Acting Our Ego's In The Cosmic Play

In the Hindu tradition, we have the ancient folded-hands head bowed greeting with the saying Namaste. Namaste translated into English roughly means "I bow to the divine within you". Holding the divine within oneself is nothing new and rather common in differing religious traditions. In the Christian educational system, we were told to hold Jesus within your heart, and moreover, the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19. Going back to the Eastern Traditions and inclusive of the Hermetic or Egyptian traditions, the divine-self is essentially the higher- Self who sits as a watcher at the third eye. Hence, a bow with the saying Namaste may be simply the prostration of one's higher-Self to another's higher-Self. 

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While our higher-Self is seated on its throne, our higher-selves are covered by layers and layers of belief systems that create our ego-self. Who we are in this cosmic play, or lila, inclusive of gender, profession, attitude, hobbies, etc., is simply nothing more but our ego-self that is a limitation on our higher-Self. For if we are one thing, we are lead to believe we are not the opposite, which creates duality or limitations on our unlimited spirit. In the West, ego is more associated with egotistical, where an individual is conceited, arrogant, or simply placing a high value on his or her ego identification to the detriment of others. Nonetheless, those that are egotistical still hold a higher-Self and are a member of our collective consciousness where such individuals may shed new light in our own soulful expansion. 

Alex Grey

Grahas Personified

I've been playing with the idea of our material universe being nothing more than something similar to Will Wright's virtual video game "The Sims", a familiar concept in modern philosophy. In addition, we have Vedic astrology where the planets (inadequately named/translated since the Moon and the Sun are included) are called in Sanskrit  Grahas or to grasp or pull, where these large celestial masses are capable of pulling on each individual or collective as some sort of puppet master. To make an individual more egotistical or argumentative, the planet Mars associated with Ares may just have a stronger pull on that individual. To increase romance or lustful emotions, the planet Venus may have a stronger pull. Hence, with the complexities of astrology and incessant influences from external forces, what about our ego-self identity is really created from the individual as opposed to external forces? It's like the Grahas are the remote control buttons for our lives as Sim characters. In my own vedic astrological 

reading, it seemed like my career path, intimate relations, and overall intellectual curiosities (including occult studies) seemed to be in line with the way the Grahas effected my planetary houses. Definitely an "as above, so below" connection where my life seemed to be already scripted.  

In understanding that much of our life seems to fall in line with the Grahas, it may be that some individual ego-selves were meant to display certain characteristics from the sociopath criminal to the intense self-righteous televangelist. In our cosmic play, such individuals may be here to teach us contrast. However, given that each individual carries a higher-Self, our ego-selves may simply be attempting to do the best with the cards that we have been dealt with. If the Grahas are the remote control buttons that create our personality and push us into acting certain ways, then who controls the remote control? It could be that of our higher-Self using the ego-self and the surrounding circumstances (cosmic play) to help in an individual's ascension to higher spirituality, or it could be something malevolent. Moreover, our societal construct seems to have its own remote control where commercial media can easily incite hunger with delectable food, sex through carnal imagery, etc. 

Therefore, each individual may simply be acting in a manner suited to external forces. The only writings I have read that seem to go beyond the ego include mindfulness meditation or some other meditational technique to raise your consciousness. Paramahansa Yoganda's Autobiography of a Yogi eluded to becoming one with God through Kriya Yoga techniques to bypass the Grahas where Yoganandaji was requested to wear an astrological bracelet to subdue certain illnesses prior to his Self-realization. 

The wise man defeats his planets - which is to say, his past - by transferring his allegiance from the creation to the Creator. The more he realizes his unity with Spirit, the less be can be dominated by matter...So long as he remains confused in his ordinary state of spiritual amnesia, he will know the subtle fetters of environmental law. -Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi

Nonetheless, provided that many of us are still attempting such ascensions, we probably should choose to lighten up on each other and our ego-play through a better understanding that each individual is simply acting in this cosmic play under external influences. Another words, we're all probably just doing the best we can under our circumstances. 

The occultists of the ancient world had a most remarkable understanding of the principle of evolution. They recognized all life as being in various stages of becoming. -Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages