In today's culture, the word ego is usually applied to dysfunctional personality traits. If a person is controlling, obnoxious or throws a temper tantrum, their ego is said to be to blame.

Dysfunctional attributes of the ego spring from the Old Reality of separation consciousness. Humankind has spent thousands of years exploring the effects of separation from other people, separation from other states of consciousness, and separation from the spiritual source within.

Separation consciousness causes deep-seated fears; fears that there will not be enough love, land, or resources. From these fears spring jealousy, greed and aggression. It is little wonder that, after thousands of years of nightmarish consequences, humankind is ready to move on to the healing phase of existence upon Earth.

The emerging New Reality brings heart-centered consciousness. The keyword of the new consciousness is integration, not separation. Over the coming decades and centuries, humankind will find ways to resolve differences and issues of separation in ways that are inspired by unconditional love and compassion. Violence may beget violence, but it is based upon the illusion of lack. Love begets love and, being based upon a very real component of Creation, it has the real power.

In the Old Reality, priests would work on being in control of their congregations by berating them with accusations that they are worthless sinners. These days, some teachers who claim to be spiritual berate their audiences with accusations that they have bad ego problems. In fact, they claim, having any ego at all is bad, bad, bad. People in the audience, even gentle souls with wonderful hearts, are then supposed to begin to doubt themselves. After all, they suppose, the allegedly enlightened teacher must know better than they. And, so, the worm of control begins to work its way into their minds.

The New Reality is not about power over anyone. It is about self-empowerment, and it's about power with everyone, not against them. The ego of a spiritual person is not a problem. It is an essential part of the human system, created expressly by the Creator of all life in order for it to experience self-consciousness from an infinite number of viewpoints.

Infinite Being is the all-encompassing consciousness from which the universe was created. Everything in the universe is made of consciousness. Just as each snowflake is unique, so is each person. Your primary purpose in life is to experience life from one individual, unique point of view.

You cannot cut off a part of yourself. The ego cannot be cast away and forgotten. It is your essential sense of identity. Even if someone were successful in casting away a part of themself, there would come a time when they would have to retrieve that lost part and integrate it back into themselves in a healthy, holistic manner.

You are an expression of Infinite Being as it experiences itself from all possible viewpoints. The best way you can serve yourself and Infinite Being, the source within us all, is to live your life to your own, personal, highest potential.

And be sure to celebrate who you are, because there is no one exactly like you in the entire universe.