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MMW - March 18, 2017 - Transcending Ego Hello to each of you. We are here, now. We will begin. Today we will discuss the concept of "Transcending Ego." We will discuss what this means and why it is relevant as a concept in our teaching. Ego is different from Personality. Ego is a construct. It is a protector and is built purely from REACTIONS. In our system, the most obvious elements of Ego are the Chief Features. To address one's Chief Features is to begin the transcendence of Ego. However, there comes a moment for most of our students when the Chief Features seem to be dismantled, sometimes even absent entirely. Sometimes this is because the Chief Features become far more subtle and insidious, and sometimes this is because they are, in fact, no longer a factor. Ego is also different from Chief Features. Ego is not Personality and is not Chief Features, but both of these are deeply informed by Ego. Ego is the part of you that sorts all of your experiences that come as a result of Reactions. For a great deal of the life, Ego is hard at work because you do not start off with a great set of skills for conscious choice and conscious responsibility. This is something you must regain in each life. Until you learn to own the responsibility of conscious choice, you tend to be a walking set of nerves bombarded by stimuli. Some part of you must do the work of processing this. This is Ego. Because Ego is focused on sorting reactions to experiences, it very easily gets hijacked by Chief Features, which are ruled by reaction and defense. This is why Ego "gets a bad name" because it is traditionally understood as only hooked into Chief Features, or whatever other terms a system may use for describing the driving force of fear. One of the reasons we decided to speak on this subject is because many of you do the hard work of dismantling and transforming your Chief Features and then you continue to feel "something" that is not quite explained by the dynamics of Chief Features, but does pose a problem in your sense of functioning freely. This is because Ego remains in place and even as it is unhooked from the Chief Features, it is still hooked into everything you have ever stored from Reactions. Reactions are sorted into 3 areas by your Ego: your Instinctive Center, your Moving Center, and your Emotional Center. When the Ego sorts into your Instinctive Center, it could be said that this is your Unconscious Mind. This is where you store experiences that you deem require immediate defenses and protection from at all cost. This is hooked into the core of Chief Features. When Ego sorts into your Moving Center, it could be said that this is your Destructive Mind, or the part of you that further reacts with defensive measures that do more harm than good. This is the reactionary part of you that creates unending loops of reaction that creates a strong circuit between the Moving and Instinctive, or the Unconscious and Destructive Minds. When you take on the work of dismantling Chief Features, this is where most of your work is focused. This can take lifetimes to truly grasp and many never reach a place in a lifetime that is free from this loop until the later Soul Ages. So once you are Mature and Old and you are able to address this earlier and earlier in the lifetime, you are start to face the territory where Ego sorts your reactionary experiences into the Emotional Center. This is where things begin to be quite slippery and tricky and a brand new challenge for each lifetime. When Ego sorts into the Emotional Center, it could be said that this is your Permissive Mind. This is where you store experiences that you think define you, that make you feel good, that feel compelling and even "inspiring," and are very, very, very, very, very, seductive in their appeal and place in your life. This is where you find yourself entrapped by behaviors, but not particularly bothered by them because there is some sort of stimulating pay off. This is where, for example, "love" gets defined in terms of attachment, territorialism, jealousy, envy, ownership, "passionate" and "romantic," with many finding that if these terms are not a part of intimacy then it must not be Love. This is where laziness is permitted, and compartmentalization is justified, and "outrage" is often fueled by. This is the part of you who permits you to "be who you are" even if this is clearly confining and constraining or even paining you. The Ego, itself, directs from your Intellectual Center. The Ego is doing nothing "bad" or wrong, and it will always be a part of you. It has to be. It has too much life by the time you realize it is there. It is a construct, so it can be completely obliterated, but most cannot function when this happens. To address the slippery and tricky world of the Permissive Mind is often a practice in futility. To dive into this "world" of definitions and permissions and justifications can be seen in the struggles of Sisyphus. Sisyphus is the story of the Permissive Mind and its exasperating and exhausting punishment for addressing it. We share this with you to validate its challenge, but not to dissuade you. It is