An extraordinarily helpful attribute, if you’re on a path of healing and growth, is self-honesty. It’s also one of the most difficult. In fact, it’s nearly impossible, especially at first, to look at ourselves honestly.

I know what you’re thinking. Why, I’m honest with myself, definitely. No, you’re really not. None of us are, a lot of the time. People don’t generally have the kind of self honesty I’m talking about, even me, and even you.

So why is that? Doesn’t it seem like human beings, with the intellect to build computers, compose symphonies and perform microsurgery, would be able to think clearly about ourselves?

I was raised in a relatively orthodox Jewish family in the 1950’s, and had a bar mitzvah at 13. But if you had asked me about the meaning of the words I read from the Torah, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. If you’d asked me how I felt about God, I would have said “I don’t know”, and “who cares”…

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday, and she said that whenever she visits her friends in the country, she has a favorite tree she always sits under for a while. Last week, as she was sitting under this tree…

If you listen to certain spiritual teachers, particularly from the east, you’ll eventually hear about how important it is to break free from the hold of your ego in order to reach God consciousness…

Although I’ve never been a member of AA, the 12-Step program called Alcoholics Anonymous, I’ve got opinions about it!

The other day one of my Facebook friends posted something that really caught my attention. She said she was puzzled by so many of her colleagues talking about needing to be grounded so as not to pick up negative energy from their clients. She posited that either there was something seriously wrong with her for not having any such experience, or her colleagues were really weird…

One of the things we tend to find confusing is when gifted people behave poorly. For example, a wildly popular entertainer who is suspected of child abuse. Or a charismatic and effective political leader who can’t seem to keep his hands off his secretary. Or a spiritual figure who has anger issues. Or a record breaking, world famous sports figure who behaves like an ass…

What, you don’t know whack-a-mole? It’s that carnival game where a mole pops up from one hole, you whack it, and another mole pops up from another hole. It might get a bit frustrating, but that’s just part of the game, so it’s fun. And because it’s a game, when you’re done, you’re done, and you can have a hot dog. Or a tofurky dog, if you prefer.

In real life, I suppose if you’re a professional exterminator, you can also go about your mole whacking without getting upset. It’s nothing personal, and after all, a job’s a job, and when it’s done, it’s done. You can have a beer. Or an ale. Or some water.

Although my intuitive counseling clients come from several faiths, the biggest majority consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.” According to recent surveys, something like 60% of people in the US identify themselves that way. But it’s interesting to me that for whatever reason, the biggest percentage of my spiritual but not religious clients began as Catholic. The ones who no longer go to church, say that they were raised in the Catholic faith, but either felt it didn’t do much for them, or that they were decidedly turned off by either the doctrine, or the behavior of the clergy, or both…

So what's the deal with the ego? Freud talked about it. Spiritual teachers from the East talk about it. Your girlfriend talks about yours. Is your ego a problem? Maybe. Probably. He's the deal.

Your ego is part of the standard equipment you got assigned when you first showed up here, in Earth School. You got a nice new body, in your choice of colors. You got an intellect to think up stuff, you got emotions to know when trouble was coming, and you got an ego. And they said, Here ya go, Pilgrim, there's your Earth Suit, see what you can do that.