16 - H4H News: Tuning Into Essence with Emotional Awareness

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

We’ve been talking about how to tune out the loud, demanding voice of the ego and tune into the still, small voice of Essence. We learned a couple practices to help us with this: mindfulness and meditation.

We ended our last broadcast suggesting that the ego not only uses thoughts to distract us from the present moment where Essence dwells but also often also adds a splash of emotion. This makes its thoughts “sticky” and therefore more difficult to ignore. So emotional awareness is another practice we can use to release those “sticky” feelings.

Many people have an unhealthy relationship with their emotions: We either hate them or love them.

When we hate them, we resist them too much, and they can’t be resolved. So, if we’re angry about something, and we refuse to accept it, the anger and the story behind it gets pushed down into our subconscious where it festers and eventually causes mayhem in our lives.

When we love them, we honor them so much that we identify with them. We say, “I am angry,” and then that anger and the story behind it becomes who we are, and then we end up going through life an angry person, which isn’t pleasant for us or the people around us.

So, when we hate or love our feelings, we get “stuck” with them.

A healthier way to deal with our emotions is to accept them, which doesn’t necessarily mean that we agree with them or the story behind them but that we accept the fact that we are experiencing them – because we are. We can simply say, “I am feeling angry.”

You see, we can’t deal with emotions that we refuse to admit we are experiencing or that we have our identity wrapped around so much that we can’t step outside of them and objectively look at them.

Once we admit that we are experiencing something, then we can simply say, “I wonder what thoughts I am believing that are generating these feelings?” Then we can explore the “story” behind the feelings, whether there is any validity to the story, and whether there is any wise action that can be taken.

We might discover there is something reasonable we can do to resolve the feelings, or we might discover that the only thing to do is to learn to accept a situation we can’t do anything about. We can be angry about being stuck in traffic, but unless our car can fly, we really have no sane choice but to accept the situation – and our feelings about it.

We hope you enjoyed these Hope for Humanity broadcasts and found them enlightening, inspiring, and full of hope! Stay tuned to Interfaith Community Fellowship for continued daily inspirational posts about humanity’s awakening consciousness, and never give up hope!

15 - H4H News: Tune Into Essence with Meditation

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

We’ve been talking about the difference between listening to Essence and listening to the ego, and most of us would probably prefer to tune into the still, small, gentle voice of Essence than to the incessant, loud, demanding voice of the ego.

We learned that practicing mindfulness is one way that we can learn to tune out the ego and tune into Essence. Another way is by practicing meditation. What is meditation?

Mindfulness is actually a form of meditation. I consider mindfulness a more informal mode of meditation. We practice mindfulness in our daily lives when we pause to be aware of the present moment and the bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions that we are experiencing within it.

The practice of meditation is more deliberate and structured, and it can help us to be more mindful in our daily lives. When we meditate, we usually stop all motion – except for what necessary to sustain life, like breathing. Then for an extended period of time – perhaps 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or longer, we anchor our awareness in something.

Beginners are usually encouraged to anchor their awareness in their breath. So, for the amount of time that you choose, you focus your attention on your breath, following each inhalation and exhalation from start to finish. If your mind wanders, simply bring it back to focus on the breath without judgment or commentary. That’s the hard part because the ego will definitely judge our efforts and will have plenty to say about them.

That’s what the ego does, so part of meditation is accepting the thoughts and feelings that arise, letting them go, and returning the focus on the anchor – time and time again. That’s what the practice is all about – learning to not get “hooked” by the ego’s thoughts and the feelings they generate and to return our awareness to the present. In this way, we learn how to not let the ego run our lives.

There are many ways to practice meditation, so it’s important to experiment to find ways that work for you – and, of course – it is important to not give up and keep practicing!

As I’ve said before, the ego will generate thoughts to distract us from practicing mindfulness and meditation, and if it gets a chance to give those thoughts a splash of emotion, then the thoughts are particularly “sticky,” and difficult to let go.

