But when we try to kill off identity, the result is ALWAYS the birth of the enlightened ego. Individuals with enlightened egos are masters of denial and self-deception, totally identified with non-identity… lost in conceptual nothingness. Their lives become one massive denial of self, and when you meet someone with an enlightened ego, they will make sure that you are aware of their exalted spiritual status. In fact, any time you find yourself around someone with an enlightened ego, the best thing to do is run. For they will find some way to make you complicit in their deception, which will trigger a similar type of ego in yourself. So spending time with those lost in conceptual enlightenment is completely counterproductive. You would be better off being authentic in a normal ego-filled life than in a spiritual one under the tutelage of someone with an enlightened ego. This is because an enlightened ego denies its own existence, whereas a normal ego is just unconscious of its non-existence. This is why conveyor belt Neo-Advaitic awakening, which involves people being brought to consciously realize the fictitious nature of their identity, creates universal conceptual awakening in those it churns out. As long as awakening is merely equated with a new mental perspective or realization, one in which the ego is completely denied and which is independent of any spiritual practice such as service, discipline, morality etc., it will have no depth to sustain it. You may remember the fable of the sun and the wind who try to get a man to remove his coat. The wind tries to blow it off with all his strength, but the man only wraps his coat tighter; the sun, on the other hand, takes a natural and gentle approach, and the man puts his coat down. (But notice that he does not throw his coat away.) In the same way, as we approach non-dual realizations the ego is not jettisoned, just as our intellect is not jettisoned. We need both of them to function in our Earthly existence. (John Smith)
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 07:13:55 +0000
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