August 26, 2012
Is Your Ego Big Enough for God?
The traditional teachings of spiritual enlightenment tell us that in order to be one with Spirit we need to shrink our egos down to the size of a pea. Those rare beings who are considered to be saints are said to be “selfless.” Higher spiritual development, whether Eastern or Western, is generally determined by how tangibly and profoundly the individual has transcended his or her egotistical inclinations. And those rare individuals who have authentically attained such a state of being are impressive indeed. But while I admire such spiritual exemplars, and find the personalities of egomaniacs to be obnoxious in the same way that most people do, I’m not sure that shrinking our egos down to the size of a pea really makes sense in this day and age as the goal of higher spiritual development. As a matter of fact, I’m going to say something provocative: I’m of the opinion that spiritual evolution in the 21st century is going to be about having even bigger egos—not smaller ones. Let me explain.
You see, the ego is not the problem. Narcissism is the problem. A narcissist is someone who lives in a world of self-obsession and self-concern. When I was a young person, I was extremely narcissistic. Like many others of the so-called “me” generation, I was obsessed with my inner emotional and psychological world—my fears, my desires, my achievements, my failures. I was the star of a non-stop daytime (and nighttime) soap opera that was my life. In retrospect, my life wasn’t really that interesting, because I wasn’t doing anything truly great or laudable. But that didn’t really matter. My own self-experience always felt incredibly important, simply because it was all about me.
My first breakthrough to a dimension of being that completely transcended the little world of “me” occurred when I was a teenager. For a few precious moments, the universe seemed to open up in the most extraordinary way imaginable. I awoke to a perception of infinity—beginninglessness and endlessness with no center. I was nowhere, but I was also everywhere. My prior sense of self was crushed out of existence by the enormity of what I was seeing and simultaneously I experienced myself to be everything all at the same time. This monumental glimpse into reality beyond the small self was short-lived, but it lasted long enough to change my life forever.
In the years that followed, I did lots of spiritual work and long hours of sitting very, very quietly by myself. Eventually, I met a Teacher who helped me, over a brief period of time, to make the metaphysical transition from small self to big Self. When I left him three weeks later, I found myself alone on a train sitting in the station in Lucknow, India, about to leave for Delhi. Suddenly I was seeing myself from a completely different vantage point. I no longer saw the world from within the prison of my small self. Now I saw my small self from outside it. And this outside position included the whole universe. To say I was amazed is an understatement. I was in a state of awe and wonder at the spectacular turn of events, shift in perspective, and profound self-transformation. Now my sense of self was literally enormous. And this enormity was inclusive. The once-tiresome and mundane melodrama of my personal identity had broken wide open and suddenly felt like it was the thrilling journey of the entire cosmos. My own life now felt like it was one with all of life and my sense of self had transformed in such a way that now I wanted to embrace or include as many others in this newfound consciousness as I could.
In those three weeks I went from being a seeker to being a teacher myself. My previous experience of insecurity and self-doubt became displaced by a powerful self-confidence and often-surprising clarity. Many people found this clarity and confidence inspiring, compelling, and even liberating. Others found it to be simply too much. To them, my confidence was perceived as arrogance and as a sign of a big ego.
What had happened to me in this profound shift of identity was this: as a young man, my ego had been enormous—because I was so painfully and narcissistically self-centered. When I became a seeker, I relentlessly sought for the kind of knowing that the greatest mystics have described to us, a mysterious truth that I knew my mind would never be able to grasp. Because of this, I constantly had to humble myself. When I finally met my teacher, it didn’t take him long to convince me that he had direct access to what lay on the other side of the veil of the separate self. In order for that veil to drop within me, I had to humble myself before him. I remember one day hearing myself utter the words: “I want to die (to the small self), but I don’t know how.” He was sitting quietly on his bed and I was sitting on a chair in front of him. He didn’t respond.
