Everyone feels fear. It is built into our physical systems. One of the first responses of a newborn baby is “the startle response.” It serves as a protective mechanism and triggers fight or flight. At one point in our evolution it was useful but now, like the appendix or tonsils, we do not need it to the extent we did. It has become a plague of overthinking that brings depression and loss of morale.
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I am not talking about fear holding us back from doing dangerous and crazy things that scare us, such as jumping out of a skyscraper window on a dare. I am referring to the little voice in the head that stops us from fulfilling our potential because we are too scared to fail, get hurt, or look like a fool trying. The fear takes over ands somewhere we feel less of a person because we backed down.

Your mission in life may require you to speak in front of large groups and anxiety stops you. You would rather give up. It is then that you can realize that everyone feels fear about public speaking but they go ahead and do it anyway, in spite of their stage-fright. They find out they didn’t die from the experience and end up trusting themselves more. Next time is is easier. But if you quit just because you feel jittery, you will never fully realize your goals.

If you are a world class downhill skier, I am sure natural fear kicks in as you face the steep descent. But you know that this fear is an automatic response and you can get past it. Then, once you allow yourself to “feel the fear and do it anyway” (as Susan Jeffers said) a triumphant feeling replaces the fear. You can even use the fear as fuel for extra adrenaline to sharpen your skills.

Everything great that has ever been accomplished by people (and animals) was because they “felt the fear and did it anyway.” Otherwise, life is about cowering away in our shells, protecting ourselves from all kinds of imagined and real threats and never fully living free lives.

Rationality does not equal happiness. It can lead to the opposite of happiness.
If we analyze life on earth with a completely rational mind, we see that it is a painful joke in so many ways. A child is born, only to have some mixed experiences, reproduce as all animals are destined to do, and then die, usually painfully. That is the way life looks to the reasoning mind.
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What’s the point? Why go through all this suffering if we are just pawns of our genes’ propulsion to reproduce themselves? The rational mind cannot find comfort in Higher Reasons for why we are on this planet. So it looks for happiness to distract itself from the terror of its meaninglessness. It thinks it will find it in treasures and pleasures. But deep down, it also sees the old, forgotten man slowly limping down the street with is walker, and knows that this is his fate, too, one day.

Rationality is an admirable faculty of the mind when it is put to good use. But it can also be perverted and twisted, as we can see by all the evil dictators who have slaughtered millions for their “rational” reasons. But it does not equate to happiness on any level. The only thing that leads to happiness is happiness itself. We cannot get there by reasoning it all out.

If we allow ourselves to feel the natural happiness that rises within us, we will attract more happiness to us. Being miserable, even if it is rationally justified, is never the path to happiness. Happiness is a byproduct of doing something we love. It cannot be forced or reasoned into being but it comes naturally if we let it in.

Self-actualization is the ability to reach that higher place of consciousness, from which all our activities and creations originate. At this stage we are far beyond satisfying our basic needs for food, shelter, and social contact. We now are at a place where our full human potential can be realized.
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We are now free to be creative and innovative, profound and wise. We no longer have to slave for our daily food and we can go beyond the day-to-day survival game. And yes, it can be lonely there. Even though modern life offers so many comfortable advantages, not many people are ready to make the effort to go beyond the search for daily satisfactions. Or they don’t know how.

The media are screaming for more attention to our outer appearances and very little attention is brought to finding contact with our souls. Not a lot of economic value is placed on understanding who you are as an eternal being, endlessly connected with the underlying order of the cosmos. When was the last time you saw a spiritual master’s enhanced and filtered selfie go viral?
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Perhaps the rarity of self-realization makes it that much more precious. Yet everyone has the potential for it. For self-realization is never measured against what others achieve, but always relates to how much more we have grown within ourselves.

Confucius said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” This is because holding onto anger, past hurts, and upsets harms you. You are not free to live a life of joy and peace because you are constantly rolling around in the mud of what happened yesterday. The other person may be just fine with what they did, you are the one who is suffering. To add more suffering to an already suffering world is not a solution on the path of wisdom and understanding.

