EGO'S TRIAD 

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self.

Desirous Attachment the Third Part of Ego's Triad

“By attributing worth to tangible objects humans becomes attracted to them; attraction brings desire for them; desire leads to competition and dispute. These create anger and the result is delusion. Delusion completely overcomes man’s sense of right and wrong.” Srimad Bhagavata

There is nothing wrong with desire but being attached to the object of our desire is a negative attribute creating only temporary satisfaction. The ego is never satisfied, the more it gets the more it wants.

“More possessions - more worry.

More generosity - more peace. 

There is nothing wrong with possessions, only to being possessed by them.” Hillel

Karmic merit comes from spiritual transformation. Attachment to that is much harder than to the material because we are given the challenge of being in a sentient body and more than ever, the boundless temptations of technology. Steve Jobs once said to his employees that their job at Apple was not to give people what they needed but to tell them what they wanted. Many entrepeneurs follow this mantra. Attachment to a spiritual life is much less alluring. 

Non-Attachment is not the same as detachment which implies denial, resignation, desperation, a giving up, rather than a giving in to a higher vibration and something much bigger than oneself.

Concerning detachment, one of its paths leads to a lifeless world without enthusiasm or hope, a place of indifference where one could become ensnared in hidden traps of dejection and despair, where one no longer cares to love nor dares to trust.

Emperor Wu asked, “I’ve built temples and ordained monastics; what merit is there in this?”
Bodhidharma replied, “No merit.”

As fame can enslave, so can the costs of money impoverish. Make sure the need is worth the price. To overpay can rob the Self.

The Ancestors teach that ulterior motives are greatly underrated . It is good to build hospitals or anything else that can help humanity but if it is attached to an outcome it is karmically neutral. The same can be said for giving charity to get ones face in the media or for a tax deduction.

“Give up owning things and being somebody. Quit existing.” Rumi

 Desirous attachment may not only be related to having more stuff but also being attached to or craving power, prestige, pride or the fame that more stuff can bring to one's persona.

“Behind my work was ambition, behind my love was personality, behind my purity was fear, behind my guidance the thirst for power. Now they are vanishing and I drift. I come Mother, I come, in your warm bosom – floating whereever you take me – in the voiceless, in the strange, in the wonderland. I come a spectator, No more an actor.”   Swami Vivekananda

“There is no room for God in him who is full of himself. The sages tell us concerning the proud man; God says; “I and s/he cannot dwell together in the world.” Talmud 

Until you empty yourselves of pride God cannot be realized.

If God were after numbers he would have made the way abundantly apparent and attractive - enticingly so, ego free and forever lasting. The Infinite one has also granted us our own lens for seeing and our own will for choosing what we see.

The Ancestors advise us to not be trapped by materialism in any guise. To attend to our needs not our wants - to keep it simple. Having to maintain stuff gets in the way of our spiritual work.

There is always enough as long as one is free from the compulsion for more. Narrow mind is about having - Spacious mind is about being.

“Wants, needs and necessities have different characteristics. It is the want that is our enemy, not the need and necessity.”       Sri Swami Rama

No matter how it was said or by whom, the message remains that ...

"Abundance is not an achievement of the acquisitive but rather a legacy of the perceptive - a realization of plenty - not an acquiring of more - a delight not a desire." Hillel

This concept is enhanced by practicing gratitude. Research by Emmons and McCullough has shown that a gratitude practice creates well being as well as a positive feedback loop - gratitude leads to more gratitude.

"Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." Charles Dickens

Of all the teachings of the sages some most agreed upon as being both fundamental and elemental were those about abundance and delight.

Desirous Attachment to Greed and Power

"Power corrupts and complete power corrupts absolutely." Baron Acton

Given full power, greed becomes an enslaver of the greedy - fear becomes first a bully, then a torturer and then a killer.           The Ancestors

“Greed is not stilled with money any more than thirst with salt water.” Ksemendra

“Nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character give him power.” A. Lincoln

Desirous Attachment is antithetical to the principle of impermanence. We cannot take "it" with us. At the end of the day the only thing we can take is our karma - how we dealt with our experiences.

The one who dies with the most toys or those that live irresponsibly because of the illusion - "to live for today for tomorrow we die" - will have a rude awakening when they cross over. 

Moreover, material attachments can hamper the soul's journey and cause the spirit to either become earth bound (lost between the worlds) or to inherit a low vibration in the Astral.

The only things that live on are love, truth and the soul. 

