa Miller 2
The books I chose were A New Earth, Create a Better Life by Eckhart Tolle and The Spiritual
Child by Lisa Miller. The reason I chose “A New Earth, Create a Better Life” was simple, I
wanted the manual and insight into what constitutes a better life. The version I was living was
not a bad life, but an empty one, it lacked meaning, purpose and a connective transcendent
relationship. I was seeking direction, motivation and mastery in the skill of self-improvement.
I chose The Spiritual Child, The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving
because I wanted to know how my parenting has impacted on my children health and
thriving, even though they are adults they are still my children. I was aware that nurture and
nature play significant roles and precursors to social, educational, behavioural outcomes.
Had I overlooked their spiritual development in the pursuit of academic development and
successes? I wanted to self-reflect on this question. I was curious about the benefits and
power spirituality had on a child’s development.
A New Earth presented me with many contemplative challenges. To spiritually benefit from
reading it I was forced to examine myself. The book offered explanations for the world-view
and belief systems I held. Through reading it I became aware of how I had been living and
reacting to situations primarily from the unconscious and not from a state of consciousness,
awareness and living in the present. “Until the new consciousness, which is awareness based,
grows and becomes more firmly established in the human psyche, temporary regression to the
egoic state of consciousness ( or rather unconsciousness ) can easily occur. (p,xvi) The
solution then is clearly to be aware of the ego because awareness and ego cannot coexist, and
to do that one has to awaken. “This books main purpose is not to add new information or
beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift of
consciousness, that is to say, to waken.” (Tolle, 2005, p,6,7) Tolle claims that I can awaken to
this shift of consciousness, if I was ready. “An essential part of the awakening is the
recognition of the unawakened you, the ego as it thinks, speaks and acts, as well as the
recognition of the collectively conditioned mental processes that perpetuate the unawakened
state.” ( p,7)
I had begun the process of “awakening” prior to reading this book, I could not name for it,
but internally changes were stirring. There were incessant and disturbing questions which
became unrelenting and frequent in their demand for answers. This created repercussions in
all my relationships, my behaviour did not comply to the version of me they knew. I was
given the appellation of crazy, rationalised by others as the result of the trauma I had
experienced.
The book provides a confidence of letting go of all the anxiety and fear and offers a great
challenge for its readers. The book started by putting various questions on concept of
consciousness and states that heaven refers to the state of inner realm of the consciousness.
Whereas the book presents Earth to be the outer manifestation and presents the inner
reflection. The last four years have been tumultuous, medically, relationally, spiritually and
psychologically. Circumstances in the last few years have capitulated me into a crisis. Serious
medical issues, three major surgeries, near death trauma, weeks in hospital followed by
months of home nursing care. Psychological counselling to prepare me for the major surgery
to follow in the new year, breakdown of a long-term marriage and recently more surgery.
These traumatic life altering events, were the beginning of the awakening of my
consciousness. “A glimpse is enough to initiate the awakening process, which is
irreversible.” (Tolle, 2005, p,7)

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The glimpse was confronting, it exposed an inauthentic and undeniably confused mind in
need of salving. I had to become present, aware and conscious for reparation. I needed to
authentically honour myself. All I had previously identified with was no longer important. I
had been living life per and for the standards and values of others, and meeting the needs and
wants of others at the exclusion of mine. I was the perpetual child seeking approval from
disapproving parents with shifting and impossible goalposts and rigid values. “The greatest
achievement of humanity is not its works of art, science, or technology, but in the recognition
of its own dysfunction, its own madness” (Tolle,2005, p,14) I agree with Tolle, my
dysfunction, my own madness, doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different
results.
“That is why this book shows the main aspects of the ego and how they operate in the
individual as well as in the collective. This is important for two reason: The first is that unless
you know the basic mechanics behind the working of the ego, you won’t recognise it, and it
will trick you into identifying with it again and again. This means it takes you over, an
imposter pretending to be you.” (Tolle, 2005,p,8).
While providing a description on ego Tolle has been attempting on providing an insight on
life driven by ego. When the people are able to recognize somebody’s behaviour as coming
from ego, no compulsion is seen for reacting as if it were. The author has pointed out various
egoic patterns reacted by people and how these are able to misperceive the identity of the
person on those patterns. In case, we also share the same egoic pattern, we tend to ignore it or
are unwilling to detect it. The book has discussed a large section to identification of
difficulties caused due to ego in a person and discover inner space and inner purpose. The
only way to do that was to awaken to consciousness and recognise the ego for what was, the
major obstacle in man’s spiritual happiness. Suffering is created when the ego identifies
completely with form. It does this either through identification with 1) physical form, by
gender, race, status or socio condition. 2) Feeling form, accumulated emotional pain. 3)
Thoughts and judgements. The book explains how to recognise the ego. “Another function of
this book is to help people recognise the ego within them whenever it tries to regain control
and obscure the arising awareness” ( Tolle, 2005, p, 260)
In psychological terms, the Freudian concept of ego is the middle layer of the three-part
personality: Superego, Ego, and Id. It's the conscious level that operates without the moral
controls of the critical Superego or the instincts and desires of the Id and mediates between
the two. It is the value I place on myself, self-worth and self-esteem. Ego chains us to our
fears, judgements and desires. It is who I identify myself as. To challenge the ego I needed to
function with consciousness. When I operate from the higher level of consciousness, I can
control thought patterns, think long term, make best decisions, delay impulse and instant
gratification an accept “what is.” I can live in the “now” instead of the reference of the past.
The Spiritual Child confirmed to me that inside me resides a childlike faith and spiritual
essence, long untended and neglected. Like an abandoned garden which once was flourishing
and productive, through lack the effort, care and cultivation I had become spiritually fallow
and impoverished. I had lost connective dialogue and relationship with God/The Higher
Power and was spiritually and emotionally disorientated, overwhelmed and insecure.
“Spirituality is an inner sense of relationship to a higher power that is loving and guiding.
The word we give to this higher power might be God, nature, spirit, the universe, the creator,
or other words that represent a divine presence. But the important point is that spirituality
encompasses our relationship and dialogue with this higher presence.” (Lisa Miller, p,25)