challenging. It is nearly impossible to undo the patterns instilled by the Permissive Mind, but it can be done. And this is where "transcending the ego" comes into play as the solution. You may not be able to dive deep into the engraved patterns that have been permitted, but you can rise above these, so to speak, or transcend them. This work to transcend Ego is most easily done by paying attention to key reactions in your daily life: AVOIDANCE, ADDICTIONS, REPETITIONS, and DISAPPOINTMENTS. All of these reactions are easily justified and often "make sense," but may be keeping you locked from creating or remembering who you truly are beyond the confines of Ego. We are not speaking of such things as avoiding being hit by a car, or the favorite pastry, or the routines of work, or the dislike of a movie. We are speaking of those things you know quite well are reactions from you that you permit, but subtly know do not serve who you are. Each of you will experience all of these across the lifetime, of course, but most of you will find one or two of these reactions as a foundation to your continued anchoring into a temporal or false identity. Personality lives on beyond the body, even as it is born of the biology of the body. However, Ego dies with the body. This is another reason it is often overlooked as a priority to address. And we can say the same to you: if you wish not to address this level of Ego and practice transcendence, you will live. This is why it is not at the core of our teaching. If the Chief Features are dismantled, that is most of the work of freeing oneself from any chains in a lifetime. But for those looking to explore further and to experiment with fairly unknown territory beyond your comfortable identity, you can begin this path. The Key Reactions can be helpful for your catching yourself and then making a conscious choice in RESPONSE to the reaction, which leads to a path of transcendence. But in addition to that core practice in your every day life, you may also wish to experiment with two other paths of transcendence: ONE - "psychedelic drugs" or any natural drug that alters the perception of the user in a way that dismantles Ego for a period of time. This path allows one to directly experience this state and gives one a seed within that can be nurtured while in a daily frame of mind as the opportunities arise. This path is one that can be quite effective, but it can also become its own challenge since it can become addictive. In addition to this, the dismantling of Ego in such a way can cause the Ego to reinforce itself in its daily state, creating a cycle of drug use that never truly frees you. It can also generate deep grief as you experience the dance between loss of beloved Ego and then loss of pursued transcendence, back and forth as you explore this path. This path is best pursued with guidance, or with great periods of time between that allows for you to do the conscious work necessary to consciously choose transcendence. TWO - meditation - we know that many of our students are not particularly drawn to meditation, but if the appeal of transcendence is there, then the work of meditation [is] necessary. Meditation can be of any style, from the movement of the body to the stillness of the body, whichever feels most appealing, as long as there is conscious focus. Meditation is a state that uses thought to reach a state of no-thought. This is why it is often suggested to focus on breath, or the flame of a candle, because you cannot stop your thoughts, but you can focus them on something that is nothing. Start with 3 minutes and do this randomly for 30 days, then expand to 5 minutes for 30 days. There is no rush. As the Ego resides in the Intellect, this practice could be seen as a way to give your Ego a rest, not as a means to destroy or put it to sleep. The more rest your Ego enjoys, the less it feels compelled to protect you in ways that require no protection. WORKSHOP - What we will ask of each of you now is to look at the list of Key Reactions and see if you know immediately which one or two are at the heart of your Permissive Mind that keeps you anchored and distracted from Transcendence. You may answer as you wish. Janet: AVOIDANCE Maureen: ADDICTION Bobby: Avoidance/dissapointment ClaireC: DISAPPOINTMENTS. VIP: AVOIDANCE and DISAPPOINTMENTS, for the permissive mind specifically DianHB: Disappointments - I would've added Avoidance up until recently, but the speech workshop I did broke through a lot of it. Johanne: avoidance and disappointment Though you may have more than one, and relate to all, it is only ONE that you need use as your Key Factor. This is because choosing only one reduces the stress of this path, and focusing on one helps strengthen any efforts that may randomly arise to address other areas. This is vitally important: the path to transcendence is STRESS-FREE. That may seem ironic when the emphasis is on addressing reactions that may be trapping you, but these are trappings that you "like." They are comforting and familiar, but you know they are trappings. If you are in any state of mind to consider altering how you respond to these key factors, then you are more than likely already in a