It is better to leave it to Karma and to the balance of the Universe if someone has wronged you. If you keep holding onto it, you are continuing the sorrow, the hurt, and the problem takes over your life. It is much kinder to yourself to let it go. It is not up to you to be the judge, the jury and the executioner. Other forces of the universe are at work to put things to right. Let them do their job and just live in peace.
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There will always be people who are cruel and hurtful based on their insecurities and evil intent. You don’t need to add to the world’s burden of distress. The evil can stop with you. And in that way you will build yourself up to be strong and able to handle life’s misfortunes without thinking you have to set. everything right. It is not up to you. Just be free and know that no one gets away with anything in a perfect Universe.

Asking, “What is the meaning of life?” is like asking what is the meaning of a flower. You can say that the meaning of a flower is its function—to attract insects to propagate the plant and to produce seeds and fruit. But this is not the meaning, it is its utility and purpose on a very practical level.

A flower is much more beautiful than the function it performs actually requires it to be. Merely attracting bugs and spreading its seed doesn’t require roses to display the richness and variety of colors and fragrances it produces. So if life had meaning, it wouldn’t need to go overboard with so much beauty, it’s simply enough for everything to serve its purpose in one big biological dance of birth, reproduction, and death.

Life is in and of itself. The human mind assigns whatever meaning makes sense to it at the time. Some people don’t even think about it, they just go through every day on the level of the insects: Running around, feeding and expelling food, driven by instincts they never examine or question,. Other people put a religious spin on the meaning of life. God has set out a path for our estrangement and reunion with Him and that is enough for them to know.

Some people think that because there is no meaning it’s all a big, horrible joke, that inevitably ends in disease and death. This is because the human mind demands a story. It wants a neat little beginning , middle, and end. It must assign a purpose to everything so it can feel in control of something that is way beyond its grasp. But to know that life just is, is very freeing. We can sit back and admire its beauty, ingenuity, and perfection without demanding that it stands for something else.

Viewing the huge amount of mental illness in our homeless population, learning of the school shootings by kids on drugs meant to treat mental illnesses, and knowing of the widespread number of people on anti-depressants as they trudge through their unhappy lives, I say that psychology today is a huge failure. It has resorted more and more to drugs that have limited effect:
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• People adapt to these drugs and need add-ons or more
• People who need to take anti-psychotic medication the most do not have the mental stability to be consistent in taking them
• Drugs are masking the underlying issues that are causing the maladaptive behavior

I understand that when a person is in a violent psychotic episode, drugs are important and necessary. But everyday drug use as a substitute for teaching and learning coping skills is a abdication of responsibility.

One of the problems is that psychology is dealing with our ego minds, which will always be dysfunctional. And the more we delve into it, the more entrenched in it we get. Our mother forced us to eat carrots and now we hate the color orange. Does it make us any happier or more fulfilled to know this after years of analysis? This is why the next step for psychology will be to bypass the human ego-mind altogether and allow people to find pathways to the one part of themselves that is not dysfunctional: Their Eternal Soul.

Insanity is believing everything the dysfunctional ego mind churns out. If we cater to this mind and live in it, we will be insane and act insane. Look at the planet today and see where the functioning of the ego mind has brought us. Therefore, psychology today, if it is to be at all effective, instead of a pill-pushing cop-out, must find ways to bring people in touch with their Souls, where there is always peace.

When we are babies we are all part of the huge, Universal Whole and do not see ourselves as separate entities. Our parents tell us that we have a name. This makes us an individual. As we grow, we begin to see that there is something that is self and there is something that is not-self. There is Me and there is not-Me.

Me wants certain things. Me is hungry. Me is upset when someone takes our toy away. Me feels all kinds of emotions and depends on others to fulfill our needs. We are too young to fend four ourselves, find food, clean up, and arrange for safe shelter. Me feels all kinds of emotions as Me begins to have demands. Me feels sad and lonely. Me wants attention.

As we grow further, we see that there are all kinds of things that distinguish the Me from the not-Me. Not only do our caretakers give us directions on how Me should behave but we also have schools, religious institutions, peer groups, and the society in which we are born. They all have their input into what Me should be and give flavor to what we see as the subjective self.

Inside us we are still that Universal Energy of Oneness but our minds have come to identify with all these messages of what the Me wants and what the Me should be. It also identifies as a separate body and its drives. That is the separate Me, what we call subjective consciousness. It wants things for itself. It sees things from its point of view. It is not longer content to bask in the bliss of Oneness. It needs to build itself up, add more to it, create an image, and constantly listen to the judging voice in the head to see if it measures up.