Highlight and play

01_Travelers.mp3

 

SUBORDINATING EGO # 5

 EGO'S TRIAD 

Although all three are derived from ego, it is helpful to distinguish between them.

1. sELF CHERISHING

2. JUDGMENT

3. DESIROUS ATTACHMENT

1. sELF CHERISHING -

CHERISHING THE PERSONA

Ego can never enhance the potential of all that could happen  on one's search for the Self.

"God cannot be realized if there is the slightest trace of pride."  The Upanishads

The search for the Real, or True or Higher Self or soul is at the core of all spiritual transformation. 

We are made in the image of the Divine and hence the Higher Self also cannot be fully realized in the presence of pride.

“To know the real Self to be one’s own is the greatest attainment… To know wrongly the non-self such as the ego to be the Self is no attainment at all. One therefore should denounce this perception of taking the non-self for the Self.”

 Sri Sankaracharya

Ego (together with Monkey Mind and the Shadow) get in the way of our connection to the Higher Self.

Do you listen with your heart or are you hearing with your ego. The possible peril is not a punishment, it is a consequence. Choice is not enough, action must follow. 

Intent, willingness, openness and trust - if you want it all you must offer all.

 Although Ego is necessary for empowerment there comes a time when it gets in the way of spiritual growth. Non-Attachment to the ego is commendable. Attachment only to the search for the Self or one's soul is commendable. Otherwise attachment to ego, judgment or desirous attachment are recipes for inheriting another lifetime.

The Buddhist concept of self Cherishing has many faces and can come as compulsions and desires for; pride, prestige, power, fame and attempts to groom the persona with the stuff of Desirous Attachment.

The challenge is relief from ego, how to be free from its tyranny. 

The way is relief from ego, surrendering and releasing one’s instinct for protection and cultural conditioning; subduing its tyranny but with respectful and grateful acknowledgement for       its appropriate worth. The "prize" - the place of arrival - is relief from ego and a true sense of the pleasure of its place.

Jung doubted that the Western Mind could ever truly get rid of Ego. Only that it was possible fleetingly in the Oneness Experience or Unity Consciousness when the Knower, the Known and the process of Knowing fuse into one thing. Maslow called this a Peak Experience which occurred among other things during childbirth, orgasm, unravelling a scientific mystery, extreme sporting escapades, partaking in drugs or entheogen, while dancing (when one becomes the dance) or in nature. When experienced in nature I call it Wilderness Rapture. Whatever the stimulus, this ecstasy or rapture is temporary and we soon return back into a sense of duality. The challenge is to be aware of this duality and still see the divinity in others.

"The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there."  Roshi

“In the samadhi that comes at the end of reasoning and discrimination no such thing as “I” exists but it is extremely difficult to attain as “I”consciousness lingers so persistently. This is why humans are born again and again.” Sri Rama Krishna

2. Judgment

When you no longer need to be right, the purity of you soul will shine through.

Usually when we judge we are pointing fingers at another while there are three fingers pointing back at us. We project our shadow onto others so that our Egos can feel better about their little selves.

Never judge in a condemnatory way, never with disavowing and lack of love. You must support emotionally without condoning.

The judgment of the 99 neither validates nor invalidates the worth of the one.

The many and the few do not speak to value – only to popularity.

Popularity is not to be equated with value.

With social media, popularity is now evaluated by how many "friends" one has and how many "likes"one gets when we have not even ever met these various characters - good or bad. Kids are getting depressed and even killing themselves about the opinions of others that to quote the Ancestors; "cannot even find the door to their own lives."

“When you talk to people do not weigh, a soul that weighs suffers harm.” Talmud

“Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore of nicely calculated less and more.” Wordsworth

The Talmud adds that when you judge, you "kill" (the souls) of three people; yourself, the one (or ones) that are listening and whoever is getting character assassinated.

There is a story about a rabbi in a small village in Eastern Europe who one day was seen taking groceries from a stall in the market. The attendant was not there and an observer noted that he left without paying. He spread the rumor to the community that their rabbi was a thief. The rabbi was removed from his position and from that time had to eek out a subsistence living cutting and delivering wood. On one occasion the person who spread the rumor saw the rabbi burdened under a load of wood and felt sympathy for him. He went to the hovel that was now his home to make amends. When the rabbi opened the door he told him that he was sorry for what had happened and related the story of the unpaid groceries. The rabbi was upset that he had not come first to tell him what he had seen and explained that the stall belonged to his son in law who gave him permission to take food whenever he wanted it.