When that veil finally lifted, the power of my personality grew by leaps and bounds. It became BIG. Now, especially in moments of inspiration, it seemed to be a mere container through which the inconceivable nature of the creative force of the cosmos could express itself. This shift from narcissism to humility to big Self is, and always has been, the journey of the mystic and the realizer. The bigger our self becomes after we’ve transcended the crippling effects of narcissism, the more powerfully and creatively we will be able to live our precious human lives. Because we’ve gotten over our small selves, we will be living for a higher purpose. And that’s what changes everything.
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This post was originally published on Andrew Cohen’s BigThink.com blog, The Evolution of Enlightenment
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Dear Andrew I recognize that you have a very big Ego… so do I… I am also a narcissist and with all due respect, you still are one, a very big one. Just count the number of times you say “ I” in your talks, each times counts for narcissism, it is scientific. Enlightened people are the biggest narcissists on earth. I also couldn’t agree ore with you that Big Egos are the way to change the world. Nothing really New here, admit it. Well, maybe it is new in the spiritual community, but just talk to a Nobel Price scientist and se the strength of the Ego there, see whether he or she ( rarely she, admittedly) doesn’t think he is the greatest on earth. Phil Anderson is recorded to have answer to the question : “ is there another scientist that you fin greater than you and you admire?” by the answer” “ yes, there is God… ” which at the time provocateur a tolle. So since we agree on those basics facts, shouldn’t we also agree that the most important thing for a spiritual Teacher like you is that your students don t feel castrated in their Egoic creativity ? Castration of the potential for Greatness in others, in any field, shall be considered as the biggest sin possible, right ?
Could you then please make a survey among your former students and ask how many of them felt castrated by your rigid Hierarchic Structure in your groups ? look, to tell the Truth, you are not the only one. ALL the spiritual teachers I have met so far have immense problems to accept to have students somewhat more complex than themselves. If you really believe in big Egos, if you really believe in the value of Greatness for the sake of the Evolution of the Whole, then you have to prove it to the world through your own way of being and of teaching, and no student or ex student of yours shall have to complain that the system in which you operate is castrating to his or her HUMAN potential. Big Egos is all about making Unity at a Human level. Unifying Complexity, at the human scale, requires Big Ego. In that sense, “ communication Beyond Ego” is completely irrelevant ( with all due respect here again), what is relevant for the future are simply Big Egos which are able to meet in Transcendence, in doing something together. That is all , and very simple. It is Communication of Big Egos. A Shaman once told me : it takes a few lifetimes to make a Big Ego. As a spiritual Teacher, how will you help strengthen the Egos of others then ? How will you make sure that Complex people can assert themselves much much much more than they do at the moment ( especially in Europe)? that is to me the main needed evolutionary leap of our times. Maybe the only leap needed. When complex people will be able to assert themselves as much as simple people do, the word will have taken a new face. But for that, my dear Andrew you have to accept that sometimes, and maybe quite often actually some of your students are simply more complex than you are, and thus, have more potential than you do have. You have to be able to encourage them to surpass you, and refrain to put them down or to castrate their very human potential. And this is true for al of us. If one really believes in big Ego, how does one reacts when on meets someone greater than us ( or potentially greater) does one try to kill the bay into the egg or does one give everything, in a true Evolutionary Agape so that this person can fulfill his or her missing and achieve his or her potential ? Our retain to people greater than us is the real measure of our humility.
Catherine, The definition of a narcissist is someone who can’t see themselves, or others, clearly, because they are so self-focused the mirror of their minds reflects only themselves…they make themselves the “center” in which all others revolve around.
You should destroy that mirror, Catherine
Nada don t worry too much for me ( if you are well intentioned) I see others clearly enough and I know Andrew much better than you do. You dont know me and you don t know Andrew so please refrain from your propension to give uninformed aggressive advices ( which I already asked to you once but apparently this notion of respect is not yet in your awareness). Thanks for next time !
Another thought, coming not from me but from Franklin Merrell Wolff whom I am reading at the moment. He claims that after the Realization, the Creativity is proportional to the degree of complexity of the Ego BEFORE the Realization.
