Our ego’s needs should not operate unconsciously.
- When meeting them is our primary focus in life, we become preoccupied with all we haven’t been getting and must get now.
- This attitude is quite separating and not at all as “empowering” as it is commonly believed to be.
The ego is a fussy ol’ geezer. It holds no peace.
- We may know when our ego is speaking when we feel urgency, righteousness, or excitement.
- “Do it before it’s too late,” says the ego.
- “It’s better to be right than happy,” says the ego.
- Whether we grant someone’s request because we’re fighting our ego or refuse to grant it because we’re giving in to our ego, we still are not connected to our real mind, our real feelings, our real identity.
Our ego is the echo of the voices from our past.
- It’s made up primarily of the influences and experiences we had during our formative years.
- These “lessons’ combine to give us a sense of identity that is unrepresentative of our real, or peaceful, identity.
- Because the voices from our formative years disagree, our ego is deeply conflicted.
Re-source: Reside
to be present as an element or quality : abide in
The only spiritually meaningful choice is between acting from peace or acting from conflict.
- Within stillness we experience our peaceful mind, our united self.
- Obviously, stillness can’t be attained by warring against a conflicted ego.
- That’s why judging myself is as great a mistake is as judging my neighbor.
Follow your “peaceful preference,” your deeper inclination toward simplicity.
- Forget what you want – bathe your mind in stillness – then notice that you have a peaceful preference, a gentle leaning in some direction.
- That’s your answer.
craving and resource from “Spiritual Notes to Myself” by Hugh Prather