state of mind that is looking for that "something" that you know was missing from your sense of freedom and function in your daily life. ClaireC: Michael, can you explain that further? How does one "like" being disappointed? or do you mean we like our response to being disappointed? ClaireC: Never mind. I misunderstood the question, that it relates to the Permissive Mind. I will change that then to Avoidance. The Disappointment we speak of here is one that is fueled by righteousness. There are two ways that one can be disappointed by something even as simple as a film. One way is to truly acknowledge that it fell short of your expectations. This is healthy. The other way is to measure it against one's sense of righteousness and this can feel good because expressing disappointment can feel right and shore up one's sense of self. ClaireC: Like Criticism. Criticism can be constructive or destructive, so it would be the destructive criticism. Maureen: May I ask a general question pertaining to transcending ego and how it may work with Chief Features? Of course. Maureen: Michael, does transcending ego have anything to do with exploring the 4 other realms of Chief Features? If this is too large a question for today I will save it for another time. I’m just very curious. You said this to me about the other 4 realms: MEntity: It could be said that a Chief Feature affects a relationship realm of some sort, with the Primary affecting the relationship between the self and the world; the Secondary affecting the relationship between the self and other; the Tertiery affecting the relationship between the self and body. MEntity: A quaternary realm would be the synthesis of these three realms into what might be considered your relationship between self and self, or your internal monads and self-karmic realm. MEntity: A quinary realm would be a new sort of triad that is the realm of relationship between self and the past/memory; A senary realm would be the realm of relationship between the self and the future/imagination; A septenary realm would be between the self and the present/consciousness; and a new syntheses from this triad would be in the realm of relationship between self and soul. MEntity: If one were to visualize this, we can offer a simplistic image of a cone that is wider at the base, with the funnel toward the middle of a Being, representing the lower triad and its synthesis, while an inverted cone, wider at the top, would be the higher triad and its synthesis. MEntity: The meeting ground, then, is "you." MEntity: We share these "realms" because they are areas that a Chief Feature could also affect, and do, but usually in much more fleeting ways. MEntity: Because the realms beyond the synthesis of self and self are more "spiritual," or at least less tangible, the effects are far more fleeting and slippery. Yes, it is all intrinsically connected and we can elaborate upon this in further exchanges. Maureen: Thank you. WORKSHOP - When considering your primary Key Factor, how daunting or encouraging do you feel your path to transcendence is ahead of you? Maueen: Daunting. It's to do with sleep resistance. DianeHB: After the comment about Disappointments, I'm not sure it's my Key Factor. I would say it comes up from time to time but isn't a defining thing for me. Avoidance was more likely a Key Factor up until recently, but doesn't seem to be anymore. I'm having a hard time pinpointing one now. Bobby: Well... there ARE other lifetimes VIP: I'm still not sure whether I chose the "correct" key factor - I first chose avoidance because it's "what I do", but then I realized that addictions are what I do that give me the kind of fake inspiration associated with the Permissive mind. Janet: I think I can get past avoidance, but I have a question about meditation in connection with transcending this. Johanne: encouraging even if it is slowww ClaireC: I will meditate on this Maureen, we can work further with you in new contexts to help with this struggle. Maureen: Sounds good! VIP: So in those terms, thinking about transcending Avoidance is very daunting due to fear - thinking about transcending Addictions is also daunting, but less so, because it "only" involves facing myself, and not another person or people. Diane, relatively speaking, you are nearing Transcendence. It has been a priority for you for 5 years, even if you have not realized it, though we think you are quite aware. DianeHB: Yes, I realize it. I've been doing the psychedelic method for several years, too, without realizing what it was. ViP, you cannot choose a wrong factor, but you can choose one that seems "most fun" to tackle. The approach is more satisfying when done with enthusiasm and curiosity than as a bewildering or overwhelming task. Bobby, we concur. Janet, what is your question? Janet: I often 'zone out' into a no-thought state without trying and recently learned a methodology for consciously achieving this state. But what is the benefit of a state of no-thought in connection to transcending ego? I'm not sure how it helps Ego to just have the rest -- unless it's the timing of the meditation that is important? Break the cycle of thoughts/reactions? In terms of countering