Namely he claims that, if you are Einstein before the Realization and that you get realized, your level of creativity will be incomparable to the one you would have if you are a simple man of woman. Same goes for all other geniuses, I chose Einstein as an example of Complexity in Thought but you could of course have complexity in other fields. Hence, Franklin claims that the job of any Spiritual Teacher who believes in Evolution is to find those complex people and Enlighten them. The job is tougher than the Enlightenment of more simple people, because the barrier of the human ego is bigger in the latter case, but if successful, the result shall be the emergence of incredibly powerful Masters. The result would be the transmutation of human capacities through the Current of Enlightenment.
So… Andrew, here is the death question for you. You obviously have the ( fantastic) capacity to attract very complex people. Your power of attraction is enormous. From what I saw, great and fantastic, and very complex people came to you for help. Moreover, I would say that many of your students are more complex than you are, in their egoic human abilities. How many did you Enlighten to the point that they become much powerful than you, as Masters ? is there a single one, just a single example that you would show us ? if not, what went wrong, what was missing in your job as a Teacher ? if you didn’t succeed to fully Enlighten a single “pseudo Einstein”, what is the reason for this ? is it because it is too tough to get these people Enlightened, with their strong egos and their so strong capacities ? is it because a Master can only help people at his or her own level of complexity but not help people at higher level of complexity ? I myself don t know. The latter option would be a disaster for Evolution. Masters like you do have to to find way to help people much more complex than themselves to get Enlightened, if not your intrinsic limitations will become the egde, the frontier of development of your school, and we go nowhere from there at the next generation.
What I know is that we will start to talk about Spiritual Evolution when Masters like Andrew can Enlighten the Einsteins of this world. Or at least can demonstrate that they can produce a single Master of the second generation which is more powerful than themselves. If they cannot, then by no means conscious Spiritual Evolution has really started; it simply is not understood by us humans at the moment and we cannot yet transmit it in a powerful way, like Evolution is transmitted in all other human fields of creativity.
The job of a post modern Guru is not to claim that he or she is the most powerful Master unsurpassed at least in his or her own school… no, to the opposite, a true powerful Guru shall be able to transmit Enlightenment to much more complex personalities than his own, hence producing Masters of a higher power and caliber than themselves. They shall look for those people and try by any means to do everything in their power so that they succeed.
How is this for a post-modern Guru with a big Ego ? is it a too tough goal, for you, dear Mister Cohen ?
“The bigger our self becomes after we’ve transcended the crippling effects of narcissism, the more powerfully and creatively we will be able to live our precious human lives.”
Let s make it clear I completely disagree with this. What counts is not how much the Self is inflated AFTER Realization but how complex the human being was BEFORE realization. I will cite here the comparative statement of Franklin Merrell Wolff (FMW) , since as a fully realized Master he as more authority than me, and since I feel this point is crucial for the discussion we are having here:
FMW page 24 of his “Pathway through Space”:
“(…) Egoistic consciousness does, therefore, forge instruments of value which the truly Wise Man will not discard, although He may very largely transform them. The most perfectly forged instruments of egoistic consciousness have greater potentiality than the less perfect. But the men who have built such instruments have stronger egoistic forces than others, with correspondingly greater barriers to overcome. But having Mastered these barriers and having Realized the SELF, They also transcend others in the capacity to make manifest from out of the endless Fullness of the Silence. We do not scorn out, but on the contrary desire such men, and will do all that can and may be done to demonstrate the fact of the Inner Reality and clarify the rationale of the Way whereby that Reality may be Realized.” (…) “ Many genuinely Illuminated Men have not seen clearly with respect to this point. The result is while such Men have made the Crossing for themselves, They have left poor bridges for others. It is this bridge building that is the really important work. (…) If the Recognition of the SELF is not to entail permanent immersion in the Silence but is to be combined with active manifestation, relative powers are necessary.”
