EGOIC CONSCIOUSNESS! The ego wants to be right all the time. And it loves conflict with others. The ego is fuelled by intense rivalry and fights. It needs enemies, because it defines itself through emphasizing others as different. Nations do it; Religions do it. If you identify with one particular Religion, you need the Non-believer - the other - to feel your own sense of identity more strongly. Ego is always identification with one form or another, which could be a possession - my religion, my church, my beliefs, my house, my car, and so on. Your sense of who you are is in that thing. If that thing is then criticized by somebody else, you become extremely defensive or aggressive because your sense of self is being threatened. There are other forms of identification; opinions are mind forms. I am right implies, of course, that somebody else has to be wrong. The ego cannot survive in stillness, so invite stillness into your life. That doesnt mean that stillness is something you get from outside; its realizing that underneath the stream of thinking, everybody already has the stillness. Thinking, or more precisely identification with thinking, gives rise to and maintains the ego, which, in our Western society in particular, is out of control. It believes it is real and tries hard to maintain its supremacy. Negative states of mind, such as anger, resentment, fear, envy, and jealousy, are products of the ego. When the ego is in control, these states of mind appear to us to be justified and also to be caused by some external factor. Usually another person is blamed for these feelings. Their true cause, however, is not to be found in the content of your life, but in the very structure of the egoic mind. It needs enemies because it defines its identity through separation, and so it emphasizes the other-ness of others. For this reason, letting the ego be in control leads ultimately to violence, fighting, and war. This is madness, but the ego doesnt see it that way. ~ ~ ~Eckhart Tolle
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 04:55:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015