So one more way to tune out the ego and tune into Essence is to practice emotional awareness.

How do we practice emotional awareness?

Tune in next week.

14 - H4H News: Tune into Essence with Mindfulness

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

We’ve been discussing the difference between the ego and Essence, particularly how the ego is threatened by the present moment and therefore uses all kinds of tactics to drive us away from it – like judgment, negative emotions, and time pressures.

Essence, however, longs to experience the present moment fully – just as it is – through our human consciousness. Essence rewards us with feelings of love, peace, and joy when we tune into it.

Most of us would much rather tune into the love, peace, and joy of Essence than the judgment, negativity, and stress of the ego. We suggested that one of the ways to tune out the ego and tune into Essence is the practice of mindfulness.

What is mindfulness?

Most of us are largely unaware of our thoughts because we are often totally absorbed in them. In fact, much of the time, when we are doing something, especially something routine like driving a car, our thoughts are often about something else. How often do we drive from one place to another and have no memory of how we got there? That’s because we spent the entire time lost in thought about some past or future event.

Mindfulness is simply the practice of keeping our thoughts focused on what’s going on now rather than allowing our minds to wander into the ego’s favorite storytelling realms of past and future. So, when we are driving, we monitor our thoughts to make sure they stay focused on the act of driving.

If our thoughts wander off the task at hand, we simply bring them back. We might have to do this every five seconds, but that’s OK. The important thing is to notice when we have lost the present and bring our focus back.

Of course, the ego will have something to say about this practice. It will say, “You see! You can’t do it. Don’t waste your time!” You might even feel feelings of frustration and despair creep up with these thoughts. Just notice these thoughts and feelings without identifying with them. Then let them go.

Mindfulness gives us the opportunity to experience life’s moments purely – without them getting distorted by the ego’s judgments and stories. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. That’s why it’s called a practice. You have to keep practicing to reap the rewards of more peace and less stress.

Another way to tune out the ego and tune into Essence is to practice meditation.

What is meditation?

Tune in next week!

13 - H4H News: How is the Ego a Time Tyrant?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

We’ve been talking about how the ego uses a variety of methods to pull us away from the present moment – including judgment, anger, fear, and guilt. At the end of our last broadcast, we suggested that the ego also uses time.

How does the ego use time?

Actually, the ego creates the illusion of time.  It accomplishes this by reviewing the past and imagining the future. But both past and future do not exist in reality. The only time we ever really have is now.

To a certain extent, there’s a functional use for time in our human experience. Clocks are useful to coordinate our activities with others. Thinking about the past is useful for learning and thinking about the future is useful for planning to a certain extent.

But the ego is pathologically obsessed with time – and that makes sense since the present moment is such a threat. The present moment is such a treat because when we relax into the present, both the ego and time disappear. When we are present, all thoughts about “me” and “how my life is going” disappear, so thoughts about the past and future naturally disappear with them.

You see, unless the present moment contains something that makes the ego the center of attention, it doesn’t want anything to do with it. And much of ordinary life is – well – ordinary. The ego loves drama, and if there’s no drama, the ego creates it by telling us stories – “once upon a time….”

The ego is a time tyrant. It makes us feel like there’s never enough time to do what we need to do, and no matter what we are doing, there’s always something more important that we should be doing. As a result, we always feel like we need to rush through things to get to the next thing.

The ego’s time tune sounds something like this: (Play The William Tell Overture).

As far as Essence is concerned, there is no next thing. There’s only what is happening now, and what is happening now is always wonderful – so wonderful that Essence wants to savor everything about it – even what the ego might judge as “bad.” Essence even loves challenges for the spiritual growth it brings.

Essence’s time tune sounds something like this: (Play The William Tell Overture).

Now that we know some key differences between ego and Essence, how can we learn to tune out the ego and tune into Essence? Well, one way is by practicing mindfulness.

