Most people walk around every day a slave to their inner maniac. What do I mean by inner maniac? Most of you know exactly what I mean, but I’ll explain it anyway.
We could call it many things. Our inner neurotic. Inner lunatic. Inner Sensitive Sally. Ego. I heard Mickey Singer use inner maniac in a recent talk and laughed when I heard it so I’m going with that.
Our inner maniac is our personal self. Our ego. Our inner critic who criticizes ourselves and everyone else. It says things like,
“I mean how big a bitch does someone have to be to say something like that?”
“I’m not talking to that jerk until he apologizes.”
“I can’t ask her out. I’m not good enough for her.”
I’ve written often about the fact that we are not our inner maniac, that we are the consciousness that is aware of that inner maniac. That idea is at the heart of Eckhart Tolle’s, Michael Singer’s and most spiritual leaders’ teachings.
People think their inner maniac is all they are
The biggest problem in our world is that most people think they are their inner maniac. They aren’t aware that there’s anything else to them. Just that voice in the head babbling on and on all day long, every day.
Since you’re reading this, I assume that you are one of the fortunate few who is at least aware that there is a deeper dimension to you than just the inner maniac. That in itself is a profoundly important step forward on the spiritual path. How is that?
A two-step life journey
One way to boil down the entire spiritual awakening journey is to reduce it to two steps. Step one would be simply becoming aware that you are not your inner maniac, as I wrote above.
