On Ego 

"Well," you ask.

"How do I get rid of it?"


And my answer to that is:
That's the wrong question.


How does one get rid of what?


You can't get rid of your hallucination of being an ego by an activity of the ego.


Sorry, but it can't be done . . .


If you try to get rid of your ego with your ego you will just end up in a vicious circle.


You'd be like somebody who worries because they worry because they worry.

                  ~ Allen Watts
           

Have Bliss NOW, Here's How........

I was out earlier today at the bookstore and leisurely browsing at the mall. It was an excuse to go out and drive around and look at the rare snowfall we're having today. I was peaceful and serene, yet so many people I encountered were unhappy and miserable. They were either complaining and yelling at unruly children, complaining about their health, complaining about the weather, etc. Much of their misery is an ingrained habit and they don't even realize they have a choice whether to be in misery or to be in a state of blissful joy.

Habits can change once we're aware of what it is we're doing to ourselves. It's your right as a human being to be blissful right now. This instant, you can choose to let go of whatever miserable thoughts are keeping you down. Simply slow down your thoughts. How do we do THAT, you ask? Easy - be like a cat watching a mouse hole, waiting for the little mouse, or your next thought, to appear. Notice as you watch for the next thought that there is a gap that appears. This gap is No-THING. Nothing. It's wonderful to be in that nothingness gap, where no problems, no troubles, no misery exists. That's what now feels like.

No one can stay like that for more than a second or two, though, I can hear you saying. And I'll bet many of you reading this are saying, "but, I have REAL problems that are important, REALLY big miseries". Besides, you would be boring to yourself if you existed in this so-called "gap". Right? But, who is this "you" that would find it so boring? It's the false "you", the you who is identified with ego. It is only the ego that invites and creates problems, misery, and something to complain about to others. Without it, the ego would disappear. Who would this "you" be if the ego disappeared? You would be blissfully happy. That's the answer. To be this blissfully happy person, you become no one special.

A lot of people don't want that, though. They would rather have their problems that give them a uniqueness to them, a story to tell, to embellish and tell to others. That's who they are and their identity is wrapped up in it. Without it they would feel like they are dying. You could say they enjoy their misery. Have you noticed that people like this love other miserable people, too? They surround theirselves with others like them to make theirselves feel as if this is a normal state to be in. They don't want to be around someone who is happy and joyful. It reminds them of who they could be if only they had the courage to let go of their false ego.

I'm sorry to say this, but churches, insitutions of all kinds, political parties, etc. are full of miserable people. The people all have their stories of woe and want to tell it to all who will listen. They all have "problems", need prayers, need attention from others who will "feed" their egos and allow them to build their stories up into bigger stories. It's good to be compassionate toward others, but when we pretend we're giving sympathy to someone, all we're doing for the poor soul is helping him to become more of a slave to the story of woe and misery.

The more we let go of ego, the more room we have for the state of bliss to take its place. There will be no room for this bliss, though, if you choose to hold on to greed, grievances, jealousy, revengeful thoughts, hurt feelings.........oh, my, the list can go on and on and on. What silly things the human mind wants to hold on to simply in order to have an egoic false self!

Let's get back to the topic of the ones who have "really, big problems". Are you sick right now, dying of a terminal disease, maybe? Or you've got a loved one who is about to pass or has recently passed on? Look for the little things to be grateful for RIGHT NOW! There you will find grace bestowed upon you. Animals, trees, and flowers don't go into a state of self-pity and regret. Humans are the only animals that like to create that and it's only the ego that is doing it. It's not the authentic YOU, the you that is divine love.

The past is gone. The future exists only in the imaginative mind. All there is and ever will be is the present moment. Be present NOW, watch the negative egoic mind patterns vanish from your thoughts. Be still and KNOW that this is who you really are. The "you" that is the authentic self is pure love, pure bliss and has no need to hold on to any mind created misery. You will not die from letting go of it. Only the false "you" will die.

Try it NOW and enjoy a blissful holiday!

Be Still.....Be Now.....Be Present

Now is all there is. There is no other time. The past and future are concepts that can be thought about now but they can never be experienced now.

We believe in the illusion of a separate self. Self is only a concept. Eckhart Tolle, (Stillness Speaks, 2003) explains, "The mind is incessantly looking not only for food for thought; it is looking for food for its identity, its sense of self. This is how the ego comes into existence and continuously re-creates itself."