What is mindfulness?

Tune in next week.

12 - H4H News: How Does the Ego Use Guilt?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how the ego uses painful emotions, like anger and fear, to pull us away from the present moment. But then we suggested that anger and fear are not the only weapons in its arsenal. Another weapon is guilt.

How does the ego use guilt?

The ego is like an angry, scared child who doesn’t understand the way life is. So, it’s constantly stomping its feet and demanding things because it’s scared that it’s not going to get what it needs and wants. Life always provides us with what we need, but not always what we want. That’s the way life is.

The ego generates fear because of its lack of trust in life to provide what it needs, and it produces anger because it refuses to accept that life doesn’t always provide what it wants. The ego’s refusal to accept the way life is is its own fault. So, when the ego starts stomping its feet and projecting blame, we can take it as seriously as we would a child having a tempter tantrum.

Just to be clear – shame, or the feeling that we are not worthy of love, is never justified. No matter what we’ve done, we’re always worthy of love in the eyes of our Source. Guilt may be justified if we deliberately did something to harm ourselves or others. Once we take responsibility for our actions and do what we can to make amends, guilt is no longer justified.

As far as Essence is concerned, there is no one to blame because there is nothing wrong. Life is exactly as it should be. Life supports life, but it does not revolve around the ego’s preferences and desires – and that makes sense since there are currently over seven billion egos on the planet.

There’s no way Life can please them all.

Essence even accepts the ego as it is. It exists as the grist for the mill of our spiritual evolution, so we don’t have to feel guilty for having an ego. Our job is to be aware that it is a false self, and it is not a wise guide for our life. But we do have far better choice – our True Self, or Essence.

Of course, there are other ways the ego pulls us away from the present moment other than using judgment and negative emotions. It also uses time.

How does the ego use time to pull us away from the present moment?

Tune in next week.

11 - H4H News: How Does the Ego Use Anger & Fear?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how the ego uses one of its favorite tactics, judgement, to pull us away from the present moment. At the end of the broadcast, I mentioned that the ego also uses painful emotions, especially anger and fear.

How does the ego use anger and fear?

The egoic mind developed out of the primitive reptilian brain. This part of the brain contains the emotional center of the brain, which is responsible for our fight-or-flight response. When a threat is perceived, a signal is sent from one part of the brain to another part, which dumps adrenaline into the bloodstream, causing us to feel unpleasant “anger” or “fear” sensations, such as increased heartbeat and breathing, and tense muscles.

The problem is that this part of the brain can’t tell the difference between a real or imagined threat. To the ego, everything real is a threat because the ego doesn’t exist in reality. So, when the ego passes a negative judgment on reality, and we adopt its viewpoint, the brain naturally responds to the imagined threat, and we feel a certain degree of anger or fear. This benefits the ego because it makes its imagined threats “feel” real to us.

Let’s say that it is raining outside. Essence accepts the rain and even enjoys listening to the sound of the raindrops pitter-pattering on the roof. Ego says, “Oh no! It’s raining, and I just washed my car! Every time I wash my car, it rains the next day. There goes ten bucks down the drain.” You see, the ego took a natural part of life and turned into a personal problem.

That’s what the ego does – all the time.

Fortunately, our brains evolved to the point where we modern human beings now have intelligence, which we use to gain knowledge, solve problems, and create new things. We can also use our intelligence to separate fantasy from reality. So, when the egoic mind sends out a “red alert,” we can use our intelligence to decide whether it is a real problem to be handled now, or an imaginary one created by past regrets or future projections.

We can be certain that Essence never uses fear or anger to manipulate us because these emotions do not exist within Essence. Essence abides in a state that has often been described using three words: peace, love, and joy. So, when a message comes to us, and we feel peace, love, and joy, we can trust that it came from Essence.

Now, if anger or fear don’t work, the ego has another powerful emotional weapon in its arsenal: guilt.