The congregant felt terrible and asked what could he do to reverse the damage. The rabbi suggested he write a letter about the mistake and take it to a nearby hill on a windy day, tear it into as many pieces as he could and then throw it into the wind. The congregant was exuberant and thanked the rabbi profusely. The rabbi then added; "But, I am not finished. Now you need to go and pick up every piece of paper and then damage will be repaired."

When we leave the planet and face the spitual tribunal who will evaluate our karma we will be judged as Matthew taught.

"Judge not that you not be judged, for what measure you judge, you will be judged, and for 

what measure you mete, it will be measured to you again." 

This man would be responsible to the extent of the measure that he had meted out to his rabbi with all its implications.

"Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins." Native American proverb

“Actions arise from conditions. Do not judge then the former until the latter is well understood. If you have eaten what the judged one has eaten, and worn his clothes, and thought his thoughts, and felt both his joy and pain then you may say you have stood in his place but only briefly compared to the length of his stay. So still you may not know the past or present plights that plague him. 
Our judgments are frequently fraught with error and usually tainted with arrogance. Compassion and love are our salvation and joy.” Hillel

 We would not be able to see fault in another unless it was already part of our own psyche.

“When you see a worthy person endeavor to emulate him, when you see an unworthy person then examine your inner self.” Confucius

It is challenging not to judge - discernment may help us to take our judgments to a sweeter level

Click play and meditate on "Sweeting the Judgements" which is what the Ancestors advise. 

(Next week is Desirous Attachment, # 3.)

20_Judgement.mp3

 KARMA #3

To revise the principles of Karma so far.

Fulfill your destiny (last week.)

Correct injustice – heal the planet.

Do no harm to any of the Four Beings of Nature.

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self.

Love.

Be in joy and savor the opportunity of being in a sentient body and fulfilling one’s task or mission.

 This week is about correcting injustice and doing no harm.

Correct Injustice - Heal the Planet

Our role on earth is to correct injustice.

 

This is also the essence of Karma yoga or service-oriented yoga. Karma Yoga is the path of action and service to others with mindfulness. This service can manifest in many ways and on behalf of any or all of the Four Beings; Talking, Wild, Growing and Still (including the planet Herself - Mother Nature - Gaia.) As for all these Karmic principles it should be done for it's own sake, without thinking of any benefit that may be gained.

 

Give without remembering,
Take without forgetting.
Give freely.
Receive openly.
Do all with gratitude.
It is the way of love.
It is the way of joy.  

Many of these tenets, including service, will enhance the last of being in joy which in turn creates the gratitude emanating from joy.

 

“We are here to help others - what on earth others are here for - I do not know.”  W.H. Auden

 

“The worship most pleasing to God is service to others.” L. Boff

 

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others …” A. Einstein

 “I do not know what your destiny will be but the one thing I do know is that the only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have learned and found how to serve.” A. Schweitzer

If we take our suffering and make something useful to others out of it,  our own happiness will increase.

Ideally we are here to correct injustice through our God given destiny or core strength. However, even if we are unsure what that is we can still help to heal the planet. Whatever the service, destiny driven or not.  Karma yoga is great for Karma - the "Mother Theresa" or Schweitzer archetype or similar.

There can be no excuses for not doing something to try and help or heal others. Many of us will have to live in two worlds, the one that pays our bills and the other that is our destiny or is purely service oriented. We may have to do the latter in our spare time. For example if one always wanted to be a musician but never followed the path because of parental pressure or practicalities it is vital to again explore that talent and see where it takes one even if it is just for the sake of giving oneself and others pleasure.

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy, I awoke and saw that life was service.  I acted and behold, service was joy." Tagore

Once our basic needs are satisfied anything extra should ideally be done without consideration for any renumeration for the task at hand. If we also get paid for it well and good. If done with good grace, all the better from a karmic view point. Its not about what we do or why we do it but how we do it and how we feel about it. If done grudgingly or for a reward it is karmically neutral or even negative.

If our God given destiny is in play here all the better. Service optimally follows the Incorporation or Integration phase of the Hero/ine's journey where we take the "grail" obtained during a rite of passage and then give it away.

"We make a living from what we get, we make a life by what we give." W. Churchill

There are four basic archetypes each of which can have many manifestations; Healer, Teacher, Warrior and Visionary. Service can be performed through any of them.

