Ego's Purpose

[Chris TurleParticipant]

Spending so much time exploring Awakening . . . .
I thought it may be interesting to take a polar shift and look at the Ego from a positive perspective – in how it can help with our daily lives and survival

Where it serves us – when to thank it?

Life is about balance

All of life is about poles
The two sides of the sine wave
The YinYan
The Darkness highlighting Light
Seeing and unseeing
Moments of Clarity – moments of Confusion
Luck – Bad Luck
Enlightenment and Unconsciousness

If we didn’t have ego – Could we even be awakened?

Ego seems to serve its purpose to enable self preservation of a body of cells enabling consciousness – but to what end?
Ego has a purpose to consolidate living entities in to a self protected state
However without consciousness of something deeper – and the interconnectedness of everything – the ego alone can seem quite a lonely entity – leading to a sense of meaninglessness

Is this not why we focus on awakening?

If the ego did not exist we might not survive to awaken

Everything is about Balance

If the Ego becomes out of balance we lose connection
If our Awakened state is not tempered by ego – then how can we preserve the awakened state?
Do we allow harm to our bodies because we are in a state of awakened bliss?

To be the master of both the ‘Awakened state’ and to improve our comprehension of Ego seems to be a balanced state to me

Im interested to explore this – if you are . . . .

[PeterKeymaster]

Hi Chris,
Thank you for your post.
The ego (sense of a separate self identity) is useful and part of our self awareness. It is just distorted through conditioning to see everything as separate, including ourselves. This egoic sense of separation is necessary for functioning in our human world as we are conditioned to do and believe. When we awaken, we awaken from this illusion of an egoic separate self. The ego does not awaken. We awaken from this sense of a separate identity. It is revealed and realized as an illusion that has never actually existed other than our conditioned thoughts and beliefs. It is like a dream we awaken from.

Because of the way we perceive ourselves and the world through thoughts, we cannot understand what awakening is since it is beyond all thoughts. It is not about balance, but about awakening from a dream, an illusion. There is no balance between ego and enlightenment. Enlightenment is the complete elimination of the illusion of an ego separate self. Once it is realized, the egoic sense of a separate self is no longer believed as reality, yet is is used as a tool for communication and social activity. It is no longer identified with any more than a hammer or spoon is identified with.

The perception of the world is entirely different after awakening. It would be like trying to balance a sleeping dream with yourself lying in bed upon awaking. The two are quite different and cannot be balanced. One is a dream, the other is not a dream. You are either awake or dreaming. Trying to balance the two, a little bit of dream balanced with a little bit of awake is like the twilight between sleep and being awake. Nothing happens in this twilight. It is only a process between sleeping and waking up. To remain in that twilight realm is not the purpose of life.

I hope this helps.

[Chris TurleParticipant]

i read this a few times now
and i get it
Particularly that the ego can’t awaken

The shift from egoic living to awakened living causes me to see the world as poles
One minute i feel awake
the next my mind has hijacked me again
Im sure this is pretty normal as a part of the process for many people

At times i have long bursts of each pole
But they seem to be tightening up
The extremes aren’t quite so extreme – as i clip each ego driven situation and say to myself – i caught you doing it again – use this – transmute this – make it an entry point to being awake
Don’t let the tail wag the dog – the mind wag you
Then i come back and even find myself laughing out loud that it happened – especially if it went too far
But this is coming through my mind
This confuses me a little
I dont want to ‘over think’

i do really connect with body awareness
This has changed everything – for me
Its how i get back from a slip in to mind
I just automatically trigger my ‘body sense’ as a way out of the situation the mind created
maybe in traffic – or some social ego situation – where another person’s unconsciousness has caused ego resonance in me
then i cut the resonance
and use it to get back to body
and be a portal for humility to enter

but i want to get past this thinking stage

some days its great – like smooth effortless and flowing

Others the mind gets in the way – and im in a place where im aware of my resistance but have to let it process – out to the other side again
or so it seems

does it ever stop and what practises help
self enquiry – getting naked
body awareness

i must be changing though
its been going for 10 years
i sense the people i am attracted to changing
i cant be bothered in the fuss of life any more
it seems so artificial
the inner treasure is so much more valuable

i sense a tipping point approaching

i have gone so off subject here – for the original post

[Chris TurleParticipant]

The waters are clearing
thought is settling like particles sinking to the muddy floor – light filters through
Mind made ego has no purpose where awakening is concerned

Mind stands in the way – MIND IS THE ILLUSION

You cannot think your way to awakening

The ego is mind
It cannot awaken

Only what is underneath mind can become aware
(this is Mooji’s nakedness)
(This is Lao Tzu’s Treasure)

The reason this post started was that mind was trying to understand what it cannot!
Stop thinking – simply let the awareness of not thinking – clarify the waters

No Mind
The state of No Mind is the key – the break through for me

Meditation is a process for achieving no mind in a world run by mind
Meditation is only needed to start the breaking of the illusion of mind
When the experience of no mind sets in and becomes aware of itself -it lets the joy through
And once you know the way to something – you cannot un-know it
Simply – be of no mind

The joy of No mind is the Inner Treasure which allows the joy of awareness to permeate us
This is where life becomes aware of itself – unencumbered with thought

This is the Love connecting us all

Love is the joy contained in no mind
Its what connects us

We all are that Love

<*>

[Author]

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