Watch out for those gurus who tell you that, in order to become spiritual, you must first kill the ego. What would want to kill the ego but ego itself? And, anyway the ego is just the conscious version you have of yourself. Usually that's a false ego, a small component of your overall identity.
We identify with a label, like the name our parents gave us. "Oh, of course I know who I am, I'm David!" as if that's the end of the search. Or we identify with the relationship we have with another person. Mother, Father, sister husband, daughter. And we find ourselves conditioned to respond accordingly to that image we have of self.
You are not your body. If you've ever experienced near or clinical death, and found yourself out-of-the-body, you will know that for yourself.
You are not your sexuality, yet some of us identify so strongly with that false image that we assume the pathetic roles of red-neck macho or screaming queen. Other false images we cling to are our work roles and our social and economic positions. All of these are not SELF. When we attach to these "persona's" of masks, it makes it harder to attain self-realisation. We are too busy acting out roles.
The idea is not to kill the ego but to expand it until it includes all things. Because in reality there are no separations between the Creator and the created, you are as spiritual now as you will ever be. Sure, you can spend the rest of your life trying to become what you already are, and if that turns you on, well, go for it, have fun. Just try not to criticise or make judgements about those who do not conform to your concepts of 'being spiritual'.
To realise that you are indeed "the temple of God" we must let go of our childish concepts of God as being a bearded old man up in the clouds being bored to tears by eternal harp concerti. Letting go of that security blanket can be very, very lonely. St. John of the Corss refers to it as "The dark bight of the soul" but if you persist with your inner search, breaking down the false barriers, you will be flooded with realisation. Then, even the most mundane experiences of your ordinary waking day become touched with magic.
© David Hurst 1995
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