So, in a way, the Me is not so subjective after all. The problem is when we think we really are this little, separate Me and have lost touch with our Universal Soul. Often even the opinions that we think are our unique ideas, are just what our Me has been influenced to be or feel when we were too young to argue about it or protest. Me might feel a genuine distaste for certain kinds of people based strictly on what Me was been taught about them.
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It is natural for the subjective self to emerge. But let’s not believe that this is who we really are. It’s just a bi-product of being on the Physical plane. If we get bogged down into thinking this subjective self is real, we will lose contact with our eternal Souls and never find inner peace. Yet it will always be there, waiting for us to awaken to it.

The ego mind is never satisfied with what is. It always wants more, more, and more. It is like an empty hole that can never be filled. It is a hard-wired characteristic to never be satisfied with what it has and to seek something else.

On one level, this is a beneficial quality because it has spurred inventions and innovations. We aren’t satisfied with the dirt road and its muddy ruts when it rains. So we build a smooth paved road. Now we can travel longer and father, go more places, transport more goods, and build more traffic jams.

This is the way we are driven by our sense that what we have is not enough. Otherwise we would all sit in perfect bliss and allow ourselves to starve to death if food wasn’t immediately available. I mean it all ends in death anyway, so why struggle and strive? But on another level this drive for more is the cause of endless restlessness, feverish activity, crowds, noise, pollution, personal and corporate greed, and despoiling the planet.

Like so many things in life, in moderation the desire for more and more is beneficial. It brings with it new ideas and more creative ways of accomplishing goals. But when out of balance, the endless desire for more brings dissatisfaction and frustration.

New Age philosophy does not promote narcissism but narcissists can use New Age philosophy to promote their own agendas. Then again, narcissists can use any philosophy to get what they want out of others. And what narcissists want is adulation, praise, and validation from strangers to create a sense of self that continues to elude them.

We really can’t blame New Age philosophy for what people have interpreted it to be. In essence, New Age philosophy is innocent. It looks forward to a “New Age” of love and light through personal transformation and healing. There is nothing narcissistic about that.

Here is where the problem comes in: The New Age Movement encourages self love. As RuPaul says, “If you can’t love yourself, how are you gonna love anyone else?” There is so much truth in this. Taken the way it’s intended, it means we have to care enough about developing our own inner light before we are even capable of seeing it in another.

Loving yourself can be misinterpreted to mean a puffed up, conceited over-evaluation of your gifts and abilities. Or it can mean grab everything for yourself in a never-ending quest for more, more, and more. But this has never been stated as an aim of the New Age movement. Loving yourself is deep, respectful humility in your recognition of the magnificent Universe of which you partake. It has nothing to do with petty egos bolstering themselves with magical thinking.
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If people have cheapened the New Age movement by using it for their own ego gratification, it is nothing new. All the spiritual movements of this planet have been corrupted through egotistical human interpretation. The golden embroidery on velvet priestly vestments is very different from the unadorned robe and sandals Jesus wore in the desert. Charismatic, egotistical, and narcissistic individuals will use any belief system for their personal advancement. The New Age Movement is no exception.

​Eckhart Tolle’s teachings showed me, through historical examples, how insane the ego mind is. He points out the 100 million people killed by ego-minds behind a regime such as Communism alone. But not just killed. Beaten, imprisoned and tortured, brutalized beyond what any other animal on earth would do to another. And that’s just one ideology that has caused huge suffering on this planet. He points out others.

He analyzes the dysfunction of the individual ego-mind and how when it encounters other ego-minds becomes poisonous, violent, and rabid in a collective way. Then he shows how automatic this ego mind is. It starts as soon as we wake up. It runs in its channels—endlessly repetitive. It is automatic and repetitive. Like other organs—it does its own thing, but this time it is to our detriment.

This made me see how, if we don’t control this thing, this ego-mind, it will control us. The pancreas is automatic and repetitive but it will not do us harm unless it is sick. The ego-mind is sick from start to finish. Other functions of the mind work well for us, allow us to perform tasks and take care of business and create. But the ego part is like a spreading cancer and its only destiny is to destroy. This is what Eckart Tolle brought out so very clearly to me.