How does the ego use guilt?

Tune in next week.

10 - H4H News: How Does the Ego Use Judgement?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week we ended our broadcast stating that one of the ego’s favorite tactics for leading us away from the present moment is judgment.

How does the ego use judgment?

The ego resists reality, and judgement is its primary resistance weapon. The ego is really into its beliefs and opinions and will defend them at all costs. That’s because beliefs and opinions are the house of cards upon which its illusory identity is built.

The ego has beliefs and opinions about everything, and it has to be right, or its illusory house of cards collapses. Since reality is its enemy, the ego must always judge against it with reasons that are always right and “solutions” that are always right.

When we identify with the ego’s beliefs and opinions, its judgements and solutions seem perfectly reasonable. At that point, we’re ego-hijacked, and we’re far more likely to act out its solutions, no matter how senseless or destructive. Why? Because we’re right.

The ego constantly passes judgments against us, others, and life in general. We’re never good enough, others are never good enough, and life is never good enough. It uses this discontent to drive us out of the present moment.

It tells us, “If you do this, then you’ll be happy.” The problem is that this is its “solution” for every single moment of reality. So, as long as we’re identified with the ego, we will never be happy. It will have us forever chasing after happiness instead of choosing to be happy now.

Essence, on the other hand, doesn’t argue with reality. At the moment, we are exactly as we are supposed to be, others are exactly as they are supposed to be, and life is exactly as it is supposed to be.

Why? Because it’s reality. No amount of imagining or wishing that it “could” or “should” or “ought to be” any other way will change it.

So, if we find ourselves thinking negative thoughts about ourselves, others, or life in general, we can be absolutely certain that the ego is talking to us. And if we’re feeling painful emotions, we can be absolutely certain that we are believing what it is telling us.

Painful emotions, like anger and fear, are powerful weapons in the ego’s arsenal.

How does the ego use anger and fear to lead us away from the present moment?

Tune in next week.

9 - H4H News: How Does the Ego Deal with the Present Moment Compared to Essence?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times.

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week we ended our broadcast stating that a main difference between the ego and Essence is how each deals with the present moment.

Since they are opposites, they deal with the present moment in opposite ways. The ego fully resists the present moment while Essence fully accepts it.

Essence accepts the present moment because the present moment is what it is. It is reality. Essence can communicate with us only when our mind is quiet, when our awareness is in the present moment. It doesn’t invade our minds like the ego, and it doesn’t talk much: it communicates with us more through feelings. Its wisdom just drops into our minds, and we are suddenly at peace.

The ego resists the present moment because the ego is an illusion. Therefore, it has no power in reality. It only seems to exist in illusory states like the past and future.

Like a pied piper, the ego plays certain “tunes” to lead us away from the present moment. For example, if we have some regrets, it leads us into the past with the “if I only I had …” tune. And if we’re the anxious type, it leads us into the future with the “what if” tune.

That’s why mystics say that this life is an illusion. It’s an illusion because most of us do not live in reality. The main cause of human unhappiness is that spend more time thinking about life than we do actually experiencing life. We spend a great deal of time fretting over the past or future, which keeps us from living in the now.

What good does it do to fret about the past or future? How is that functional? The answer is that it isn’t. As much as the ego tries to appear helpful, how beneficial is following these tunes when we can’t change the past, and we can’t predict the future?

The truth is that dancing to these tunes lead us only to suffering. It prevents us from dealing with our lives effectively in the now because the now is perceived through a lens distorted by past regrets and future worries.

The ego has many tactics to lead us away from the present moment, and one of its favorites is judgement.

How does the ego use judgement?

Tune in next week!

8 - H4H News: How Might We Experience the Pain of Loss?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how waking up can be both pleasant and painful, and one of the pains we will have to face is the pain of loss.