avoidance, should there be a decision made ahead of time on the 'purpose' or 'focus' of the meditation -- not to force thought but to allow for whatever happens? Janet: It seems connected to allowing for intuition. Let us be clear that there is a difference between "zoning out" and "conscious focus." Zoning out is diffuse and borderline sleep, whereas conscious focus, or meditation, is a wakefulness that is different from your waking state. Janet: Ah — I meant in terms of intense focus on a project. I call it logic land. The benefit of this meditative state is that the Ego LEARNS. It usually has no moment for learning or evolving because it is so automated. It works. It does what it is supposed to do. It is left alone. Janet: I see. That makes sense. The meditative state for the EGO could be likened to a person who works very hard finally being able to sit down and enjoy that which he or she has been working so hard for in the first place. Most Egos do not get this opportunity and spend lives as slaves to the body, so to speak. Most importantly, the Ego learns that it will not die if it rests. So two things are happening here: the ego learns that it can enjoy life as a PART of the biology, not just a protector of it, embracing true pleasure over sorting stimulation, and it learns that it will not die from too much pleasure. There is no need to be specific to a Key Factor when meditating. Simply meditate. Find a meditation that works for you. The benefit will show up in your moments of reaction where you suddenly remember that you have a choice. ClaireC: Mindfulness Meditation is very popular. Do you concur, Michael? Yes, Mindful Meditation is quite popular, but we dare describe what we suggest as Mindless Meditation. What is often considered "mindful" is simply more to think about. What we speak of is reducing thought to a singular focus that is not concerned with meaning or "mindfulness," but the very simple state of existence. ClaireC: Thank you for that explanation. That is very helpful. Yes, VIP. VIP: What is the relationship, if any, between the Unconscious, Destructive, and Permissive minds, and the "inner child"? VIP: I realize there isn't really a definition of "inner child" but hopefully my meaning can be seen. VIP: (also, if the "workshop" part for today wasn't done yet, I'd like to follow up with the rest of it with you in another session later on.) We would define the "inner child" as the inherent and persistent innocence of an individual that cannot be destroyed, but can only be denied or buried. The Ego and its sorting of experiences is all about protecting that inner child. The irony is that it is often the Ego that buries or denies the inner child. VIP: Wonderful definition. VIP: I did think that "innocence" would be at the heart of it. The workshop for this discussion has already been in progress. Each you may find what we covered here to be a bit familiar, not necessarily in terms, but in the back of your minds. We looked to this workshop as a way to fill in this undercurrent of motivation so that you had words for it, direction, and tactics, if you choose to harness the momentum. ClaireC: I had decided to start meditating again. Thank you for the inspiration, Michael. Each of you present here, and many of our students, are on this path, even if slowly, even if daunted, even if without knowing it. It was always going to be your "next step" in this life. Those of you on this path are more concerned with your fluidity and power of choice over your attachment to a static identity. In a month where the emphasis is on pleasure, it is a beneficial time for considering this insight and practice. We must conclude here for today. Transcending Ego is not necessary, or urgent. It is an option. It may not change your life, but it can change how you create and choose your way through life. Good day to each of you. Goodbye, for now.

MMW - May 19, 2018 - You And Your Inner Voices MEntity: Hello to each of you. We are here, now. We can begin. Today we are asked to speak on the subject of your "inner voices." Every person will have a multitude of "voices" rising from within themselves and this can be quite confusing at times. There will be the voices of your False Personality, True Personality, Essence, your various Guides, the voices left from Imprinting, and the voices of Fear and Love, etc. and your Core Voice. For younger fragments these voices meld into a simplified and often single voice that is assumed to be one's own voice and all choices and prompts are led by that inner voice. For older souls, it becomes clear that there are a multitude of voices within and they are not always in harmony with each other or with reality. The younger soul can ignore that differentiation, but the older soul seeks to understand this and learn from it, heal from it. The Psyche can only hear so many voices, regardless of how many sources there are. We will not be addressing the fractured mind and mental illness today that shatters the organization of input. What we discuss today is the average mind, and in particular, the average mind of the older soul. For most fragments, regardless of the number of sources, there are only 12 paths for those resources to be funneled. This helps the individual to remain whole and centered, even as these voices may become conflicting and confusing. These can be referred to as the 12 Paths of Inner Voices, but it can also be referred to as The 12 Inner Voices." 