I let you enjoy the prose, the clarity and the Transcendence of FMW. He was himself a Math prodigy, a Math genius. Maybe the only one I know who also convinced me in his Realization. He is so far the only referend of this caliber that a scientist can find on his/her way to Transcendence, and he understands very well the problem intellectuals do face. In any case I feel FMW is right here, and that way counts is the capacities that were developed BEFORE the realization. After it is too late, and all the Masters ( including FMW, Andrew, or Steve Jourdain) recall that they have troubled to lave their shoes. And well, if FMW is right here this is a terribly important point to contemplate.
“Many people found this clarity and confidence inspiring, compelling, and even liberating. Others found it to be simply too much. To them, my confidence was perceived as arrogance and as a sign of a big ego.”
it is not that it is “too much” as you said. It is that sometimes it is “too simplistic”, not evolved enough. To be confident is one side of a corner, ( spiritually confident, I mean) but the other dark side of the corner is that it is extremely difficult to be confident and open to other people’s qualities. Open to the point of wanting to be surpassed, to the point that you are intimately convinced that your attainment however big it seems to you, is by no means the biggest. This openness is almost non existent in spiritual Masters, they all believe they are the greatest and the fact that many people put them on a pedestal only secure this illusion ( I am guilty of the pedestal story).
Look, the dilemma of complex post modern people is that before enlightenment we are fragmented. The more potential we have, the more potential for fragmentation. I observed this thousand times with people around me. The most interesting, complex faceted people have the propensity to be the most fragmented. Now, say we meet someone like you. You are fully united, your Enlightenment and Realization ( which is perfectly genuine) has given Unity to you. So we fall in love with this Unity that we search so desperately. WE are ready to de for this Unity. Yes but that ‘s the point, if before your enlightenment you were “too simple” for us, then it will be very difficult for you to help any us. Especially if you are not even conscious of your limitations. Many of our wise judgment will be simply cast as “ you are resisting Me”, or “it is your narcissism”. Can an Enlightened Guru help a great Intellectual to get enlightened if he is not himself an intellectual ? I would love to say “ yes”. Last year even, you know it, I would have given everything so that You transmit this to me. Now I feel it is impossible, simply because at the intellectual level you cannot understand me. I am too complex for you on that side and the only thing that you will be able to do is to say ` `shut up, and drop your intellect”. It doesn’t work like this for us, really. It cannot work like this. Well I am not the greatest intellectual on earth, but on that side I am definitely greater than you are ( with all due respect, if I can say this and you will note be obfuscated, but hey, you are the one Enlightened here, not me). Whether you have the humility to recognize your failure in enlightening more complex being than yourself is not clear at all as well.
But you see, Andrew, it is a question of containers. Between two human beings the more complex is the container and the more simple is the contained. If the more simple tries to help the more complex to unify by trying to simplify him or her, it will lead to destruction of the more complex.
If you are too simple for your intellectual students and not even aware of this, the only thing that will happen is that you will hurt them. That is what has happened many times already, and none of them got fully enlightened as yourself are. So, it has nothing todo with “ it was too much for them”. But rather , probably that “ they were too complex for you”.
Sorry about this black and white scientific conclusion …
I really hope your big Ego swallow this Truth, although it is a really tough one.
Every teacher, guru, guide… is also someone who is always evolving as a conscious being on the planet. There are thousands of teachers at all levels and ever-evolving beliefs at any given time. If Andrew’s thoughts on his experience or his teachings do not resonate with you, which you have made it excessively clear they do not, it may be time to find someone who does. Or, if you feel you are fully confident your current beliefs and want to share, you can become a teacher yourself, which is a courageous way to practice your beliefs. Those that “follow” Andrew or any other teacher are responsible for their own experience, and if things cease to resonate, it’s time to move on. Focus on what calls you instead of wasting your energy on things that do not, which is what the world needs desperately from each of us right now. In doing so, I hope you discover what your heart and soul needs at this time in your life, so you transcend the need to tear down others.