We might find that we can no longer relate to dear friends or even family members because we have changed so much. We may no longer wish to join with them behaving in certain ways that no longer feel “right” for us. For example, we may no longer desire to repeat or even listen to racist jokes, gossip about others, or complaints about “the world.”

We might experience some social snubbing. Those who operate out of ego-consciousness will not understand why we waste our time meditating or waste our money on organic food or bother to recycle or are stupid enough to forgive people. But what really bugs them is the fact that nothing bugs us. They can’t understand the peace coming from us, and their egos are quite threatened by it.

We might also lose interest in being competitive, which may lead to us changing careers. If we work in a corporate environment, we might lose our taste for that dog-eat-dog environment. If we’re listening to our hearts, we might realize that and leave on our own. If not, Essence might arrange for us to leave through not-so-pleasant circumstances for our own good.

So, it’s important to listen to our heart.

Because of these loses, we might experience the pain of loneliness. It might take some time to connect with people who are also on the path of awakening. Don’t worry; there are many of us. You might want to try attending a yoga class or a meditation retreat. The good news is that loneliness eventually gives way to the joy of being alone. The more we disconnect from the ego and connect with Essence, the more we will enjoy our own company.

But how do we tell the difference between the ego and Essence? Well the differences are like night and day because the ego and Essence are opposites. One main difference is how the ego and Essence deal with the present moment.

How does the ego deal with the present moment compared to Essence?

Tune in next week!

7- H4H News: How is Waking Up Both Pleasant and Painful?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how we know we are waking up and suggested that the experience of waking up can be both pleasant and painful.

How can it be both?

As I said in a previous video, the ego is the cause of all suffering. That’s because it constantly talks to us up in our heads, telling us all about what’s wrong with us, what’s wrong with others, and what’s wrong with life in general. It conjures up solutions to its fake problems and then uses fear to motivate us to act out its solutions.

Unless we’re running from a saber-toothed tiger, doing anything out of fear doesn’t work out well. It only creates more problems for the ego to solve. This is how the ego keeps us engaged with it, which is the only thing that makes it seem real. So, the less we listen to the ego and obey its commands, the less we will suffer, and the more we will experience freedom and joy. That’s what’s pleasant.

What’s painful is that we have to face that thing, and that requires being totally honest with ourselves. The ego creates and feeds off of negative emotions, so any pain within us has to be rooted out and released: all those stories about the wrongs we’ve done and the wrongs we’ve suffered. We need to make room in our being for love, peace, and joy. Love, peace, and joy can’t abide where there is bitterness, hostility, and misery.

This can seem like a never-ending process. Just when we thought we dealt with something, it says, “Hello there! I’m back!” It’s like peeling away the layers of an onion; we’re simply releasing the pain on deeper and deeper levels. We might need professional help to face certain pain, so we shouldn’t hesitate to seek help if we need it.

This process is all about stripping away all the layers of our human conditioning, so that we can return our awareness to Essence and be free to live our lives in ways that are most meaningful to us: to dance to the beat of the desires and dreams of our hearts instead of marching to the beat of the dictatorial drum of that voice in our heads.

When we wake up, we might also have to deal with the pain of loss.

Tune in next week.

6- H4H News - How Do We Know We're Waking Up?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how planetary shifts, other changes in the cosmos, and the end of many long cycles of time are giving humanity a golden opportunity to wake up.

How do we know we’re waking up?

Well, do you currently feel or have you ever felt that life is meaningless? If you have, congratulations! You’re waking up! Life is not meaningless; it’s just that many of the ways in which we have been living our lives have virtually stripped it of its true meaning.

That’s what you, and many others, are beginning to realize.

We have been taught that a meaningful life is a successful life and that the definition of success is the accumulation of wealth and material possessions. Unfortunately, this kind of “success” doesn’t make us happy. In fact, making the accumulation of wealth and material possessions the main focus of our lives ultimately makes us and everyone else miserable. That’s because this kind of “success” makes only the ego happy – until it decides that it’s not enough.