12 may even seem rather high for your count of Inner Voices, but there are always far more than 12 resources within you. - Keep in mind that you are not limited to your inner voices. Each of you have a multitude of outer voices, as well. Having this internal system of 12 paths to organize the input is necessary for sanity. This system reflects the Support Circle Positions. However, these pathways can be corrupted or distorted from various experiences and this can change a pathway of inner support into a pathway of inner sabotage. We will share the 12 Inner Voices now, along with how they tend to show in Positive and Negative ways. LOVE: +Enthusiasm -Desperation KNOWLEDGE: +Curiosity -Anxiety COMPASSION: +Empathy -Paralysis MENTOR: +Receptive -Denial BEAUTY: +Awe -Escape CHILD: +Risk -Reckless HUMOR: +Lighthearted -Dismissive DISCIPLINE: +Considerate -Cruel ANCHOR: +Wisdom -Trapped HEALER: +Responsible -Interfering ENLIGHTENMENT: +Breakthrough -Breakdown MUSE: +Aspirational -Exhausted (or Numb) And finally, the CORE VOICE that manages and navigates all other voices when the True Personality and Essence are aligned - POWER: +Choice -Reaction This system filters all voices of input to your life, both internally and externally. You will seamlessly funnel the voices to be those that, for example, support LOVE or corrupt LOVE, or support HUMOR or distort HUMOR, etc. For most fragments, 3 of these Voices tend to be brought to the surface for priority consideration, depending on life goals, circumstances, events, context, relationships, etc. For example, if someone is interested in a life of Healing, then the Voice of Healing will tend to be a priority. This means that the healer will tune into all input that supports this path of healing, which means that the voices will be prompting a sense of Responsibility for all that one can be and a capacity to respond appropriately, which is how one heals and invites healing. However, this may be corrupted by voices that tell you that the only way to heal yourself or another person is to Interfere, which translates into someone else doing the work for you, or you doing the work for someone else. This person would know that her inner Voices are healthy if they are prompting a sense of Responsibility for differentiating between what she can and cannot heal on her own or for another person, as well as reconsider all of the voices that tell her that she needs to be rescued or that she must save everyone from themselves. For most fragments, the daily life tends to be navigated by the Love, Knowledge, and Compassion Voices, showing up as Enthusiasm, Curiosity, and Empathy, or as Desperation, Anxiety, and Paralysis. For those who paying attention to people, to the world and world events, Mentor, Beauty, and/or Child tend to be incorporated in some way with Voices supporting Receptivity, Awe, and Risk, or distorting one's participation in the world through Voices of Denial, Escape, and Recklessness. For those who work on long-term goals and collaborations or who are generally social and accessible by choice or by circumstance, the Inner Voices of Humor, Discipline, and/or Anchor tend to come into focus bringing Lightheartedness, Consideration, and Wisdom, or they corrupt and distort this by being Dismissive, Cruel, and/or Trapped. For those who tend to be in positions of service, teaching, healing, counseling, etc. the Voices of the Healer, Enlightenment, and/or Muse come into focus with support for Responsibility, Breakthroughs, and Aspirations, or they are distorted and corrupted Voices that emphasize Interference, Breakdowns, and/or Exhaustion. The one who gives final voice to all of these voices is the Core Voice, or the Voice of POWER, who will support and encourage CHOICE, or push one into REACTION. WORKSHOP: Though you may have questions for clarification, as you have read through these descriptions, which do you feel are your Voices of Priority, or the ones that seem to be most familiar to you? How would you describe the ratio for each in terms of Supportive/Distorted, e.g. COMPASSION 75% Empathy, 25% Paralysis (you can shorthand with Compassion 75/25) You may respond here as you determine this, or comment that you choose not to do so at the moment. Uma: I think my Voices of Priority are relative to whom I am relating because they all seem familiar, and I also think I am 90/10% Positive if not more in my daily life Bobby: I feel more comfortable of the positions than I do of the percentages but here goes. Compassion: 60/40, Child:70/30, Humor: 75/25 DianeHB: Knowledge 50/50, Compassion 50/50, Anchor 60/40 -- I feel like it's been more of a struggle to stay in the positive pole in the last couple months, so this is how I've been experiencing them recently. MichaelE: In most of my life to this date I have prioritized Love, Knowledge, and Compassion, but recently I have been moving into using Healer, Enlightenment, Muse. So I will give