In This Article:

• How unconscious fears and insecurities open the door to destructive behavior.
• How mind parasites feed on your fears and insecurities.
• What is the shadow, and how does it influence our actions? 
• The internal conflict between ego and shadow.
• The deeper truth of our non-physical, conscious nature.

How Mind Parasites Are Using You and Hijacking Your Thoughts

by Cate Montana.

A more perfect image encapsulating the moment our basically loving human nature is high-jacked by “something else” in order to shove us in the direction of our less-evolved, survival-based nature could not be found than that of the little devil with horns and a forked tail sitting on one shoulder whispering in our ear while an angel sits on the other shoulder trying to talk us into doing the “good” thing instead.

The Influence of the Anti-Life Force

It's clear there are plenty of evil doings in the world. But how do the Archon mind parasites gain a foothold into our psyches in the first place? Which brings us around to the issue of “the shadow.”

Frankly, I think one of the major reasons humans are susceptible to the influence of this anti-life Force is because the first five minutes of life on Earth make it abundantly clear that bodies can be hurt. We all have a fear-based side of us that responds to life in a survival-based fashion because we perceive ourselves as walking around in unprotected skin suits that can be easily damaged. Plus, our physical eyes and senses give us the 24/7 message that we are separate from each other and separate from the world and thus alone.

And that is scary too.

Acting in Negative Self-Protective Ways

As a result of our innate but subconscious fear, as we grow up, we often act in negative, self-protective ways, attacking others and lashing out. As adults, we throw ourselves into acquiring as much information, money and possessions as possible to protect ourselves against loss and suffering and any sort of perceived deprivation.

Living in this unconsciously fearful state, we are naturally suspicious of anything that is not like us. The fear of the “other” arises, stimulated by a different skin color, language or belief system—and with that fear come judgment and reprisals against the other for self-protection—often in a pre-emptive way.

How much of this is the natural effect of living in physical bodies that give us the inescapable (although ultimately erroneous) message of separation and vulnerability is impossible to say. Fear and self-protection and the violence and acquisitiveness that go with them are just part of our early developmental nature. It’s not evil. It’s simply a survival program that, with any luck, we incrementally overcome and evolve beyond as we psychologically mature and begin to get in touch with the reality of Who We Really Are, which is spirit/consciousness.

But until we get in touch with our true spiritual nature and realize the truth that we are not separate from each other and only different from one another in superficial physical ways, we are unconsciously run by fear and survival-based programs. Programs that can be leveraged in the direction of ever-greater self-interest, self-importance and self-destruction.

The Shadow's Hidden “Unacceptable” Elements

The great 20^th century psychoanalyst Carl Jung termed our less attractive darker urges the personal shadow. According to Jung, the shadow is instinctive and irrational and composed of hidden “unacceptable” elements in each individual’s personality.

Shadow material runs the gamut from small guilts to near possession. We read the tabloids and are filled with envy over other peoples' perfect lives—their wealth and health, their seamless faces and Botox-plumped lips and hips. We watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Selling Sunset and sink into a pool of black thoughts, ashamed of our lives, wishing we were someone else.

We fear spiders and the dark, heights, fire, water, snakes, the outdoors and paranoically wish we could be hermetically sealed away from germs. We secretly judge others even though we’re not supposed to, and feel smug when we think we’re ahead of others in the game morally, economically and socially. We feel superior if we weigh less. We look away from suffering and need and wish we had more for ourselves instead—more money, more sex appeal, a bigger house, a better car and on and on.

Then maybe I’ll be safe.
Then maybe I'll be loved.
Then maybe I'll be worthy of love.

Fear and Insecurities Open the Door for the Mind Parasites

These are some of the unconscious thoughts behind all this. And it's these subconscious fears and insecurities that open the door for the mind parasites to enter and fan the already existing dark flames.

Hatred leads to violence. Self-hatred leads to cruelty. Fear leads to paranoia, aggression and attack. Jealousy leads to stalking and other weird aberrations. Lusts explode out of control.

