Oh, no! Not again! (1)
Let me continue with this line of speculation. (1)
In the game of life that the Creator set up, (2) it doesn’t seem to be enough to change our vote (3) at the intellectual level. It may or may not be enough to change it at the experiential level. It may await realization. (4)
I don’t think the realization has to be a major one. It can be a minor one. The decision just has to be up to the realizational level.
I’m facing a major decision right now, a major change of vote. And it won’t be changed by just thinking about it or even feeling into it – although the latter leads to a realization if followed through.
My major decision is to stop voicing or listening to the ego.
Download a free copy of Transcending the Ego at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Transcending-the-Ego-2.pdf, from which this article was taken.
No, I don’t put anything in its place. The minute I determine it’s the ego speaking or about to speak – Oh, what a good boy am I! – I stop. That’s all I do. I drop it and no longer speak from that place.
I could ask the Mother to take the energy away. Either way works.
The ego never leaves us. it simply becomes our servant rather than our master, according to Sri Ramakrishna.
“The ego does not vanish altogether. The man coming down from [Sahaja] samadhi [or Ascension] perceives that it is Brahman [God] that has become the ego, the universe, and all living beings. This is known as vijnana [spotless jnana or perfected wisdom; i.e., Sahaja Samadhi or Ascension].” (5)
“The relationship of master and servant is the proper one [for the ego]. Since this ‘I’ [i.e., ego] must remain, let the rascal be God’s servant.” (6)
Adyashanti explains how the ego-as-master (rather than the ego-as-servant) corrupts our longing for liberation:
“The impulse to be free [longing for liberation] is an evolutionary spark within consciousness which originates beyond the ego. It is an impulse toward the divine, unity, and wholeness. It is an impulse originating from the Truth itself.
“This impulse to evolve is often co-opted by the ego, which then creates the illusion of the spiritual seeker. This impulse, which is inherently innocent, is something, in and of itself, has nothing to do with any seeking to attain.
“It is only when the ego co-opts the impulse and then tries to attain something that the seeker is born. This impulse, this spark of evolution, becomes almost instantly corrupted by a wanting which gives birth to the seeker.” (7)
Oh my gosh. There’s so much more to say. But I’d better stop here and pick up in another article. [Another article turned into this book.]
We all know about the ego. But do we know it?
***
Immediately upon entering this territory, I see how many of my thoughts and how much of my behavior is and are colored by my subservience to the ego.
My subservience consists in giving it my ear and carrying out what it suggests. Without the first, there can’t be the second.
When I (the observer, the Self) take my attention off the ego, it falls silent like a loudspeaker deprived of electricity. (8)
In terms of pushing my edge in awareness work, the next step for me is to disconnect from listening to the ego, practise it a few times, and get comfortable with the new “me” that results.
How many times have the Arcturian Group and SaLuSa said “You are your own guru”? I am being my own guru.
At the same time, everyone gets their inspiration from some higher source – their Higher Selves, their guardians, their guides, their archangel, the Mother. Even gurus get their inspiration from a higher source.
A guru is not a guru, in my books, for what they know, but for what they’ve surrendered to and how deeply they’ve surrendered to it.
But that’s all past knowledge. It really is time to be our own guru, as I hope I’m illustrating by pushing my own edge in moving beyond the ego.
Footnotes Follow
Download Transcending the Ego at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Transcending-the-Ego.pdf
Transcending the EgoFootnotes
(1) “Is Time Running Out?”
(2) See The Purpose of Life is Enlightenment at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Purpose-of-Life-is-Enlightenment-3.pdf
(3) On changing our vote, see:
- “A Radical Change of Vote,” December 23, 2019, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2019/12/23/a-radical-change-of-vote/.
- “Changing My Vote on Change,” January 25, 2023, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2023/01/25/changing-my-vote-on-change/
- “Changed My Mind,” September 6, 2021, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2021/09/06/changed-my-mind/
- “How Do I Change Myself?” August 5, 2020, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2020/08/05/312381/
(4) Intellectual, experiential, realized.
(5) Paramahnsa Ramakrishna in Swami Nikhilananda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942, 104.
(6) Ibid., 105.
(7) Adyashanti, The Impact of Awakening. Los Gatos: Open Gate Publishing, 2000, 3.
(8) See? Right away, the insights start pouring out when we’ve trained ourselves to look inwards on the awareness path.