THE CULT OF EGO

Thoughts, ideas, beliefs are not real. “What Is” requires Being not thinking.

Perseverating on the endpoint of who we are is problematic in that there is an occlusion to ‘Our’ connection. The conflict in life occurs in main part, because we inappropriately score ourselves more (in practice) as the expression of diversity versus the underlying and connecting Unity of all there Is. Elimination of the most important aspect of who we Are is obliterated by mindlessness. “This’ has a cult-like quality. And it has ramifications for the quality of our life, individually and collectively.

“You should not be carried away by the dictation of the mind, but the mind should be carried by your dictation.” A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Cults are known for their persuasive qualities. In Cults In Our Midst, Margaret T. Singer et al, point to 6 pre-conditions for “thought reform” to be effective: 1) The person is unaware of what is going on and ignorant of conditioning; 2) Control is made of time and the social and physical environment; 3) There is a systematic powerlessness that occurs; 4) Rewards, punishments, and experiences are geared toward inhibiting the person’s former identity; 5) Constant rewarding of an altered belief system and group approval is functionally present; and 6) Capping it all in, with logic and an authoritarian structure refusing alteration/flexibility, it redefines normality.

The criteria listed above and across other paradigms of cultish behaviors, have a consistency that helps explain the irrationality of our ‘supposed’ rationality. Individually, our ’normality’ is more akin to a spectrum of quiet desperation of un-fulfillment, to a grotesque ugliness of character that leads to perennial inner conflict and war among people to include religions and nations.

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.” Sai Baba

Ego is an infinitesimal contraction of consciousness. It is limited by it’s own nature, that is, contraction. It is an idea of self and not Self. It is originally sourced from Self, as is everything, but for the most part disconnected to the Source, to wit, ‘un-conscious’. Years of conditioning create a robotic routinized ‘frozen in time’ aspect of self that is fixed and inflexible. “This is how I was raised!” or “We all believe that this is the only way things could be in life!” or “If you don’t agree with me, then you have to be all wrong!” and/or “I know that this happened 200 years ago, but I can’t let that go because it still defines who I am today!”

Ego is based on an idea of who we think we are. Ideas are not real nor do they fully represent reality. When we define ourselves as some idea, we put limits on ourselves and we place ourselves in a defensive position, because of the environment telling us something about ourselves we do not want to hear. The ‘idea of ego’ is constantly challenged.

The idea-based ego enhances itself through additions in content. That is, more seeking of information and more aggrandizing of stuff. This cannot logically stop because there is never enough stuff to placate the bottomless need of ego. There is no bottom because the path is never headed in the right direction for fulfillment.

The addition of the ego is immediately a misdirected adventure precisely because it pushes away from “What Is”. “What Is” is who We Are.

Ego is false identity while mind is just a tool, a misused tool in this context.
The ego/mind is ‘overclocked’ with no easy shut-off switch. Compulsive thinking, repetitive programming, and a constant recycling of the same stuff, is it’s hallmark. The ego/mind is reusing old thoughts and patterns because it is stuck on itself.

The “Connection” is no longer viable. If “The Connection” were viable, then there would be unfettered access to the vastness of “Everything”. The ‘feather’ of “What Is” yields itself due to it’s ’non-pushing’ characteristic. It is ’Space’ with no limitation.

Ego/mind is constant pushing because of the belief that if it does not process stuff through labeling, categorizing, over-thinking, judging, and lamenting, then all control would be lost. How delusional! But are we ready to lose that?!

We are in an egoic trance and do not even realize it for two seconds. Trances work precisely because people in a trance do not believe they are in a trance. Belief locks us in. Awareness where nothing is hiding at any time, unlocks our prison and trance-state. How many dreams we dream do we fully realize we are dreaming?

Looking back on the criteria for ‘cults’, we can divine parallels to the egoic trance we have so comfortably lived in most of our lives. The cult of the ego goes unchecked because the mass of humanity is participant.

Our perception of who we think we are must change to enact a more profound existence. Keeping the same thought structures and limitations and expecting different results, is denying “ What Is”. The ego is always looking to some future moment to become what it thinks it would like to be. The ego is not satisfied with “What Is”. If we observe this illusion of ‘ I’, we see it’s pushiness out of Now. There is no deep satisfaction in the ego/mind to stay in the content-lessness of Now. Cursory stimulation is it’s bedrock (I like to do something that is exciting so I can feel that I am alive.”)

Acceptance, full-acceptance is always in the Now. The other stuff is the pretense. Problem is we are always pushing past it en masse.

When our perception can ’see’ the space that gives unity to everything everywhere without the need for thought, we are ’seeing’ with Awareness. Awareness first in connection, effortlessly there, is where the Moment starts and never ends. Be That.

This Iz Daddy’O