Evolutionary Spirituality and Evolving Beyond the Ego - Inspiring Real Change

I listened to an online introduction on evolutionary spirituality and evolving beyond the ego led by Craig Hamilton earlier this month (April 2010). Craig is an amazing speaker (and seeker) who shared many insights on evolutionary spirituality and evolving beyond the ego. This article is second in a series of three.

In the first article on this topic, Craig shared that despite his 13 years of spiritual work and involvement in top-rate spiritual gatherings, no real change happened in that profound way he knew was possible. He was still reacting out of his old patterns and reverting back to his old self.

Craig claimed that the ego (the part of ourselves susceptible to collective, ancestral conditioning) has an agenda opposite to that of the divine. For example, we don't want to change our habits because we don't want to go beyond our comfort zone; we'd rather keep things small, familiar and comfortable than take a chance on living a transformed life.

Craig said that the idea that radical change can happen has been pretty much written off, even in the highest spiritual circles. But in spite of the world's resignation, deep down he knew something more was possible, he knew there was an extraordinary opportunity available and that this change didn't have to take a long time. The answers, he felt, were in evolving beyond the ego.

"How do you transcend this powerful motivating force that has its hands on the steering wheel of human experience?" was a question that motivated deep inquiry in him and inspired the answer of evolving beyond the ego.

"There's a part of the self that has nothing to do with the ego, that doesn't need to be healed, that's not stuck, that cares for the greater good but most of the time it's in the back seat," Craig said. "If we can awaken it and allow it to drive our life we can take a radical leap beyond ego and never look back."

I am intimately familiar with this kind of awakening because it's what happened to me. Craig and I may use slightly different terminology and he is more scholarly than I (wish I could articulate as well as he), but I have some ideas and insights that complement his body of work.

Rather than evolving beyond the ego, however, I call the process I experienced reconnecting and integrating with the higher self. It is more a matter of the integration of the two parts, of the conscious mind learning the agenda of the higher self and learning to trust it enough to "get behind the plan," so to speak.

Yes it's true; the higher self is the part of us that always had the upper hand when it comes to human spiritual evolution, not the ego as many have claimed. Furthermore, the divine plan, the higher self's agenda, is working perfecting and exactly on schedule. It's just that up until now (in a cycle that is to end around December, 2012), the higher self's priority was to learn through the firsthand experiencing of--how can I put it?--the "school of hard knocks." In fact, the reason the higher self's plan worked so well was that the ego mind was not conscious (of the higher self's plan). (You would not remember planning your life before you were born.) Anyway, I can pretty much promise you the higher self is of the opinion that the ego has been doing its job brilliantly.

I suppose you could then blame the higher self, but that would be jumping to a false conclusion. When you get to know the higher self's priorities and motivations firsthand, you can't stay angry at it for long for you'd be filled with a deep awe and love and appreciation for all of creation, a love and appreciation that would not have been possible had it not been for a "wide range" of experiences on Earth.

I experienced my awakening not because I had a conscious intent to evolve beyond my ego--I didn't, certainly not in those terms. I was more interested in my higher self's perspective. Furthermore, it was in my higher self's plan to place me in a predicament where I had no choice but to go within to look for the answers (there was a good chance I could actually find them). I was one of those who knew the answers were nowhere to be found in the collective conditioning. Really, I just wanted to solve my own problems, and if I could help people with what I discovered then all the better.

I know this is where we're all headed. I also feel we are headed for some challenging times ahead, really soon. In fact, I just got a timely "alert" in a newsletter (of channeled material) as I write this article, April 26. The message was channeled by Nancy Tate and she said, "...dear ones we see into the future of your lives in the next few months and we see that you are going to be faced with some events that you will rise up from, and will rally round together and build a new earth from. These events are seismically necessary and as they wend their way over and through the earth, you will be able to see within yourselves the part that you will play in holding the earth in your arms and hearts...You will see what you are capable of doing on all levels of your being...It is all coming together now."--Nancy Tate

These kinds of messages are often more metaphoric than literal, but I do believe we are headed for some "earth-shaking" events soon that will catalyze real change (and inspire evolving "beyond the ego")--which is good news, actually; it's what we all wanted. Getting yourself as familiar as possible with what is going on and reconnecting and integrating with your higher self is what you can do to help yourself and others in the trying times ahead.