I’ve been wrestling with a problem since I became aware that managing a group of companies was going to be part of my life  – say, around 2015 or so.

That problem is: How to hold onto ultimate authority in the decision-making process while allowing maximum autonomy?

The group of companies I’ll be founding is not designed to provide scope for the ego; it’s designed to be a cooperative enterprise … what does the Council of Love say? … “powered by the heart, fuelled by love”?

Its mission is to create a world that works for everyone – and that has to start with our common organization. So there is a tension between retaining authority and creating a cooperative and collegial enterprise.

Michael, who’s my co-creative partner, has asked me to hold onto ultimate decision-making authority.

Archangel Michael: “You are not to be giving your decision-making capacity away, ever.” (1)

That whole line of counsel plays on me.

My own experience has led me to different places. My authority at the Immigration and Refugee Board was enshrined in legislation and could not be violated except for egregious errors in law.

While I reported to my superiors on matters of work, no one could interfere with my quasi-judicial decisions.

Decision-makers in my organization are an example of people over whom my authority would be limited. But there are many other instances besides them where I need to allow independence.

The only way I can solve the dissonance that arises is to know that the way to exercise authority without offending everyone around me is to remain in the center with it, in balance,in moderation and reasonableness, as with all things.

Any precept or concept applied with balance has a chance of success. It’s when imbalance sets in – what I’ve recently called “not normal” – that trouble begins.

Then another voice chimes in – the voice of the ego that wants to build an empire and sit on a throne and wear a nabob’s turban and…. yada yada….

That voice exists at a level below everyday awareness. Predominantly the part of it I was aware of was a feeling component. I felt those awful, wicked feelings, but below everyday awareness.

So I have the complete wickedness alive in me at a deeper level than I’m ordinarily conscious of. And I think we all have these states, by the way. We pick them up in others as a kind of tone in their voice. The only thing missing is a “heh, heh, heh” and the twirling of a moustache.

My subsconscious wicked voice is aggressive. We all know where that comes from if you’ve been following my blog. (2) It’s uncaring, single-minded, etc. But remember: This is only one part of me (and you) and a removeable part at that (there IS hope).

But there is this aggressive tone to my voice often. My Dad would use his temper to push people around and so do I, at a deep and unconscious level. You can hear it in my tone of voice or see it in what my wife calls my “scared-wolf” look.

***

I know that grappling with this foe (the ego) is beyond my means. I’ve seen its face in the past (my wife has seen mine when I saw it) and I’ve wrestled with it. It has resources that I, in my everyday consciousness, cannot match. (3)

I therefore made a decision as to what to do to handle the situation that would help me direct a group of companies.

But before I say what it is, let me preface it by repeating that any decision made which is carried out outside the bounds of balance has only a limited chance of success and a significant chance of creating residue. So, in my books, balance in carrying out what I’m about to say is essential.

The decision I made was that there was no room for the ego in anything I was about to do. And the very best way to surrender the ego that I know of, or terrestrial saints have known of since the Vedas, is the way of the servant.

The path of service. Karma Yoga. Seva.  Devotion through service.

It isn’t sexy in our society to say one wants to be a servant.  But it’s liberating to put the self aside.

Archangel Michael, whom I serve, would prefer it if I were familiar with him:

AAM: We want you to be familiar. (4)

And I’ll observe his wishes here as well as anywhere else.

But it’s also deeply ingrained in me not to be overly-familiar because that invites the resurrection of the ego.

While I had very few things I wanted from physical life in any case, I now want to re-look at that from an altogether new level – weeding out that which could result in a reawakening of the ego.

And whatever I find or whatever I do, I simply stop. There’s no need to put anything in its place, although doing that – if its love, compassion, or forgiveness –  can speed its departure. Nevertheless, a simple cessation is enough.

I want to be a servant of Archangel Michael. There’s no outside – or even inside – pressure around me at making that decision. I need a chosen ideal to serve (although we all of us always serve the Mother). Michael does me a favor and an honor in accepting my service.

So please don’t write me and say “you rely on Michael too much” or “why don’t you make your own decisions?” (Actually I do). This is something I do in full awareness, after much reflection and contemplation.

What are the benefits of this particular path – karma yoga?

Service undermines the prime directive of the ego: Always protect the survival of the self and that with which it identifies (family, home, car, pet, savings, etc.).

It does so by taking the focus off the little self and placing it on the other person. In my experience, that turns out to be all that’s needed.

We take our attention off the voice of the ego and put it on the needs of the other person. The voice of the ego finally falls silent. Getting no attention from us, there’s no Velcro to stick to.

No big deal. No sound and lights. When a movie is over, we all just get up out of our seats and leave the hushed theater.  In the same way, when the lights come on, do we leave the theater of the ego.

Footnotes

(1) Archangel Michael in a personal reading with Steve Beckow, Oct. 2, 2013. [Hereafter AAM.]

(2) Hatred of my father. Michael and I had the following conversation on it:

Archangel Michael: Why do you doubt or question your words [in writing a Declaration of Freedom]?

Steve: My words? Well, I think I do it because I’m a man who hated his father so I have no right to exist in the world. I think that’s the bottom line.

AAM: So having accepted that and realized that you do not need to carry that and understanding that I would interject and correct, if necessary, what did not sit well with us or with the Mother, proceed.

This is an assumption of your divine authority. This is your assumption of your right to declare your heart’s desire and dream for all of humanity and I am right there with you so stop hesitating. (AAM, June 9, 2017.)

(3) For instance, the ego is interdimensional.

(4) AAM, Jan. 3, 2017.