Fwd: on self-importance

[Guest guest]

ThePowerOfSilence , viorica w

<viorica_weissman wrote:

 

excerpts from " Encounters With The Nagual " - by Armando Torres

 

......

Self-importance can be fought in various ways, but first of all

it is necessary to know that it's there.

.........

 

 

 

" Self-importance is deadly: It stops the free flow of the energy,

and that is fatal. Self-importance is responsible for our end as

individuals, and one day it may finish us as a species. When a

warrior learns how to toss self-importance aside, his spirit unfolds;

jubilant, like a wild animal liberated from its cage and set free.

" Self-importance can be fought in various ways, but first of all it

is necessary to know that it's there. If you have a defect and you

recognize it, half the work is done already!

" So, above all, realize it. Take a board and write on it: 'Self-

importance kills', and hang it in the most visible spot in the house.

Read that sentence every day, try to remember it while you work:

Meditate about it. Maybe the moment in which it's meaning penetrates

your interior will arrive, and you decide to do something. To

realize 'Self-importance kills' is, by and of itself, a great help,

because the fight against the self generates its own impetus.

" Ordinarily, self-importance feeds on our feelings, ranging from

the desire to get along with people and be accepted by others, to

arrogance and sarcasm. But its favorite area of action is pity for

oneself and for those who surround us. In order to stalk self-

importance, above all, we have to deconstruct our emotions into their

smallest particles, and detect the sources that nurture them.

" Feelings rarely present themselves in a pure form. They disguise

themselves. To hunt them down like rabbits, we have to proceed very

delicately and strategically because they are quick, and we cannot

reason with them.

" We begin with the most obvious things, like: How seriously do I

take myself? How attached am I? To what do I dedicate my time? These

are things that we can begin to change, accumulating enough energy to

liberate a little bit of attention that in turn will allow us to go

deeper into the exercise.

" For example, instead of spending hours watching television, going

shopping, or talking to our friends about stupid stuff, we could

dedicate a small part of that time to do physical exercises; to

recapitulate our history; or go alone to a park, take our shoes off,

and walk barefoot on the grass. It seems simple, but with those

practices our sensorial panorama changes. We recover something that

was always there; which we had given up for lost.

" Starting from those small changes, we can analyze elements more

difficult to detect; where our vanity is projected into insanity. For

example, what are my convictions? Do I consider myself immortal? Am I

special? Do I deserve to be noticed? This kind of analysis enters

into the field of beliefs- the very core of our feelings- so you

should undertake it through internal silence, and make a very fervent

commitment to honesty. Otherwise, the mind will have its own way, and

use all kind of justifications for keeping us imprisoned. "

Carlos added that these exercises should be made with a sense of

alarm, because it truly is about surviving a powerful attack.

" Realize that self-importance is an implacable poison. We have no

time left: Urgency is what we need. It is now or never!

..........

 

" Without the precaution of acknowledging the benefit of detachment,

the emotional turbulence stirred up by the exercise of stalking our

self-importance can be so painful that we may turn to suicide or

insanity. When the apprentice learns how to contemplate the world

from the position of no pity- perceiving that behind all situations

which imply an energetic drain there is an impersonal universe- she,

or he, stops being just a knot of feelings and becomes a fluid being.

 

.........

 

" However, and fortunately for warriors, self-importance has a weak

point: It depends on recognition to maintain itself. It's like a kite

that needs a current of air to ascend and to stay high; otherwise, it

will fall down and break. If we don't grant any importance to self-

importance, it's finished.

" Knowing this, an apprentice renovates their relationships, and

learns how to escape those who confirm their 'self'; and frequents

those who don't care about anything human. A warrior looks for

criticism, not flattery. Every so often, she, or he, starts a new

life, erases their history, changes their name, explores new

personalities, and annuls the suffocating persistence of theri ego.

He, or she, puts themself in situations where their authentic self is

forced to take control. A power hunter does not have pity; does not

look for recognition in anybody else's eyes.

 

........

 

" When we don't have any pity for ourselves, we can face the impact

of our personal extinction with elegance. Death is the force that

gives the warrior value and moderation. Only by looking through the

eyes of death can we notice that we are not important.

" Then death comes to live by our side, and begins to tell us its

secrets.

" The contact with death's unchangeable nature leaves an indelible

mark on the character of the apprentice. She, or he, understands,

once and for all, that all the energy of the universe is connected.

There is no world of objects, related to each other through physical

laws. What exists is a panorama of luminous emanations inextricably

bundled together, within which we can make interpretations as far as

the power of our attention will allow. All our actions count, because

they release avalanches in the infinite. For that reason, none is

worth more than any other: None is more important than any other.

" That vision destroys the tendency we have to be indulgent with

ourselves. Witnessing this universal bond, the warrior is prey to

contradictory feelings. On the one hand, indescribable joy and a

supreme and impersonal reverence toward all that exists. On the

other, a sense of the inevitable, and a deep sadness that has nothing

to do with self-pity; a sadness that comes from the breast of

infinity; a blast of solitude which will never leave him again.

" That purified feeling gives the warriors the sobriety, the

subtlety, and the silence that they need to venture there where all

human reasoning fails. Under this condition, self-importance can not

sustain itself. "

 

--- End forwarded message ---