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Spiritual connection to a Higher Power could have spared me from much stress, anxiety, vice
like grip of fear, a cauldron of anger and resentment, and the black hole of despair and
hopelessness that trapped the light and essence of me. I would have been guarded against
depression because I would have had a greater sense of purpose outside of my
accomplishment and life would have meaning and purpose. These psychological conditions
contribute to a diminished quality of health via the mind/body connection and weakened
immune and endocrine system. “Specifically, research in medicine and psychology has found
that people with developed spirituality get sick less, are happier, and feel more connected and
less isolated. In the context of illness, people with a developed spirituality show positive
effects for resilience and healing. (Lisa Miller, p28) I would not have sought approval and
validation from those who could not genuinely give it to me, for they themselves had been
given none to give on. As non-believers, they did not have the capacity to connect to
God/Higher Power, and had no bedrock of faith that would provide them refuge. Had I
instead sought God/The Higher Power for approval and validation I would not have been
denied, and never felt left abandoned.
Finally, the book in the end presents a promising news and stresses on the fact that by being
awakened we are able to build a new earth which is not a utopia. This new earth comes from
the external world and is related and associated with the internal world. Ongoing egoless, we
are able to be in the surrendered state and with creating an oneness with our own selves and
with others. Therefore, the awakened individual we can change the earth as we would not be
able to separate the outer life without consciousness. The book mentions that we have already
taken a step forward in the direction and are able to arise as a new species on the planet.
Reading The Spiritual Child has led me back to the action of praying and meditating daily. It
has become the core of my spiritual hub, along with the practises of gratitude, acceptance,
patience and forgiveness. These blessings are soul sustenance and connection to the Devine
and Sacred. This has taken a conscious effort in the initial stages and resisting temptation to
capitulate to the familiar spiritual slothfulness. I still struggle with the lump of wanting to
hold on instead of forgiving. Through prayer I am aware that forgiveness releases the
pollution of the past and advances me towards spiritual salvation and restoration.
Paradoxically though I have moved forward spiritually I have also reverted and connected
again to the spiritual child me. Together we now live in a sacred and safe world where we are
never abandoned, needy or alone. The spiritual nourishment I receive through prayer helps
me function optimally and gives me courage to overcome the challenges of life. Fear has a
limited and healthier non-dominant space in my life now. In that respect psychology and
spiritually go hand in hand. Many psychological illnesses are fear based such as anxiety
disorders, phobias, panic attacks, OCD, PTSD and maladaptive fight or flight stress response.
Breathing techniques, teaching relaxation and certain treatment therapies to deal with fear
and anxiety are synonymous to mindfulness, meditation and prayer to me now.
Both Tolle and Miller advocate the importance and value of practising spiritually in daily life
as prayer or mindfulness and being in the now and present, “Infants and children are
inherently mindful: present and totally alert to life” (Miller, 2015, p, 114) “Presence is a state
of inner spaciousness, when you are present you ask: How do I respond to the needs of this
situation, of this moment?” (Tolle, 2005, p, 238) Meditation and prayer help us centre to the
present and now. Anxieties and traumas of the past fade and I am more involved in the now
and present and less invested in the story of how I arrived here.

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Reference
“A New Earth, Create A Better Life.” (Eckhart Tolle,2005)
“The Spiritual Child, The New Science on Parenting for Health and
Lifelong Thriving” (Lisa Miller, 2015)