If this kind of success doesn’t make us happy, then what good is it? Life is meaningful when we are happy, so we could say that success equals happiness. We’re successful at life when we’re happy.

So, another sign that we’re waking up is the loss of the desire to work just to make money and to buy more stuff. We might find ourselves choosing to leave a well-paid but joyless job and getting rid of stuff we don’t need.

We may also become aware of some changes in how we experience this world. As we wake up, we become more focused on the present moment and less on the dreamlike past and future. Living in the present moment allows us to experience the world more fully and directly, so we may find ourselves awestruck by the beauty of a sunrise or a flower or fluffy white clouds in a clear blue sky.

And we may experience some changes in how we perceive ourselves. Rather than feeling like islands, we may begin feeling a sense of connection to people, animals, or even all of nature. We may begin to sense our unity with all living things. This awareness naturally inspires empathy, compassion, gratitude, and contentment within us.

It all sounds so pleasant, right? Yes, it is, but it can also be painful. How can it be both pleasant and painful?

Tune in next week.

5 - H4H News: What Help Are We Getting?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how humanity is in the process of waking up and entering into Unity Consciousness with the help of the cosmos. What kind of help has the cosmos given us? 

Well first, we experienced the Harmonic Convergence in the summer of 1987 where the sun, moon, and six of our planets aligned in what is called a Grand Trine. Astrologers consider this highly beneficial to the human race because the trine indicates harmony, ease, and creativity. Some believe the cosmic energies made available to us by this alignment has been fueling a growth spurt in our consciousness.

Then in 2012, we went through what was called the “Shift of the Ages.” This year marked the end of many long cycles of time, the most notable being the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar on December 21st. Some believe this year marked a new starting point in history, like turning the odometer on a car back to zero. 2012 marked a critical juncture for humanity to look at where we’ve been and which direction we want to go from here.

Some astrologers believe that 2012 or thereabouts also marked the end of one astrological age and the beginning of another. Around 400 B.C., the Piscean Age began, and the energy of Age of Pisces was all about hierarchies, competition, and scarcity. We have moved out of the Age of Pisces and have entered into the Age of Aquarius. Yes, as the song suggests, the Aquarian Age is all about equality, harmony, and abundance.

The Age of Aquarius is predicted to usher in a new Golden Age on earth.

So, in a nutshell, planetary shifts and other changes in the cosmos that have raised the frequency and vibration of energy available to us as well as the end of many long cycles of time are creating a golden opportunity for humanity to wake up, smell the coffee, and start taking responsibility for our lives on Planet Earth.

How do we know we are waking up?

Tune in next week.

4 - H4H News - Was Ego-Consciousness a Mistake?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

We’ve been talking about how humanity is in the process of “waking up” – of transcending a lower level of consciousness known as ego-consciousness and entering into a higher level of consciousness we’re calling “Unity Consciousness.”

Was the development of ego-consciousness a wrong turn in our evolutionary journey?

Well, as Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” We have this brilliant playwright, the Creator, who has created this grand play called “Life.” In order to have a play at all, a playwright has to create a story and characters, and the best plays are the ones with a variety of different characters and many challenges to overcome.

Each character may have his or her own story in the play, but his or her story still contributes something valuable to theme of the play. In this grand play called Life, our character is our “self.” Those of you who have ever done any acting know that the best way to perform a role is to really “get into” your character by imagining how he or she would think, feel, and act given his or her disposition.

One time, I was in a play about a girl who went to a new school, but she had trouble making friends. In one scene, she got angry and stormed off the stage. Once I got backstage, the director took one look at me, laughed, and said, “OK Joan, you can stop being angry now!”

Yeah, it’s so easy to take our “starring role” a little too seriously – so seriously that we get swallowed up by this “self,” and we forget who’s really playing the part – Essence.