The easiest way to manage this challenge is to practice random acts of kindness. This creates Coherence within us, around us, even distant to us (the butterfly effect,) and above us in the supernal realms where  these acts are appreciated.

"The universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf." Shakti Gawain

  

Do No Harm

We are all one, though not the same.

The breath that is in all beings emanates from this sacred wellspring making us one - not the same.

We are all animated by the breath of the Creator, each of the Four Beings at a different vibration. We are all made of the same elements - dust to dust ashes to ashes. The Infinite One loves all of creation.

“The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.” Roshi

 

“See yourself in others then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?”  Dammapada

 

Ubuntu is a Bantu, Southern African concept. According to Bishop Tutu, Ubunti speaks to the essence of being human. 

"The solitary individual is a contradiction in terms. Ubuntu speaks about the importance of communal harmony; warmth, compassion, generosity, hospitality and seeks to embrace others. You are a person only through other persons."

 

“If I am not for myself who will be for me.

 If I am only for myself then what am I.

 And if not now, then when?” Hillel

Play and meditate to see where you can help.

01_The_Four_Beings.mp3

 

 

KARMA #2 DESTINY

 

These are the main factors six factors determining our karma and which challenge our free will. 

Fulfill your destiny.

Correct injustice – heal the planet.

Do no harm to any of the Four Beings of Nature.

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self.

Love.

Be in joy and savor the opportunity of being in a sentient body and fulfilling one’s task or mission.

 

Destiny

The hunt for one's destiny is the hunt of one's life, stay on the scent, follow the spoor.

The Ancestors or our guides are our "Ap" to our destiny. They have access to our Book of Life or our Akashic records and know what our destiny is. They are there to help guide us to it amongst the other things that can assist us on our path. The clues they leave us along the way are like a Bushman tracker after his prey. Sometime the spoor is lost and he must go back to the last track to pick the trail up again or look for the next clue ahead which becomes visible. Similarly for us on the path it is like a treasure hunt where our guides leave clues for us to find. Sometimes they send a clue which seems to take us in the wrong direction but if we did not follow it we would not find the next clue. This resembles a cybernetic negative feedback system not unlike the body's hormonal system which looks like a diurnal wave form, not a straight line. We are often going a bit wrong or "left" and then go "right." We need to not beat ourselves up about being lost when we are just in the process of searching. 

“Everyone has in him/her something Divine, something his own, a chance of perfection and strength, however small, a sphere which God offers him to take or refuse. The task is to find, develop and use it.”

Sri Aurobindo

 

“In every person there is something precious which is in no-one else. And so, we should honor each for what is hidden within them for what only they have.” Talmud

 

“… Each soul makes Two agreements upon entering the world. The First binds the individual to a distinct destiny that becomes the soul’s great project in life. The Second entangles each person in the limitations of fate and responsibilities for family and community. 
While all second agreements can be renegotiated, the first is non-negotiable.” Michael Meade

“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”  
William Ernest Henley

 

Fate involves the circumstances surrounding us and our destiny mission. Fate is the cards we are dealt in life which may have a lot to do with our karma. It is said that one's fate may be determined by geography or one's Zip code and there can be truth to that. However, we need to rise above our fate into our true destiny path. Destiny will be fashioned by our choices – skillful or not. Destiny is that illusive, but unique gift we were granted so that we could give of ourselves to the planet and all Beings. Most of us do not find it easily.

 

“All the talents of God are within you.
 How could this be otherwise 

when your soul is derived from His genes!”  Hafiz

 

We co-create with the Divine – His/Her creation cannot fully manifest without our help. God wants a personal relationship with each one of us. God does not play favorites - karma is set as a default into the soul which makes allowance for this love. S/He loves us all. Karma is our test, not the Creator's love.

 

God’s love is not a test, God is not a test of love.

 

 We are all given a destiny cup to fill. Some have been given bigger cups than others. Those who have smaller cups may find it easier than those with large ones.

“To whom much is given, much is expected.”

“The souls of people on their way to earth-life pass through a room full of lights. Each takes a taper, 
often only a spark to guide it in the dim country of this world. But some souls by rare fortune are detained longer and have time to grasp a handful of tapers which they weave into a torch. These are the torchbearers of humanity – its poets, seers and saints who lead and lift the race out of darkness towards the light. They are the law givers and saviors, the light bringers, way showers and truth tellers and without them humanity would lose its way in the dark.” Plato

“The outward work can never be small if the inward one is great, and the outward work can never be great if the inward is small or of little worth... All works are surely dead if anything from the outside compels you to work. Even if it were God himself compelling you to work from the outside, your works would be dead. If your works are to live, then God must move you from the inside, from the innermost region of the soul - then they will really live. There is your life and there alone you live and your works live.” Patanjali

Remember that your purpose exists by being what it is, not by dispossessing, defeating or winning but rather simply by being more and more of what it is. 

