There seems to be a little animal creeping over Oprah's board. There appear to be thousands of them; ego's...I'm a bit surprised everybody is talking about these little sweethearts. Most of you say they are bad or even evil, some say they have a purpose. Like bacteria maybe. I personally don't really know what these ego's are. Never seen one. Never had any complaints about them either. Please tell me what's the problem... Should I start hunting for ego's too?

emzu1029
Group study is a wonderful tool to share and grow through knowledge, feelings, experience, humor, meditation in groups, recipes and gossip etc... Don't get this wrong, they are all part of the enjoyment of living. Especially if done with the intent of community bonding and good will. But what I have discovered during 10 years of studying, in a spiritual book club, once a week, that egos get a work out...

As the discussions grow personalities do come in to play and your instincts of aprenhension serve you well.
Their will be leaders, devil's advocates, passive observers and some may be straight out aggressive as has been witnessed in this forum. As the group settles into it's own IDENTITY each member finds a place where they fit...

These groups, especially spiritual ones, give us a great chance to practice THE NOW.

The first few years my ego was delighted to spurt out all it knew. It felt important as people really listened to it. It was a place where real sharing occured. Listening to one person at a time and being honored for your contribution gave us all a feeling of love and acceptance. This was achieved through practicing the teachings. We discoverd it actually works. The challenge then was to take it into our less conscious families and world.
Then after a while we discovered there were no more books required to study as 5 years of THE POWER OF NOW could never be topped..
So we did it again....
Amazing how much more you pick up when you read a book 10 times.

It has no become a book we all carry everyday as a prompt to recall the practice when we slip. And that is everyday.. several times.
The group know longer exists as we realized further books will not bring what we are searching for. We have enough knowledge. The conscious awareness we wish to live in is nowhere to be found but right here in THE NOW. So it's our choice weather or not to walk our talk or not. Practice the teachings or keep searching for what we already have.

Enjoy your study group and may it bring you closer to who you already are.

And yes when me master this wisdom it will be the end of the Earth as we know it.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

BE WELL

christabell

Hi allthatis. I like your answer. I'm going to use it for inspiration.


Hi emzu1029,

I do want to be helpful for everyone, but I consider myself to be the student and not the teacher, because, I really, really like the power of Eckhart's teaching. When he answers questions they come from presence. When we answer questions here, we are doing our best to be helpful, but essence and presence is the real teacher. Eckhart often says that his form is unimportant, and his words are unimportant. What really matters is the presence that his words point to. So the same goes here for the words in this answer.


What I hear is curiosity about how "normal" human interactions work compared to how conscious human interactions work. So called "normal" human interactions are describe in ACIM as "special" relationships (ie conditional relationships). Almost every human relationship starts out in some way as a "special" or conditional relationship.

What that means, is that each persons' reason for being in the relationship is to "try to get" something from the other person. This is classic ego in operation - "trying to get" a better now later, in this case by using the other person to get it. If the ego doesn't get what it thinks it wants, it will attack or reject the "other." So the ego's basic operation is to use "others," and fear "others."

Now, as Eckhart often says, this sounds like bad news. And from one perspective it is. However, when we recognize that the purpose of every conditional relationship is to learn to transform it into an "unconditional" relationship, things look a little more positive.

So, awareness that our relationships are conditional doesn't mean we move into a cave and hum until we die. It means that we start practicing observing and allowing the present moment to be as it is. As allthatis said, when we are able to be the space, the accepting attention, within which another external form of life is able to be, just as it is, that is "unconditional" love. And this doesn't mean we demand that our friend or partner be conscious before we are willing to be the space for them. That is the "I refuse to be conscious until you are conscious" trap.

I think that the reason that Eckhart suggests starting the meetings with silence, is presence in relationships is more challenging than presence in the cave. So, he suggests starting to learn to be present in a quiet location, so we can see what presence feels like before we practice it at times square, or in the workplace.

So now, finally to your specific questions, (and these are close to Eckhart's instructions) when interacting with someone, learn to keep some of your attention on the inner body. Learn to listen to the other person, with your whole being, not just with the mind. Before answering, take one or two seconds to feel the inner body for an answer. An answer from the inner body will not have any "trying to get" in it. Because the inner body is already and eternally totally at peace. Then your answer is coming directly from consciousness, and is being born into form in the external physical mind, as a new thought form, which then gets translated into sounds. This has bypassed the "trying to get" conditioning of the human mind. This is a pure interaction.

