It is one thing to do good. Quite another thing, however, when the crafty ego within you seizes the good you do as a way to be revered. Mark Nepo
How does he know me so well?
This has been a significant challenge for me throughout my adult life. I have wanted so much to be liked…to be accepted…even to be “revered” that, when I have been motivated to do good for others, it has too often been, not for the sake of goodness itself, but as a means of auditioning for the praise of those whose opinions of me have mattered most.
Do their opinions really matter? Well…of course they do. But the more telling question is, Why do they matter to me? Furthermore, what in me wants so much to be liked…to be revered…that I would use the opportunity to do good as an opportunity to be good?
Am I not good already? Are YOU not good already?
When God finished his work in creation, he looked at it all and called it “Good.”
What God said here is as important as what he did not say. He did NOT say creation was PERFECT. Only that it was good.
I am good. So are you. But perfect? Complete? Finished?
I think you know the answer.
So how do I protect my higher self from the lower self’s (ego) insidious efforts to turn the good I long to do (my Divine nature) into an opportunity to win the approval of another?
First, be aware that this happens to the best of us. That includes you.
Second, accept that, while you are good, you are not yet perfect. Some of you are close. But, if you want to know just how enlightened you have become, advised one wise sage from the east, go spend a week with your parents. LOL!
Third, and most important, just observe your motivations. Train your higher self to observe your lower self. When Jesus said, “When I depart the Spirit will come and he will make plain to you all things” (John 14). “Make plain to me?” What does that mean? The Spirit will make me aware when the good I want to do is motivated by the desire to be revered instead of the desire to simply, and spontaneously, be useful.
This is the secret to happiness.
