Ego - George

[Guest guest]

Thank you George for a wonderfully pertinent and precise analysis that

resonates perfectly with my ego discoveries. I was going to comment on

some of your observations but you have already said everything

appropriately...

 

I also echo what Brandi, Dhyana, Sarita and others have suggested and

recommend all who have not done so already to read Eckhart Tolle so

you may discover as George has so eloquently stated that the ego is

not be molded and tamed but rather recognized and evolved.

 

Love to all, glen.

 

 

, George Clifford

<georgetheclifford wrote:

>

> Throughout ones lifetime, the ego/self has been the focus of ones

endeavors, therefore, the emotional investment in it has been

enormous. The ego is both the source and the object of striving and

is heavily imbued with sentiment as well as the whole gamut of human

feelings, failings, gains and losses, victories and tragedies. One

becomes obsessed with and enamored of this entity, its roles, and its

vicissitudes. The sheer mass of investment in this self makes it

seem too valuable to relinquish. We are anchored to it by all the

years of intimate familiarity - the hopes, the expectations, and the

dreams. One becomes attached to this " me " that is thought to be

central to the experience of life itself.

>

> In addition to this enormous lifetime investment in what we believe

to be our self, there appears on the horizon of the future the

specter of death. The awful information that this " me " is actually

fated to come to an end seems incredulous. The prospect of death as

an ending to the " me " seems unfair, bizarre, unreal, and tragic. It

makes one angry and frightened. The whole panoply of emotions that

have been lived through as a consequence of being alive now is to be

replayed, but this time, about death itself.

>

> The relinquishment of the ego self as one's central focus involves

the letting go of all these layers of attachments and vanities, and

one eventually comes face-to-face with the ego's primary function of

control to ensure continuance and survival. Therefore, the ego

clings to all its faculties because their basic purpose, to ensure

its survival, is the " reason " behind its obsession with gain,

winning, learning. alliances, and accumulation of possessions, data,

and skills. The ego has endless schemes for enhancing survival -

some gross, some obvious, others subtle and hidden.

>

> To the average person, all the foregoing seems formidable and bad

news indeed. For those who are involved in advanced spiritual work,

however, the good news becomes apparent. In actuality, the ego-self

doesn't have to die at all, life doesn't come to an end, existence

does not cease, and no horrible, tragic fate is waiting to end life

at all. Like the ego itself, the whole story is imaginary. One does

not even have to destroy the ego or even work on it. The only

simple task to be accomplished is to let go of the identification with

the ego as one's real self.

>

> With this relinquishment of identification, it actually goes right

on walking and talking, eating and laughing, and the only difference

is that like the body it becomes " that " instead of " me " or " this " .

>

> All that is necessary, then, is to let go of ownership, authorship,

and the delusion that one invented or created this self and see that

it was merely a mistake. That this is a very natural and inevitable

mistake is obvious. Everyone makes it and only a few discover the

error and are willing or able to correct it.

>

> The likelihood of correcting this error of misindentification is a

transformation that actually cannot be done without God's help. To

let go of ones seeming very core of existence appears to need great

courage and resolve. At first, the prospect seems formidable and

involves fear of loss. The fear that " I won't be me " comes up. There

is fear of the loss of security and the familiar. Familiar means

comfort, and there is the underlying phrase, " The me is actually all

I have " To let go of this familiar " me " brings up the fear of

voidness, nonexistence, or possibly the dreaded " Nothingness " .

>

> To ease the transition of identification from self to Self, it is

helpful to know that the lesser becomes replaced by the greater, and

thus, no loss is experienced. The comfort and security that were

gleaned from clinging to ones identification with the small self is

minuscule compared to the discovery of the true Self. The Self is

much closer to the feeling of " me " . The Self is like " Me " instead of

just " me " . The little me had all kinds of failings, fears, and

suffering, and the real Me is beyond all such possibility. The little

me had to carry the burden of the fear of death, whereas the real Me

is immortal and beyond all time and space. Gratification at the

transition is complete and total. The relief that all ones lifetimes

of fears were groundless and imaginary is so enormous that, for a

period of time, it is very difficult to even function in the world.

With the reprieve from the death sentence, the wondrous gift of Life

springs

> forth now in its full splendor, unclouded by anxiety or the

pressure of time.

>

> With the cessation of time, the doors swing open to an eternity of

joy, the love of God becomes the Reality of the Presence. The

Knowingness of the Truth of all Life and Existence stands forth with

stunning Self-revelation. The wonderment of God is so all

encompassing and enormous that it surpasses all possible imagination.

To be at last truly and finally home is profound in the totality of

its completeness.

>

> The idea that man fears God then seems so ludicrous that it is a

tragic insanity. In reality, that which is the very essence of Love

dissolves all fear forever. There is also a divine comedy in the

absurdity of mankind's ignorance. At the same time, the blind

struggles and sufferings are seen as pointless and needless. Divine

Love is infinitely compassionate, that people believe in a God who

gets upset and angry at people's limitations is hard to believe. The

blind world of the ego is an endless nightmare, even its seeming

gifts are evanescent and hollow. The true destiny of man is to

realize the truth of the divinity of ones source and creator, which

is ever present within that which has been created and is the

Creator-the Self.

>

> To be content with living in the confines of the ego is a pathetic

price to pay for the measly crumbs that the ego repays for submission

and subservience to it. Its little gains and pleasures are pitiful

and only fleeting and transient.

>

> Another reason the ego is tenacious is its fear of God. This fear

is aided and abetted by the prevalent misinformation about the nature

of God and on whom, in this process of personification, all kinds of

anthropomorphic defects are projected, which distort man's

imagination about the nature of deity itself. Like a giant

Rorschach card, man's fantasies about God becomes, as Freud correctly

said, the ultimate repository of all man's fears and delusions.

Freud's limitation was that although he was correct in stating that no

such false god exists, he did no suspect that, on the contrary, a

true God does exist. Carl Jung, one of Freud's contemporary

psychoanalysts, went beyond Freud and proclaimed the truth of man's

spirit and the validity of spiritual virtues. In these observations,

we clearly see the demarcation and the limits of reason, intellect,

and rationality.

> The rational here is one needs to transcend the ego's

positionality, once this is done, the ego just becomes a friendly pet

in ones existence.

>

> George

>

[Guest guest]

At 12:44 PM 9/6/2008, you wrote:

I also echo what Brandi, Dhyana,

Sarita and others have suggested and

recommend all who have not done so already to read Eckhart Tolle so

you may discover as George has so eloquently stated that the ego is

not be molded and tamed but rather recognized and

evolved.

I've seen words used here like " killed " , " eliminated "

and " destroyed " . Is that a healthy goal? We need a healthy ego,

if we were to truly eliminate it altogether, we would not be able to

function in the real world for long.

Brandi