Intention is everything. Many are in line with and following their destiny paths but are not doing so within the laws of karma, of right and wrong.

Determine well your heart’s desire for in releasing your intention its energy will affect its holiness or unholiness.

Be attentive only to the responsibility of what compels.
Bestow blessings, refuse burdens.
What makes you beholden enslaves you.
What makes you grateful blesses you.
What you touch, touches you. What you let touch you, enhances or diminishes.

The most dangerous distraction is the lure of beguiling but essentially extraneous information - be it false or true. More important, is it useful to you, does it inspire, support, advance and enhance who you are and your relationship with God or is it merely speculative, and appealing to your curiosity?

Seligman the father of positive psychology stresses the importance of finding one's own core or signature strength and meaning in one's life.  How we serve others has a lot to do with the healing effects of "meaning" - which is so crucial. 

Unthinking conformity no matter how piously enacted lacks meaning and as such is soulless.
One must be bold in questioning; that to just accept without inquiry is simply surface learning by rote not the deeper learning of thoughtful consideration.
Our deeds fashion our destiny so do our understandings fashion our deeds.

 

We cannot separate the Soul from our destiny path.

We have to find our own way and our own spiritual path to assist us along the path. The Infinite One does not want us to have a copy cat destiny. If we are misdirected, we may come to end of our lives with a mission that society or our parents have laid out for us. If so, we will have to come back again to find that gift or taper or myth. 

There is also a direct link with destiny, the search for the Self and the Hero/ine’s quest for his/her archetype, mission or purpose. They are all shades of the same thing.

“Hold to your vision - be true to your myth.” J. Campbell 

“… put out to sea! Save your boat’s journeying soul, cost what it may.” Dom Helder Camara

Frequently when I do divinations, the client’s destiny bone is mal-aligned. When I ask that person what do they do, as opposed to what would they have done if they had had the choice - their heart's choice would often have been very different. The wrong choice was frequently motivated by parental control. By going back to our earlier, especially teenage years, we may discover that the dream that we wanted for ourselves was put aside because of external pressure. This dream could well have been connected to our core strength and our heart's desire. There may be karmic consequences for those who have tried to mold a child in their own image.

Of all the teachings the Ancestors have given us, many focus on our being truly congruent with Self.

Anything or anybody who does not make you more of who we are makes you less of who we are.

 

The focus is on becoming more of who you are.

You must free yourself to be yourself.
Do not be captive to the demands of false duty.
Do not take on what is not yours to take on.
If you will not be you who then will be? 

Be patient with yourself, kind to yourself and release yourself from what you are not accountable.

Look carefully to what you aspire, cherish and guard so as not to squander your gifts nor lose your heritage.

Are you nibbling on the apples of the Tree of Knowledge or are you nurturing whatever proud plant or humble weed is your present entrustment? It is that which you are to make glorious.

 

The sages teach that all that happens; happens as it must.
What occurs cannot occur contrary to the conditions of its occurring or contrary to its nature.
A cedar tree does not spring from an acorn.

 

The menu is only the menu.
It offers, it describes, it suggests.
When the meal arrives do not put it aside.
Absorb the reality of your choice.
If you do not taste the nature of God in your selection, you must choose another dish, if indeed you desire to be for the Infinite One, all that He is for you.
For although the Creator's breath will be present, His presence will not manifest for you.
You need to choose the offering He has prepared especially and selectively for you.

  

Congruence: Emotions and their expression match and behavior arises from the root of their being. They sing their own song and do not do things for others’ approval. Soul, heart and intellect are congruent.

"... Care about peoples approval and you will be their prisoner." Tao Te Ching

 

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” C.J. Jung

“This above all, to thine own self be true.” Shakespeare

 

We may have found our destiny but it is also essential karmically to do it for its own sake, for the sake of others, without doing harm, and with a feeling of equanimity and gratitude. It is not easy.

Many of us have to live in two worlds - the one that pays the bills and the other that is the heart's purpose. It is never too late.

Play and meditate

02_Be_Yourself.mp3