the percentages for those. Healer 50/50; Enlightenment 75/25; Muse 25/75 Maureen: It's so hard to choose. I feel like all the positions have been activated over the last few years. Some are more challenging than others. For right now: Compassion (95/5), Healer (90/10), Love (60/40). MichaelE: Well, Muse is more like 40/60 these days. I am getting better. MEntity: Your assessments are not static or meant to be conclusive, but a starting point in how you determine if you are listening to the voices of support or the voices of distortion. It is merely a practice in self-reflection and awareness so that the cacophony of voices are not overlapping, but find some sensible and useable organization. CONTINUING: Maureen: Trump and the world chaos is what's put the monkey wrench into Love for me. I lean to Desperation because of world affairs far too often these days. MEntity: It is important to note that the Voices of Distortion are not meant to be ignored or avoided. The difference between the Voices of Support and the Voices of Distortion is that those of distortion are not permanent and they are never yours. They are never your own voice. However, they are voices that you considered to be valuable or meaningful at some point, even if they were distorted and corrupted. These tend to be voices of fear that were either told to you from others with corrupted inner voices, or told to you as a distorted means of protecting you, or misheard voices that were never questioned. Most of your distorted inner voices are likely only seeking to protect you. With that in mind, as you explore this system for understanding your inner voices, it can be helpful to first ask which of the 12 paths a voice is either trying to support or trying to protect. If you find that the voice is seeking to protect you, you are automatically returning your Core Voice to Power through Choice, rather than through Reaction. From that state of Power, you can then choose to give more weight to the truth of the supportive voice, and give comfort to the voice of protection. Comfort is almost always received fairly well by a negative voice when the Core Voice comes from a place of Power/Choice. It may need to be repeated several times across time, but if in every instance you are choosing and not reacting, the voice of protection will begin to see that you are safe, and begin to quiet. Uma: Michael, can you define Psyche as used in the beginning of this session? MEntity: WORKSHOP: Of all of the voices, which do you feel rises in distortion the highest and/or the most often as a means of protecting you? (we will respond to questions after this) And which do you feel is your most supportive and consistent voice of support? DianeHB: Definitely Knowledge/Anxiety for protection and maybe Mentor/Receptive for support. Bobby: Compassion (-) Paralysis as a means of protecting and Humor (+) Lighthearted for support Uma: Anxiety, Paralysis and Escape are the most frequent hecklers, while Empathy, Considerate and Responsible are consistent cheerleaders Maureen: Love is the most protective or distorted... showing up (these days) as my love for "the world". Compassion is my most consistent voice of support. MichaelE: Knowledge/Anxiety; Healer/Responsible MEntity: As you look at your array of inner voices through this system, do you feel you have more of a say, so to speak, in how these can be utilized, welcomed, understood, calmed, etc? Maureen: Yes Uma: Yes DianeHB: Yes MichaelE: Yes Bobby: Well... Paralysis seems like a biggie for me and was suprised to see it associated with Compassion but I'll take all of this and maybe work on it from a different angle now. MEntity: There is no need for our assessment of each of you because part of the work of listening to or calming your inner and outer voices is your own self-assessment. This same form of assessment can be used for your outer voices, as well. Is your friend speaking in terms of support or distortion? Is your family contributing input that is supportive or distorted? Listening to the world through this system of understanding can help you to raise the voices of support and calm the voices of fear. ****QUEUE IS OPEN FOR QUESTIONS**** Uma: Actually, Michael I would like your assessment of my self-assessment: that gives me the most understanding of where my blindspots are. Uma: as well as your definition of Psyche MEntity: We will not weigh in on your assessment as that would defeat the point of what we seek to convey as part of this workshop. However corrupted one's inner voices may be, this method of self-assessment is immune to the effects of that corruption because all voices of corruption are only seeking to protect you. When you take a moment to reflect and gain understanding and lend value to these inner voices, even the most distorted voices see this as an act of self-care that is immediately approved. Our only feedback would be that you are correct, because you cannot not be. As for the term "psyche," we use this term interchangeably with MIND, or even "spirit" as this is the meeting place of Emotion and Intellect. In other words, it is a term to describe the combined functions of the Intellect and Emotion. Uma: Does Ego correlate