Sorry for the long post. I really congratulate you for reading the book and getting together with your book club on Saturday. Let us know how everything goes.

By the way, this Saturday, I am driving up to Seattle with friends to listen to Eckhart's live lecture. I have listened to many, many of his CD lectures, but have never heard him in person.

Blessings, Student99

It was created by God, to complete God. It was created so that God could experience all that a perfect, pure, loving being cannot. In this manner, God is unlimited, because humans Complete God by being able to experience the concept of separation and all the states that can come with it. Source created a way in which it could overcome the paradox of being both unlimited, AND pure and perfect love.

Jumps up and down & claps!!!

Another clear & grounded post student99....

I like the way Presence/Spirit/Awareness/Inner teacher works through us

to support each other...

As one. God is. Nothing else is.

Is not God complete as God of all that is seen and unseen? So to create ego to experience the separation from itself as pure and perfect love is jsut beyond human comprehension. Pure and perfect love would seem perfect as it is and no needs. No need to separate itself from what it already is....

PARADOX yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thankyou for your depth..
in love and acceptance am-ris

God is complete when it is unlimited AND also pure and perfect love.

To be unable to percieve or concieve evil is a limitation.

To be singular, as God is, and unable to experience community, is a limitation. To be perfectly and completely connected with all things, and thus unable to experience loneliness, is a limitation.

If God is to be truly, really, genuinely unlimited, it must be both limited (otherwise, it is paradoxically limited to unlimitedness), and simultaneously unlimited (otherwise it is not unlimited at all).

Humans solve the paradox. It is our reason for being, and the reason we CHOSE and ACCEPTED the ego-state. Now, we are graduating back to our true and pure essence, our job of Completion being... near completion.

EGO, EGO, EGO EGO SHINE A LIGHT, EGO EGO, VERY BRIGHT, EGO EGO PRIDE, HEY!
EGO, EGO, EGO EVERY DAY AND NIGHT, EGO BLACK AND EGO WHITE, EGO TRALALAAA!!!!

I find it humerous that after only 8 hours there is frustration that no one has answered your question.

Understanding life, the universe and everything is like trying to grasp a wiggling fish, the harder you grab for it the more likely it is to escape.

When a zen master was asked how long it would take to know oneself. The master replied that it might take years.

The questioner wondered how long it would take if the questioner tried really hard.

The zen master replied that in that case it would take many more years.

Thank you markosterl,

In that discourse from the Zen Master did he/she enlighten the student to the value of the intellectual search?

As we are (the God SELF) here in this world, with ego, is it not possible to observe the ego whilst still using it?

As stated previously to use the thorn in the side, i.e. ego, to remove the thorn from the side.

One school of thought...

Absolute meditation ( enlightenment) arrives naturally after first
CONCENTRATION then
CONTEMPLATION and finally
MEDIATION ( discovery of the true self.)

This confirms your Masterful response.

When a zen master was asked how long it would take to know oneself. The master replied that it might take years.

The questioner wondered how long it would take if the questioner tried really hard.

The zen master replied that in that case it would take many more years.

It's seems my question posed to this forum "why was the first ego created?" suggests i am in the contemplation process. As many of our brethren here are.

This contemplation has been a diligent concentration for many years.

Maybe this surge of human consciousness observed in this forum may be enough to finally achieve the goal.

I wish this for you and all who some this way.

in love and gratitude
christabell

Wow, you know so much! I'm bound to believe it, if only I knew what it all meant. But please don't try to explain, I will never get this, for me it's a kind of solemn small talk, sorry!! Hail and get Well and may the Sun Protect Thee, Sillayabah.

PS: would it be possible to have a 'truely spiritual' ego? One priding itself in the wonder of 'deep' and 'advanced' thoughts?

nancy677,

the more i know the more i realise i don't know.

what does sillayabah mean?

sorry if my waffle offends.

just searching like you.

Has it puched a button for you?

No offense, in any way, just unsure how this talk would help anyone in any way. For me all this holy talk is like saying "Sillayabah" and pulling a solemn face. Truth which isn't straight forward and obvious seems to be mere mystification and making yourself better than others. I really don't want to read books with holy mumbo-jumbo or repeat it after others. Or hear it...so yes, there's a button you pushed. But I personally don't think it's a problem to have buttons nor to push them. It would become awfully quiet on this forum, wouldn't it ? (maybe even blissfully quiet...)