I ask this as someone who has pondered this very issue for the last 20 years and came to a similar conclusion almost that long ago. And as someone who after studying Advaita later came across Trika “Kashmir” Shaivism that uses the language of going beyond small ego to bigger and bigger ego as well….
I’ll do my best to not come off as someone who is doing a “gotcha,” because that is really not the intent here. My own sense is that our life has unfolded for reasons and in ways that I don’t question and whatever function your own trajectory took was all part of some larger leela.
As I remember it one of the main issues that you sited as the reason for you leaving your teacher, HWL Poonja was that Poonja admitted to you ( and many others by the way) that he indeed did have an ego.
Your description in your book was something like “I then realized I had gone beyond my Master”.
The talk around Lucknow was that you claiming that you no longer had an ego was evidence of your spiritual arrogance and Poonja’s of his honesty.
The language you used of those “others” who were being sent out by Papaji was something like that they were not “completely free of personal history and ego”.
Those of us who stayed with Poonjaji felt that the teaching identifying with Self and seeing through the nature of ego (and in that sense seeing it did not exist) was enough of a realization for our deepening to happen by itself. In the same way that we were not the body, we were not the ego, no need for it to shrink or disappear. God will take care of that simply be identifying with Self.
Anyway, you’ve obviously influenced many people and continue to do so,
And you have been willing to change or evolve your positions over time.
So my question is whether you’ve reconsidered any of your past assertions around this issue and if so have you reconsidered your assessment of Poonjaji?
I bring this with all due respect and without any irony.
Jesus lived always in may heart, but I was somehow not believer. I was a thinker, small one but persisting. I think, many people are sceptic and nomore able just to believe. But, Jesus was for me the basic message: Love even your enemy… I found that could change the world.
But the egos, formed by the hard ways of life, won’t admit.
But by science i opend my my mind. Cause everything is made of energy and spirit. Matter is only frozen energy, due to a expanding effekt energy cools down. Matter and Energy is somehow like snowflakes and water. (When matter is heating up it finally sends out energy.
As the sun does.
And since the DNA was stablished some 3,5 Billion years ago we know about intelligent cosmic information systems – we see the spirit in everything.
My ego grew, my fears were getting smaller, when I recognised this true character of the world. But on the other hand I recognised my ego is only part of the game. I’m nothing with my ego alone.
When Andrew comes to Munich we will play my song: Train of Evolution.
I feel a deep urge to respond to Portailevolutif’s outpouring of angst and concerns:
1. You make this comment: ” is it because a Master can only help people at his or her own level of complexity but not help people at higher level of complexity ? I myself don t know. The latter option would be a disaster for Evolution.” May I speak a bit toward this?
A person who has authentically transmuted all that is NOT-God in their personal unified field of their being, will have effectively removed all separation from their personal self and, thus, be ONE with God-Spirit again.
This means they will have made their ego transparent once again which will enable their Spirit to be freely the person individuated below, and, frankly, NO BIG Ego will be desired or needed for God-Spirit to make an impact.
This person will have a natural affinity with all that is TRUE in all people of all levels of complexity because God in them will be the communicator without ego interference – separation and status will be non-existent from their perspective.
ONE will and freedom of Spirit expressing and experiencing without deviations are the keys of “mastery’, not the complexity of souls… recognizing potential and freeing it to be all it can be is the “mastery”…
You see, all complexity equalizes in TRUTH as potential, and potential is embraced with joyous delight with no desire to withhold, castrate, epitomize, or any other ego value skewing the process of transmuting whatever is blocking at-ONE-ment, which is the source of same potential. PERIOD.
Our equally wonder-full Indwelling Spirits are the God in us who is master over ego b.s., a right use of free will, and pure receptivity of FLOW without any “monkey business”. Mastery over money, businesses, mind over matter, ad nauseam are not signs of Spirit Awareness – far from it!