For humanity, growth in consciousness is the theme of Life. And yes, sometimes growth can be painful. It is Creator’s desire for humanity to awaken to its presence as Essence in all creation, to re-unite our will with the Creator’s, and to consciously wield our co-creative power: the power of Love.

In this world of duality, we can’t realize who we are without experiencing who we are not. The ego provides this contrast. But it’s time to wake up already! The good news is that we are in the process of waking up with plenty of help from the cosmos.

What help are we getting from the cosmos?

Tune in next week!

3- H4H News: What is Unity Consciousness?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times.

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

At the end of our last broadcast, we talked about the part of us that thinks that we are these physical bodies and the voice in the head, and how this “ego-consciousness” is like a naive child that needs to be placed under the supervision of Unity Consciousness.

But what is Unity Consciousness? You might have already heard of it by its other names: Christ Consciousness (or the Mind of Christ),” and “Buddha Mind.”

In a previous broadcast, I compared consciousness to a canvas. Imagine if the artist could animate each form on the canvas and infuse it with its consciousness so that the artist could experience its masterpiece through each unique form?

That is what our Creator did. Our Creator placed its spark within us. This spark is known as Essence. The Consciousness of Essence, or Unity Consciousness, is fully aware of our true identity as One with All of Life and works out of that awareness.

We may experience ourselves as separate from our Creator, from the Earth, and from one another, but we can’t separate ourselves from the Unity of Life any more than a form can say, “See ya!” and rip itself from the artist’s canvas.

So, Essence is always with us and communicates with us as that intuitive connection I talked about earlier. Unfortunately, the constant chatter of the voice in the head often drowns out the “still, small voice” of Essence.

That’s why meditation, prayer, yoga, Tai Chi, and other practices that get us “out of the head” are becoming so popular now. People are beginning to notice that there’s something else within us that’s very different from the voice in the head that keeps chattering away at us.

No, there’s something else that we can hear only when our minds are still. It seems to connect with us from the heart, and its messages always help us to feel better: to be clearer about things, to be more peaceful, more open, more accepting, more forgiving, and more loving.

That “something else” is Essence.

When we learn to consistently tune into Essence and allow it to guide our lives, then we have entered into Unity Consciousness because then, we have returned our awareness to the All, with the knowledge that we are eternally and inseparably joined with all of Life.

So, was the development of the ego a mistake? Tune in next week!

2- H4H News: What is Ego-Consciousness?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

At the end of our last broadcast, I mentioned how humanity became obsessed with the “self,” or ego, and became trapped in ego-consciousness.

But what is ego-consciousness?

Well first, we’re not discussing the ego in terms of Sigmund Freud’s id-ego-superego personality theory. We’re discussing the ego in terms of the false “self” that developed as a result of our ability to think.

Before we developed the ability to think, we existed in a blissful state of intuitive connectedness with all of Life. Have you ever seen a flock of birds or a school of fish move in perfect formation? They can do that because of their intuitive connection.

We have that too, but as we developed the ability to think, we began to “tune into” the voice in the head more and more and that intuitive connection less and less. Eventually, we decided that the voice in the head is who we are too, so we started listening to it, and doing what it says.

So, not only did we incorrectly identify with the physical body but also with our thoughts. The body-mind became “me-myself-and I,” when it is really only a tool designed to help us function properly in this physical world. It has no clue who we really are or what life is really all about.

But after listening to it for a while, we forgot what we once knew intuitively. Instead, we’ve been stuck with the ego’s crazy ideas. It tells us that since we are these fragile, separate bodies, everything “out there” is a terrible threat – a different thing with different wants and different needs.

It says to us, “Life is out to get you! You need my help to survive.”

Sounds insane, doesn’t it? Yes, the ego is very paranoid and very selfish. Now you know the source of all the insanity in the world. This idea of “self,” or ego, has led us to experience ourselves as individuals, but it is nothing more than an illusion of a lower state of consciousness.

