An interesting parallel to my post this morning appeared on today’s Huffignton Post blog.
Christian faith continues to suffer from an overwhelming preoccupation with dogma. We seem to think that, if only people get their theology right, their lives will somehow fall into place.
We may need to be reminded by some of the other faith traditions of the world that Christianity did not start out as a belief system but as a way of life. Jesus did not say, “Believe these theological concepts.” Jesus said, “Come and follow me”.
Theology is not irrelevant but nor is it ultimately the path to transformation. Transformation comes from opening our hearts to the Spirit of Jesus and living as he directs.
But, the life of practice takes time, discipline and commitment. And, as the Hindu teacher Gadadhara Pandit Dasa points out in today’s Huffington Post,
Too often, our results-oriented mood also spills over into our spiritual practices. We want to get as much as possible, as quickly as possible, from as little commitment as possible.
Read the whole post at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gadadhara-pandit-dasa/fast-food-spirituality_b_1597655.html
4 comments
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June 20, 2012 at 8:23 am
jaqueline
A response to how ego has been talked about lately in posts and articles about ‘spirituality’:
It would be really nice if a distinction would be made between a healthy relationship with ego and an unhealthy relationship.
That ego is never mentioned in a a healthy way is concerning. All that is mentioned in trendy spiritual teachings is ‘ego=bad’.
One of the troubles I have with taking seriously teachers like Tolle etc and other teaching about ego, is that ego is treated as our enemy, a dirty word, a useless construct.
There has been discussion of this before, a couple of years ago now…but it is really frustrating to hear this unthinking condemnation of an aspect of ourselves, that when healthy is a really important part of us that allows us to function in the world in healthy ways.
Adults, who as children, survived long term trauma in their early years suffer because of a fragmented or undeveloped ego. A lot of their walk into health is find a way to allow the ego to grow and function. Did you know that they have to learn simple things such as discovering what they like? They are the ones who find it so very hard to put action to their good ideas.
How is it that many women, especially of pre Boomer generations,and even any women coming out of abusive relationships often have to discover how to say ‘no’, how to put themselves forward, to assert themselves, because too many have had their ego pummeled and disallowed.
All this talk of setting boundaries..well, what do we think is the aspect of ourselves that is necessary for setting or recognising the boundary? If our egos are underdeveloped we have very poor boundaries…if they are overdeveloped we have over -strong rigid boundaries…but boundaries we must have to be healthy, which means we need healthy egos.
Our ego ‘s function is analogous to our skin. Healthy skin glows and reveal the inner life, unhealthy skin is dull and thick. Too thin or a broken skin allows disease into the inner body; too thick, too solid, well the body suffocates.
A healthy inner life ought to allow the ego to rest and do it’s job of being a skin, an interface with the world. An absent inner life forces the ego to be what it was never meant to be.
What I hear from modern spiritual teachers is an idea that is about an …an inner life that rejects the ego. If our bodies did that it would be a form of severe Psoriasis, which is a disease of the body attacking it’s own skin.
Those that have over identified with ego and have big thick solid egos also need to find healthy ways to relate.Without a healthy inner life people over -identify with the ego. But that is not the ego’s fault.
Years ago I heard an important Jungian describes ego thus:…ego is how we interface with the world, it is how we act…without it we are like workmen without hands. Ego reflects and acts upon the desires and and intentions of a healthy inner life OR an unhealthy one. But all we hear is ‘ego bad, ego evil’.
It is no wonder that those supposedly teaching about inner life are at a loss of describing practical ways as to how that inner life needs to be acted out in the world when they negate and denigrate the very aspect of ourselves that is necessary for that functioning.
June 20, 2012 at 8:33 am
jaqueline
I think it is because we are so enamoured of this idea that what is within us is ‘pure’ that our ‘true selves’ are perfect that we are in denial of how the ego reflects what comes to it from within.
Instead we place all of what comes from within ourselves that is not pure and sweet and kind, which we cannot accept about ourselves into the ‘ego’.
The thing is, as our inner life becomes healthier our ego will reflect that without us having to revile it.
June 20, 2012 at 8:25 pm
kimgye
All I could say about this ego thing Jacqueline, is that when my ego hides the truth of me, I cannot see the usefulness of it in that moment unless it is to protect me from a very real danger that could result from me knowing that truth. I do know that the ego holds court just fine in all of us without needing to be defended. Ego protects us, especially when we are young. Perhaps we would perish without it. I think so. But in this world that I live in, my ego has been unwilling to give up total control of me without a fight. I have seen example after example where I choose to be defended instead of open to what another offers. Sometimes it has been holding on to a “victim state”, where I have blamed everyone else for my unhappiness and lack of satisfaction. My own ego has told me countless times not to take a chance in my business that could move me forward. The actual words play out like this: “Better not risk it. You are not that good at what you do and will likely fail. You are already lucky to be where you are”. This has happened all my life and I know in my heart that it is not true, yet more often than not I listen to the ego remind me that I have survived because of him. My ego has most of the say about how I live and how I interact with others. That is just fact as I write this.
I have been blessed to have had opportunities to temporarily be free to choose according to my heart and deny his advice to the contrary. I love to hear how people escape from their self imposed prisons and show up to everyone as the beautiful people they truly are. I think in that state one has no hard feelings towards their ego. More like an understanding of ego being a part of the whole self. Just maybe not running the whole show.
I think your questioning of this is a valuable inquiry if it looks without an agenda too as you seem to think the opposing views might be guilty of. Thanks for bringing your feelings on this to the surface.
June 20, 2012 at 10:49 pm
jaqueline
well I really like what you write and I think it is true and ties in with this idea of the ego being our skin…just as skin protects us.
Perhaps how I might describe it a bit differently, is that it is not ego that is holding onto us, but ourselves holding onto ego and demanding it be what it ought not be, because we are not feeling confident about the self within or our strength within.