NO such person desires to be called master, guru, worshiped, adored, big idea makers, or any other pedestal touting specialness separating them as better from another precious person on this planet…
All are ego-imprisoned God awaiting to be helped to sober up and wake-up within their personal selves so they can pierce their ego mind and its delusions, entrainment, etc. and be Who God-Spirit wills them to be.. this is NOT something any ego finds attractive. nada.
2. Andrew is not an enlightened master, per se. I don’t care what we self-proclaims, his words and actions belie this fact –> he is not the spiritual master he thinks he is. He proffers opinions, theories, subjective experiences, and the “motes in his eyes” as personal truths of his own perceptions, which are CLEARLY still tainted with ego idealism.
That is your clue – ego ideals; they can be high-minded for world achievements or as low-minded bordering on evil and hate.
Many people don’t understand ego can have high-mindedness, and this is probably the biggest rabbit hole souls are falling down currently.
3. It is a serious Spiritual situation as a lot of self-proclaimed egoist are bluffing Spiritualism, not TRUTH. They got the airways all clogged up, and the TRUE teachers are buried at the bottom of the chest-pounders “hogging up the road”. But, who can tell the difference, eh??!
It will become evident eventually, but the question is this: DO WE HAVE THE TIME for this nonsense to be delaying our consciousness shifting obligations???!
Sadly, he, and an emerging spiritual elitist cabal, teach a path of higher ego development and psyche-body healing, not Spirit freed from ego energetic, or Spirit freed from personal free will.
4. From Spirit point of view, at-ONE with the ONE WILL of our Infinite Creator-God-Spirit, his teachings are very confused and spew rationalized complexities as though/IF he’s relaying deeply profound difficult to grasp by the “ordinary mind” “insights”.
But in fact, it is convoluted, albeit well articulated, intelligent sounding distortions masked as supposed higher insights.
TRUE Higher insights are Simple as God is ordered and SIMPLE, delightfully so, too!
A child can understand God, that should clarify a lot, yes?!
He preaches contradictions, and many rightfully find that perplexing because it is contrary information. It is NOT grounded in a Unity of Oneness realization which cannot ever contradict itself.
You see, just because you can’t grasp something doesn’t mean you’re not “grasping” what you need, or that it may be ‘over your head’, it may be intellectual gibberish nobody in their right mind would be able to make sense of.
You NEED to have a reliable way to sort out the difference – a discernment based on Spirit Principles, and not made-up principles or false religious/spiritual beliefs, too. Yea, I know, it’s a mess…
Sometimes, you need to TRUST your heart enough to know, it may look good, sound good, but something is ‘off’, and then honor your humble “red flag”, and get the hell out of there – take off for your own sake!
5. Also, I strongly urge you to NOT seek Mastery, rather, seek remembering and reunion with your God-Spirit SELF. This is by far a safer intention that is CLEARER & more focused on finding TRUTH than finding a “God-salesman”, if you catch my drift…
Humility seeks reunion and communion with God-Spirit-TRUTH for the sake of that relationship. Ego seeks just about everything else (and, yet, calls it by the same names of god-ego-truths).
People get “sucked in” because deceit is a marketing art form of powerful manipulation of our desires, and it banks on ‘what we don’t know’ but want to know. See, what I mean?
I feel a deep compassion and my heart aches for those seeking TRUTH because they don’t have decent maps to navigate their way…they don’t REALLY KNOW what they are seeking looks like exactly; they are hoping and following “what others think and say it is like.” Yikes!
6. Final thought to portailevolutif, K, and Andrew:
Once a Soul COMPLETELY transmutes their ego, not partially, as I suspect we have here, we transcend our entrainment to ego, and our Spirit can “wear” our ego “goggles” which have been made transparent once again.
In a refreshed manner, our freed Spirit can maintain its Single EYE of Oneness while wearing these potent perception shifters, and hold enough concentration upon ONE WILL, to not to get side-tracked with ego points of view.
This is NOT easily done, my friend, it requires constant vigilance of how awareness is being “muted” by a veil distorting ONENESS to be seen as separation. And, boom! Once this is allowed, it can be a swift slide down a very slippery slope!