Trees, water, sky, hills--why do we divide life up and name the parts we have created?

The ego, manufactured by the mind, tells you who you are. The ego tells you that you are a body and its thoughts. Since you are a body, you can die. Since you can die, you are always in danger. Now must be broken up into pleasurable things, that are to be moved toward, and painful things that are to be avoided. Life is divided in two-- living and dying. The ego tells you that pleasure and life are the same and that pain and death are the same. This perpetuates the ego's practice of constantly resisting now--telling you that your life has problems that must be avoided and solutions that must be found. Suffering is born out of the stories we tell ourselves about pain. "Inner alignment with now is the end of suffering." (Stillness Speaks, 2003)

There is a tension that constantly moves us away from now. It says, "Go do something." It says, "Accomplish this." When a goal is accomplished, it is quickly replaced by another goal, and the moving away from now continues. It constantly seeks some time other than now. Instead of experiencing now as it is without labels, judgments, and descriptions, this mind-made self causes your true self to become lost in thought. To keep denying the reality of now, just as it is, it perceives and then describes life to you. You begin to have a relationship with life.The fact that you are life becomes obscured.

The ego chatters incessantly. It tells you that there are things outside you and things inside you. Things that are inside you are admitted into consciousness. Things outside you are denied and become subconscious or are projected "out there" so that they can be judged and related to as if they are separate objects. The ego divides up the whole of reality into parts that it names and counts. "The landscape is made up of separate things. This is a tree, that is the ground, there is the sky." This abstracting denies the fact that there is no real dividing line between the tree, the ground, and the sky--or between anything and anything else. Everything is connected.

By moving away from now and into an imaginary future, or into a remembered past, the ego seeks to establish its existence and keep the mind from discovering the truth by accepting what is now. In the future, it tells you, you can add this or that or something else to yourself and become bigger. Tomorrow you will have accomplished more. Next year you will make more money. Further denying now, the ego ruminates about the past and all its horror. Still continuing its denial of now, the ego sometimes tells you about the "good ole days" of the past.

By breaking up life and moving away from now, the ego is addicted to dualistic knowledge. This is good. That is bad. It never allows reality to be experienced and known directly as a whole just as it is. The ego can only continue its existence by thinking about life. The ego cannot exist in the only time there ever is: Now.

How do you stay in the now? You feel life as it is. You experience instead of describing experience. You observe thought instead of believing it and becoming lost in it. You accept what is instead of resisting it. Even if something is happening that you would rather not be happening, you can feel and accept that you don't like what is happening now. Consistent with the Serenity Prayer, learn to change what should be changed and accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed. Just be and accept that there is nothing you need to do and nowhere you need to go. Things are the only way they can be. Stop resisting now.

That doesn't mean to stop living your life and having accomplishments. It means to be present while you are living life and having accomplishments. Feel your life. Accept and be with the feeling without labeling it or describing it or resisting it. Every success in recognizing the ego and its motivations can be built upon. Along the way, learn to observe the ego's criticizing of your progress in staying present. Eventually, it will lose its motivation to continue its chatter. When it collapses, along with its mindless emotional thinking, you will know yourself and find "the peace that surpasseth all understanding." All that is left is the timeless now.

SOURCES:

Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks (Novato: New World Library, 2003 and Vancouver: Namaste Publishing, 2003), p. 27, p. 118.
Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Bantam Books, 1980).
Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness, 20th Anniversary Edition (The Theosophical Publishing House, 1993).
A Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace, 1985).
Tony Parsons, As It Is (Inner Directions Publishing, 2002).

Peace

"I WANT PEACE!"

What's the importance of these words? First, let's look at the word, "I". Ego is attached with I. The word "want" is an expression of desire.

If you remove these two words, "I" and "want", you have only one thing left: peace

All of creation is One; an Eternal Oneness. Animals, trees, and flowers know this beingness, this oneness, not with an intellectual knowing, but a knowing which comes from stillness and just being, a beingness that comes only in the moment of Now.

The great spiritual master, Jesus, said, "Look at the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin."

Those who really want peace in their lives will let go of all ego and desire. Drop all negativity as if you're holding a hot coal in your hand.