If you are on the path of self-knowledge you probably heard that you're supposed to destroy the ego. Not only is “ego” used in spiritual practice, it is also used in psychology. This leads to multiple definitions that depend on what your knowledge is. Here we will discuss the ego with its spiritual meaning.
Oftentimes in our haste we look right past our actual experience and assume that we are limited by what we see. Meditation is the opportunity to slow down a bit, and reexamine our experience, to see if it matches up to our assumptions about it. So what I recommend here is to put all your definitions aside and take a fresh look right from your own experience. After all before we can destroy the ego, at least we have to know what it is, right?
So what is the ego anyway?
The ego is just a connecting thought that takes objects that we see, like the body and thoughts in the mind, and makes them seem like they are us. I am sure that you would agree that we are not objects; that there is something that is much deeper than an object that makes us up.
What hasn’t changed?
To find this, look for the thing that hasn’t changed one bit since the day you were born. As an example your body has changed quite a bit since you were a tiny infant coming out of your mother’s womb, hasn’t it? But for all these changes, did you really change? Isn’t there a place inside where you feel that despite the changes to your body, you don’t change? This place, aware of change but not affected by it, is where we want to abide in our meditations.
From here we get to see the body, mind and the world in its proper perspective. Here you will see that we are the seer of objects, not the one limited by them. From here everything looks fresh and new. It feels like you are seeing life for the first time just as it is. Standing here as the space-like awareness that we really are, we discover our innate oneness.
What makes it seem like we are limited?
So what is it that makes it seem like we are limited to the body and a few thoughts in the mind. It’s that little thought called ‘I’. But even this isn’t strictly true. The thought ‘I’ has no power of its own. Only when we give it the power that really belongs to Awareness does it seem to become us.
And when we return our identity to the Awareness that we really are, objects including the thought ‘I’, lose the power to limit us. It loses the power to connect us to objects like a body and mind that seem to limit us. When we abide as the Awareness that we truly are, this thought ‘I’ becomes another object that we see, a speck in Awareness. It no longer has anything to do with our identity. This shift from being a thought in the mind to being the limitless Awareness that we really are is the destruction of the ego.
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Question everything
Here
I always encourage questions. People take too much for granted about
the world, their body, mind, and their nature. Questioning encourages
you to take a fresh look. Looking afresh, once again life becomes fresh
and a real adventure. Without changing a thing, everyday experiences
become completely new. If you need help with your questions you can
write me at
michael@light-up-your-life.com.
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