It is an intoxicating experience; Spirit can succumb and knows it… no wiggle room for spiritual pride, and any desire to wear a bigger ego to do a greater good is most decidedly an intoxicating viewpoint. Wake up, Andrew, K urges a wise preponderance!
All to Love,
Sharon Quinn
Dear Andrew: Have no room for EGO only have room for God.
Seek no possessions, when you have God you have everything.
how can one who has gazed into the eyes of Awe trumpet his/her own significance?
Absolutely love this! Thanks for posting it Bob.
can we live it?
Humility relates to “the BIGNESS of the view”… being “able to bear it… walk with it… carry it with dignity” .
I can remember Andrew’s exact words addressing my silent urgency, on that 08/14/1999 afternoon … then ‘the switch, the twist’ could be done for me…
Since… 13 years after, and “no matter what” or who ( Andrew even !), EGO and Humility are together both irrelevant… an all embracing PRESENCE is : Power, Force, Knowledge, LOVE or “God” … I am “le Grand Contenant” of IT ” a mere container through which the inconceivable nature of the creative force of the cosmos express itself”
That is the Source of an inconceivable work in the scientific brain I had… both mathematical and esoteric, just genius’s!… to simplification of complexity… UNIFICATION : le grand Contenant ZERO,FORCE, NOMBRE …
We, HUMAN Containers of IT, are pacing to Aurobindo’s “Life Divine”… emergent Humanity…
I personally add : “AMEN” we will be (AMour-huMAINS)
…. for God?
Y………..E……………S !
Andrew and Others,
A query: Assuming one experiences what Andrew is calling “BIG SELF”, can one expect to sustain a personal identify after death? I think not. Each of us is a unique manifestation of deep energy, and whatever it is we do as persons has a ripple effect on the universal ocean, but I don’t expect to have any awareness of personal identity after my death.
See my essay entitled “Soul?” in my book Beyond Dogmatism: How Mystery Matters.
I would like to make a simple suggestion. If through meditation we are able to subdue the EGO and feel nothingness or space in the void,and are then able to rise up as a formidable WARRIOR without EGO but with wisdom and strength combined. Would that not be more beneficial? I feel we need to subdue the EGO first before we can experience true strength.
Being humble is admirable, Being strong is also admirable. But rising above the pairs of opposites into neither one nor the other but a combination of both is even more admirable.
Thanks andrew, I too spent years trying to get rid of myself and experienced a huge shift in consciousness in return. I logically saw the more I got rid of myself the greater I became. Yet at some point I realized that there is no getting rid of me and that I am what I was looking for. Hilarious…..
And often, I remember to have a gentle discipline with my mind, when I am not a clear expression of the depth and hugeness of who I am.
lots of Love,
-craig
Wouldn’t transcending the ego make a lot more sense? Which doesn’t require negation or making it “shrink down to the size of pea”, so I think there’s a big distinction there to be aware of.
I agree that the evolutionary “call to action” does at times mean you have to suck it up, get off the bench and really get into the game, which might not be for the feint of heart. Does that imply or look like a big ego, probably. But the motivation doesn’t come from the same “small place” as ego but instead comes from a much bigger awareness than anything we could label as ego. So tossing around the “E-word” just seems to cause communication problems in this crowd.
If AC’s main point is essentially stop fighting or smiting your ego, ultimately trying to annihilate it, OK, fine. But in walking this fine line, any talk of expanding the ego seems like a path laden with landmines.