Because most people prefer not to see unpleasant truths about themselves, subliminal influences of the mind parasites are able to trigger and augment all the shadow material safely tucked out of sight in the unconscious, steadily increasing the darkness within. And as the internal pressures and desires to actualize the shadow build, the external self-image—the person we think we are— puffs itself up, trying to create an ever-more convincing case for its righteousness.

The Split between the Shadow and the Ego

It's the split between unacknowledged internal shadow issues and the ego—the public persona that has an image to uphold—that's at the root of stories you hear about people like a former neighbor of mine who was a pillar of the community and a self-righteous deacon at the local Presbyterian Church.

I always thought his children were a little weird. Especially his daughter who, at age ten, was abnormally high-strung and anxious. And then one day his wife packed up the kids and left and the bombshell dropped. Her husband had been sexually abusing his little girl and possibly his son as well.

But this is far from an unusual tale. In fact, it's a cliché. The more righteous the self-image, the further from reality we are. The further from the reality of Who We Really Are, the easier it is for the mind parasites to have their way with us, urging us into ever greater self-inflation, pride, indignation, outrage, cruelty and abuse. Try rewatching the film American Beauty sometime. (Ironic that it stars Kevin Spacey.)

The Shadow and the Unconscious

For most people, the shadow stays unconscious their entire lives. Uncovering “the dark side” usually only happens when we’re driven to it by spiritual evolution or by catastrophic circumstances, such as a life-threatening illness that ends up prompting us to introspection in order to find answers to our sudden misery.

Discovering, embracing and going beyond our not-so-pleasant shadows is the nature of personal evolution. It is always part of the psychoanalytic process and is the very foundation of the spiritual journey.

In spiritual circles, this process includes an even deeper examination of what constitutes the “self.” With any luck, this scrupulous self-investigation eventually brings the student to the realization that his/her entire personality structure is not really who s/he is at all. Rather, it is a fictitious persona—an imaginary identity—that spontaneously arises in the brain as a result of physical stimuli and external information. A false identity that then becomes the ego vehicle through which they operate in life.

The Deeper Truth

The deeper truth waiting to be uncovered is that our true nature is non-physical. The deeper truth is that we are pure consciousness and an energy called “love” that is infinite and eternal. And, the “love” I’m referring to has nothing to do with our romantic notions of love. Rather it is the fierce and awesome force of life itself that is totally unaligned with the superficial, the sentimental, or the foolish.

But back to the shadow.

Shadow material is normal. We all have crap we think and do that we hope nobody ever finds out about. There probably isn’t a parent alive who, at some exhausted, overwrought point in time, hasn’t visualized throwing their precious offspring out a window. I can’t imagine anybody having made it through life without wanting to slap or throttle somebody or—lying sleepless in bed at 2 a.m. facing the most important corporate sales presentation of their life the next morning—thought about punting the next-door neighbor’s yowling dog to the moon. It’s just a normal part of life.

Certainly, our shadow elements should not be confused with pathology. They have nothing to do with evil unless they aren't consciously addressed.

Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission.

Article Source:

BOOK: Cracking the Matrix

Cracking the Matrix: 14 Keys to Individual & Global Freedom
by Cate Montana.

About the Author

A professional journalist specializing in alternative medicine, health, and consciousness, since her (surprise!) awakening in 2007, Cate Montana has written four extremely different books: Unearthing Venus: My Search for the Woman Within; The E Word: Ego, Enlightenment & Other Essentials, her first novel, Apollo & Me, and now Cracking the Matrix: 14 Keys to Individual & Global Freedom.

A champion for the unlimited human experience, she speaks about actualizing and embodying pure love as the antidote to the shadow forces currently keeping humanity from effective sacred activism and true change. She has a master's degree in psychology and lives in Hawaii.

Visit the author's website at: CateMontana.com

More books by this Author.

Article Recap:

This article examines the internal conflict between the ego, the shadow, and the influence of mind parasites. It explains how our survival-based fears, insecurities, and unconscious shadow elements open the door for negative behavior, often manifesting as fear, violence, or self-destruction. The article uses the metaphor of the devil and angel on our shoulders to illustrate the tug-of-war between doing the "good" thing and succumbing to destructive urges. It explores how shadow material remains hidden in our unconscious and drives behavior unless consciously addressed, and emphasizes the importance of understanding our true spiritual nature.