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