The concept of eliminating the Ego also sometimes confused by the I Am awareness is something that features heavily in spiritual awareness circles as a desirable goal. Get rid of the ego (I Am) and live in permanent bliss. But is this really true? Who do you know Guru or otherwise, that is not aware that they are. That do not respond by saying I Am when asked a question as to their state of being.
I tend to think that nature has provided for us in every way possible and that we have all the necessary tools with us to reach awareness. The I Am and the ego (which are separate manifestations of conscious awareness of being) are no different.
To reach awareness one just need to understand what they are and their purpose in the larger scheme of being. But in essence just being is quite enough, and exactly what is needed to become aware.
In my understanding the I Am is another word for recognition of what makes us unique to any given situation. We use I Am to define our boundaries to the world, so that we can use those to explore everything that is not included in our I Am function.
For example saying "I Am Angela" clearly defines that in order to get your attention one must call for Angela. However Angela does not describe anything at all. It is just a sound. So really you are not Angela, the sound to get your attention is. Yet we put all our identity into that sound as if our living depended on it. When we put this into perspective we might find just how absurd it really is by stating:
"Hi I Am A Name."
We can then go on to state all the things we recognize as part of our I Am experience like, our occupation, our civil state, our age, our height, emotional state etc etc. What we find is that the only thing that is constant is our belief that we are. I Am.
So in essence I Am is simply awareness of being in its purest form. And is endless in it's possibilities. The only true and permanent answer to any question about who and what is I Am.
When we recognize that the I Am rather than define us and bind us is what frees us and allow us to experience anything and everything - we come to realize our true potential as beings. Welcome to awareness of being. Or being aware.
So if the I Am is pure awareness then what is the Ego and how are they different?
Well Ego to my understanding is the control center of being. It is what wants us safe and well so that we can carry on being awareness for as long as possible. It seeks out answers to what if questions in order to understand possibilities within the boundaries of our accumulated experiences. The Ego does not like sudden changes. It wants organized predictable chunks of reality events to deal with, so that it can carry out it's task of evaluating what ifs and protect our being from transitioning into unknown territory where certainty of awareness might not exist.
Further more Ego loves I Am but it is not it. This can easily be tested by saying out aloud "I Am Ego". It doesn't make sense because we are not. I Am and Ego is it's keeper. When we say "I Am Egoistic" we are not saying we are the Ego but rather that the I Am is focusing on the Ego function. The Ego in that sense is to our I Am as an arm is to our bodies. Just one part within I Am. A tool.
Now that we understand this we also see how preposterous it is to try to eliminate the Ego from our being. Rather than seeking to destroy it all we have to do is understand that Ego is not always right in it's ways and does not always see things clearly. Nor is it always necessary to listen to the Ego's ranting about what should be. We can, when we are aware ignore the Ego entirely as and when we are required to in order to move beyond our current boundaries. This in my view is what being conscious or enlightened means. Recognition that I Am is the only thing that we are. We are all it.
I Am and so are you
Just for today embrace the I Am, allow the I Am to be to it's fullest potential, because you are no more and no less...
Showing posts with label Us and them. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Us and them. Show all posts
Monday, 25 June 2012
Saturday, 5 June 2010
US and THEM................. the illusion that separates rather than unites!
I've been thinking on this for a long time now. And contrary to what may seem obvious to most that to unify means to group I am have come to the conclusion that in fact the opposite is true. Here's why...
Most people are happy to think of the world in terms of us and them. Constantly searching the world for acknowledgement of their perceived reality in which we belong to a group of "us'es" and they belong to the enemy group called 'them'.
In the world of such people you can always blame 'them' for everything that is wrong thus giving 'us' the right to hate 'them' and to do what ever necessary to protect 'us' from 'them'. Wars are fought on this basis and it doesn't really matter what the fundamental believes are it's in effect the 'us' and 'them' principle that causes the fractions who war against eachother. It is not relevant what the cause for this fighting is in the end what matters is 'us' and 'them'.