But when brought to the light of awareness, this “self” – can no longer take over our lives. We begin to understand that it is like a naive child that needs to be placed under the supervision of a higher level of consciousness: Unity Consciousness.

What is Unity Consciousness? Tune in next week!

1- H4H News: What is Consciousness?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

“What is consciousness?” Well, for us to ask this question is kind of like fish asking, “What is water?” Yeah, right! It’s swimming in it! Without water, fish couldn’t experience anything because there would be nothing holding its world together.

We are swimming in consciousness. Without consciousness, we couldn’t experience anything. Consciousness holds our world together and gives us the ability to say, “I AM.”

Consciousness can be compared to a canvas. Without the canvas, there would be no space for the artist’s artwork to appear. And even though shapes appear as separate forms on the canvas, they are not separate from the canvas or any different in nature from the canvas: they are just painted.

When I came into this world, this basic human shape was given a name. From there, colors were added:
I am female; I am Caucasian; and so forth. With each color, I began to experience myself as a unique creation. It’s fun, but it’s also limiting because I have to fit this “self” within the definitions of the lines and colors.

But when I simply say “I AM,” I free myself from all the lines and colors and return my identity to the canvas itself: Consciousness, the formless, timeless, limitless essence of Being.

We suffer because we became obsessed with this “self” – or ego. Our attention was drawn further and further away from the formless, colorless tapestry until we lost our awareness of the “I AM” and became trapped in ego consciousness.

What is ego consciousness? Tune in next week!

0 - H4H News:Introduction

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler. 

You might be thinking, “Hope for Humanity? It’s mighty hard to feel hopeful these days, Reverend Joan, especially when we listen to the daily news.”

Yeah, I know. The news is full of melodramatic chatter these days. But despite all that negative talk, deep down inside, you probably sense that something important is happening – especially within YOU!

You’re right! Something important IS happening within you – and within all of humanity.

Humanity is evolving into a higher level of consciousness.

Now, you might be thinking, “Great! But … what does that mean?”

Well, for thousands of years, we’ve been stuck in a lower level of consciousness. We’ve been living our lives with a primitive view of ourselves: that we are only these individual bodies that decay and die. That’s a very frightening thought, so naturally we’ve been making decisions out of fear most of the time. And that’s made life hard for everyone.

We think we are a human being experiencing life for a little while, and when our time is up, we die. Fortunately, this primitive view of ourselves isn’t true. The Truth is the opposite: we are Life experiencing being human for a little while, and when our time is up, we go on living.

The human body is just one of many forms that Life uses to experience itself in this world. We are each a thread woven into the Tapestry of Life Itself – forever joined with the Source of Life and with everything that is alive.

Knowing this is true freedom.

So, for a long time, we’ve been stuck with a very limiting and downright depressing idea of ourselves. But more of us are beginning to “wake up” and sense that we must be far more than we think we are.

That’s what spiritual masters like Jesus and the Buddha did. They woke up! They realized that they are part of Life itself, and their awakening had a huge impact on the world. Imagine how much the world is going to change when we ALL wake up and begin making choices that honor and protect all of Life?

Yes, at times, it seems all hope is lost. J.R.R. Tolkien symbolized humanity in these times with the character Frodo in his novel, The Lord of the Rings. As Frodo was making that grueling climb up Mount Doom, he felt very little hope, as the world seemed to be going to hell in a handbasket all around him. But he kept climbing, and in the end, he cast the ring into the fire, and all of Middle Earth was saved.

When we can view what’s happening in today’s world from a higher perspective, it’s easier to hold onto hope, to be conscious participants in the awakening, and to inspire those around us to wake up.

So, I want to start a conversation about hope for humanity. If you’d like to join the conversation, tune in every Sunday at 1 PM. Like and follow this page to see daily follow up postings after each broadcast. We welcome your questions and comments whether you are religious, spiritual, both, or neither.

Tune into our next broadcast as we journey into the question, “What is consciousness?”