Like many (most??? all???) ACIM students, I have used the term "my ego" to refer to the part of my mind that wants things or does things that are not (in my judgment) in my best interests/not for my greatest spiritual good. In my greater understanding, I know that cannot be true if, as I now know, there IS only ONE God, ONE thing, ONE force, ONE Mind in which we live and move and have our BEing, and EVERYTHING we experience in life IS for our greatest good.

In trying to find a better way to view the ego, I more and more frequently recognize how I WOULD have viewed things from a different perspective in the PAST, using the SAME mind I have now, but before it had learned to see another way. Science of Mind says "what you are looking FOR, you are looking WITH", another way of saying "the kingdom is within you". If that IS so, there never was and there cannot be a "part" that is separate from the whole.

Yesterday a dearly beloved friend used that same term - "my ego wants ...." to describe a supposed "conflict" within her mind. Though I knew there WAS no conflict, that "ALL works together for good", and that our human experience is part of the unfolding of our true self, I didn't have words to express the thought from a different perspective. I realized that we have become conditioned to view the ego as something separate from our true identity, but that is merely a LABEL we have placed on something we do not fully understand. The Freudian compartmentalization of our mind using that same term (ego, id and super-ego) also contributes to the "ego" confusion.

The solution was in my mind when I awoke this morning. ACIM defines the ego as "the BELIEF in separation", not a "thing" or condition at all, merely a mistaken BELIEF. Yet even when we KNOW that, using the term "my ego wants...." reinforces and perpetuates that false belief.

The new concept that appeared this morning was on awareness, or focus. While we remain unaware of our wholeness and completeness, we tend to FOCUS on what we know as real, or what APPEARS most real to our human senses. A picture of a young child with a red ball came to mind. In total innocence, the child happily focuses on the ball as the source of current joy and fun. If the ball were to roll into a busy street, that focus is so intense that the child will immediately rush after it in an attempt to regain that happiness without regard to the consequences. There IS no thought of traffic or danger, possession of the BALL is all that matters.

From the adult perspective, our consciousness is greater, our experience and awareness is larger, and we wisely stop the child, wait for the traffic to subside, and SAFELY retrieve the ball without risk of injury. In other words, we don't have to GIVE UP possession of the ball, or what we perceive as joyful, but ADD that to our greater joy and happiness.

Spiritual growth is not about giving UP the joys of the world, but accepting ALL as part of our wholeness and completeness, without fear or judgment. It is God's great pleasure (and therefore ours) to give us the "kingdom". All that IS is all there IS, and we are joyously ONE with that. And so it IS!!!