There is also another type of person who although they also assemble their perception of the world on an 'us' and 'them' basis try to make this into an inclusion by saying things like 'we' love 'them'. 'They' love 'us' etc. Although this group of people believe that their world is different from the 'us' and 'them' that cause wars in effect it is still the same belief. It is the belief that we are some how separate entities that can be grouped in to general groups of actions, behaviours etc based on a certain set of pre-determined factors.
The truth is that there is no 'us' and 'them' it is all an illusion. The terms us and them are useful for making generalised statements of any number of people who by choice or other factors belong to a group of similar people. It is not the usage of the terms us and them that is the problem. The problem starts when we forget that they are just words not reality as such. In reality there is no such thing as us and them....there exists only individuals. And these individuals do things based on their individual choices Therefore when we are done an injustice we should think of it in terms of the individual as supposed to the imaginary group that we've placed them into. The same goes for any good deeds that are done. It was the individual who did the deed not the perceived us/them group. Even if a number of people work together to achieve a task it is still the individual within that group who make it happen. Not the 'group' per se.
I hope you see where I am getting with this.... the first step in opening ones mind up to inclusion is to undo the false perceiption that us and them represents reality and instead realise that to recognise unity for what it really is we need to first recognise the individual for what it really is. One entity just like me who makes choices based on it's perception of reality.
So just for today - don't make snap judgements about the people around you based on the us/them principle. Instead recognise the groups that you place people in and then undo these by looking at a group one individual at a time and notice the differences in each person with in that preceived group. Is your perception of the group really relevant on an individul basis? Does this person really fit neatly into the group that you've placed them in or not?
Once you recognise the groupings that you make and take a closer look at the individuals you place within that group. Recognise that most will not fit neatly into your definition of that group and that that group is only an illusion.
Most people are happy to think of the world in terms of us and them. Constantly searching the world for acknowledgement of their perceived reality in which we belong to a group of "us'es" and they belong to the enemy group called 'them'.
In the world of such people you can always blame 'them' for everything that is wrong thus giving 'us' the right to hate 'them' and to do what ever necessary to protect 'us' from 'them'. Wars are fought on this basis and it doesn't really matter what the fundamental believes are it's in effect the 'us' and 'them' principle that causes the fractions who war against eachother. It is not relevant what the cause for this fighting is in the end what matters is 'us' and 'them'.
There is also another type of person who although they also assemble their perception of the world on an 'us' and 'them' basis try to make this into an inclusion by saying things like 'we' love 'them'. 'They' love 'us' etc. Although this group of people believe that their world is different from the 'us' and 'them' that cause wars in effect it is still the same belief. It is the belief that we are some how separate entities that can be grouped in to general groups of actions, behaviours etc based on a certain set of pre-determined factors.
The truth is that there is no 'us' and 'them' it is all an illusion. The terms us and them are useful for making generalised statements of any number of people who by choice or other factors belong to a group of similar people. It is not the usage of the terms us and them that is the problem. The problem starts when we forget that they are just words not reality as such. In reality there is no such thing as us and them....there exists only individuals. And these individuals do things based on their individual choices Therefore when we are done an injustice we should think of it in terms of the individual as supposed to the imaginary group that we've placed them into. The same goes for any good deeds that are done. It was the individual who did the deed not the perceived us/them group. Even if a number of people work together to achieve a task it is still the individual within that group who make it happen. Not the 'group' per se.
I hope you see where I am getting with this.... the first step in opening ones mind up to inclusion is to undo the false perceiption that us and them represents reality and instead realise that to recognise unity for what it really is we need to first recognise the individual for what it really is. One entity just like me who makes choices based on it's perception of reality.
So just for today - don't make snap judgements about the people around you based on the us/them principle. Instead recognise the groups that you place people in and then undo these by looking at a group one individual at a time and notice the differences in each person with in that preceived group. Is your perception of the group really relevant on an individul basis? Does this person really fit neatly into the group that you've placed them in or not?
Once you recognise the groupings that you make and take a closer look at the individuals you place within that group. Recognise that most will not fit neatly into your definition of that group and that that group is only an illusion.
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