Ego: Friend or Foe?
Dear friends,
Well, tricky fellow that I am, I will say "both." But perhaps more of an explanation is needed, as there is much confusion about both the notion of ego and about the oft heard (and correct) idea that it needs to be overcome.
Mostly, we are just confused. Imagine that you have worn a certain sweater your entire life, ever since you can remember. Someone suggests you take it off, and you realize you did not even know it was a sweater. You thought it was just "you." When we think of ourselves, we think of our qualities, our personality, and our abilities and skills. What else is there, after all? In fact, that is just our sweater. We are really a soul and have mistakenly identified ourselves with this particular body and set of skills.
It is not that the ego should be denied; it should be transcended. Have you ever seen little children playing with trucks in a sandbox? They are doing "Big Business" and take it very seriously. "No!," one exclaims, "That goes over here!", as if something crucially important is at stake. This is what we look like to the Masters.
We are children of Spirit. We get caught up in all sorts of Big Business here on Earth. But Spirit does not need us; we need to empty ourselves of egoic attachments and impulses to feel Spirit’s presence. You cannot take a cup full of milk and fill it with apple juice until the milk is removed.
This is what the chakras is about. Our egoic desires cause whirlpools of energy in the spine. Those whirlpools need to be neutralized for the energy to flow smoothly. This is actually the formal definition of Yoga: the neutralization of the whirlpools of energy in the spine. Once the "cholesterol" of desires and attachments is removed the blissful joyful energy of Spirit can rise.
Do not deny your talents and wholesome desires. That is simply neither honest nor helpful. But realize they are merely a form of "Big Business." Use them to serve but do not identify with them. We are here to find Spirit, and not to be some sort of worldly success or be thought well of. Your worth is as a child of God striving to get Home and learning lessons along the way. Your qualities and skills are irrelevant to the one true task before us.
The deciding factor is not what Spirit is emanating; it is what we are able to receive. We cannot receive when we are filled with our own "stuff." The empty vessel allows pure Spirit to flow through unimpeded. The personality remains but the attachments, fears, cravings, and self-absorption is removed.
May we each relax into the arms of Spirit and find the peace and Bliss we all seek.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West