with the POWER position, sorting experiences/perceptions from those voices? MEntity: As for blindspots in your self-assessment, none of you will have these when it comes to assessing inner voices because inner voices are not linked to perceptions, but to receptions. One's perception of the self and the world can have blind spots, but one is never deaf to inner voices. You will hear all of them. However, you will tend to give greater meaning and value to some voices over others for various reasons, and this is where this self-assessment helps you to see how you do this, and how to change this if necessary. Yes, Bobby. Bobby: Since you're using Paralysis as the distorted voice of Compassion, I'm not entirely clear I suppose on how/why this is someone else's voice. MEntity: We choose the term Paralysis because this is the voice that tells you that you cannot make a difference. Every fragment inherently knows that one can make a difference, even if incrementally or slowly or later in time, but the soul never assumes it is helpless or does not matter. If you are paralyzed by sensitivity, caring, wishing to help or make a difference and feel you can do nothing or not enough, it is not your voice. It is a voice that comes from those who have convinced you that it is someone else's problem, or that it is better to do nothing than to fail at trying, etc. It can also be the voice that weighs the difference between convenience and compassion and chooses the comfort of convenience. It is often a distorted form of self-care (or compassion) that is wrapped in unnecessary self-preservation. MEntity: Does this make sense? Bobby: That definitely rung a bell MichaelE: Yes MEntity: Uma, yes, the Ego correlates to the Voice of Power. We have never disparaged the existence of the Ego. It is necessary and should never be rejected or suppressed, but understood and integrated as a more responsible and conscious driver seat of the personality. Uma: trying and failing to make a difference and recognizing that one cannot build a bridge (as you told me regarding my sister) are different things MEntity: Ego can come from a place of Power through Choice, or through Reaction. The Ego that most wish to suppress is that of Reaction. Uma: yes, I understand what you are saying about Ego and that clarifies it for me MEntity: Teachings that focus on the diminishing of Ego rise from Young Soul paradigm where the Ego is almost entirely driven by Reaction. Uma: bingo! Uma: most of my previous teachings were from the Young Soul paradigm MEntity: And yes, there is a difference between Surrender to forces greater than you vs determining one cannot make a difference. Embracing Surrender when forces are greater than you actually helps one to make more of a difference because she can focus on where she can make a difference rather than determine she cannot make any difference at all. One is a self-assessment that refines how and where one can make a difference and one is giving up altogether. Uma: I see that and totally agree that that is the only way forward. MEntity: This speaks to the parable about the man who walked along the beach tossing stranded starfish back into the ocean and being asked why he would do such a thing since there were thousands stranded and his actions ultimately did not matter. His response is that "it matters to this one." This is how Essence functions. To ignore taking any action because one can only make a little difference is a corrupted voice. Yes, Diane DianeHB: Similar to Bobby's question, can you explain how Anxiety is the distorted voice of Knowledge? MEntity: We chose the term Anxiety because it is a tornado mix of knowing too little and feeling too much about it. This voice arises from those who taught you that your feelings (or theirs) matter more than the truth. It is the voice that taught you that worry is a benefit and a sign that you are participating. It was taught to you as a solution for not being certain or feeling safe. It is a way of doing something without knowing what to do. Does this make sense? DianeHB: Yes, thank you MEntity: Final question - Michael MichaelE: If someone is struggling with moving out of a distorted voice, is there a way that someone else can assist them? Such as responding in an external supportive version of that voice? MEntity: Yes, if you are the one with the knowledge of this system, you can more carefully bring a voice of support to another, and also more carefully listen to those voices of support around you. One does not need this system as a means for determining what is supportive or what is distorted, however. Supportive voices are always invitations (even if they are strong invitations), whereas voices of distortion are always imposing and forceful. Supportive voices have listened, and distorted voices never listen. As long as your assistance is invitational, it is supportive. This may or may not be successful to your standards or expectations when helping another, but it is always worth offering. We will conclude here for today. Your inner and outer world are in a constant state of teaching. It is up to you what you choose to listen to and learn. Good day to each of you. Goodbye, for now.