Instead of calling for a big ego, how about “an awareness and motivation big enough to handle the evolutionary task at hand?” The ego, whether banished, transcended, or floating around in some remnant state can be where ever it is at any given moment.
love reading you all
you are all my teachers
Andrew, thank you for getting this hot ball rolling
Andrew,
Thank you for sharing this insight. It is interesting that you speak of your transformation in terms that are couched outside of ego-centeredness. You state that when you were freed of you teacher’s guidance that you were awakened to a richer truth about your ego. I might suggest that you returned to narcissistic self, but with many years of training to reenforce your belief. As this article is entitled Is Your Ego Bigger Than God’s, I might suggest that, because the idea of an ego and the idea of God are both fabrications from our human brains’ ability form abstractions, you are making a comparison between one and the same thing. As your mind journeys through these various ideas of being self-centered, or even what is God?; etc. Perhaps it is more important to note that the moment of insight and sensation you had on that train platform going forward to a new destination, was a moment of awareness which is now subject to your mind’s abstract function.
Very intriguing blog. I have always been hesitant to accept the theory of the ego being something that is to be fought, transcended, blocked, or demonized. I felt there must be some reason we have an ego which seems to be a key player in any action a human takes, and like all beliefs, we just hadn’t yet evolved our consciousness to understand how the ego is integral to who we are, that it can evolve as everything else. We talk about wholeness, oneness, etc… and if an individual is rejecting an integral part of themselves, how would that individual be able to fully participate in the manifest world without some sense of self, albeit a sense very few can comprehend right now? I wonder if we have romanticized transcending the ego as many in the world right now believe if they got a body part taken out or replaced it would fix all their problems.
Thank you, Andrew, for being bold enough to explore this volatile subject, as the spiritual dogma around ego needs to be evolved.
Feeling connected to your “higher self”. Having that complete trust and faith in that part of you that is God. That is what gives a person the confidence and inner strength to do great things!!
Andrew,
Vivekananda said something similar. He said that we must expand the sense and experience of who we are from the body to the emotions, to the buddhi, and beyond that deeper and deeper and deeper until we know we are the whole universe. Then we know that there is nothing and no one that we are not fully identified with and that we shall automatically validate, respect and serve as ourselves.
This is making the ego expand infinitely so that it embraces the whole universe.
Andrew,
After reading ‘Evolutionary Enlightenment’, I have following questions -
1. Further evolve into what?
2. What if we have made mistakes (most likely?) in our evolution and we are continuing in that path to disaster? Is it not important understand ‘ourselves’ first before embark onto something unknown?
It is true that most of the scriptures, particularly the Hindu scriptures and spiritual philosophy, emphasize on eliminating ego as it obfuscates clear vision of reality. We tend to perceive things with our conditioned mind tainted by our self- serving deep seated desires.
Expansion of ego , beyond one’s limited self, to encompass the Existence is another way of shrinking the ego. There is no contradiction in shrinking the ego and its expansion outward , it is like pressing a balloon from one side and it gets inflated on the other side. It is not possible to do without ego, but it is possible to expand it to include the humanity in general in its fold. It is a flight from a self limiting pond to the ocean of consciousness. I agree with Andrew, carping criticism notwithstanding.
As Aurribindo says after the Reversal of consciousness, or as the veil is lifted ,aren’t the egoless ness, pea size ego or big ego the same experience..?
As Aurribindo says after the Reversal of consciousness, or as the veil is lifted ,aren’t the egoless ness, pea size ego or big ego the same experience..?
My take on this is a bit different [might, ultimately, be semantical], Andrew. In my observation, what can occur through spiritual practice is the alignment of an [perturbed/diminished/managed/mitigated] ego-structure with authentic Self. Authentic Self thus aligned with ego, is then un-conflicted and free to to be an Agent of evolution in human affairs. Its power derives from both the RELEASE from the hesitance, passivity and inertia given by ambivalence that ego had previously exerted and the WHOLENESS that the cosmic perspective of Self provides the individual. Such a person seems more egotistical than less, but this is an optical illusion of children who are still bound by their old, unconscious ego-structures . There’s power, all right, but it is in the service of Something bigger than itself.
Thank you Andrew. Looks, sounds and feels like a call to be a bigger person interially and exterially…. (note: new words!!) To take responsibility to strive to see what this could look like without knowing beforehand!
Thank You andrew!. Now i realized what i done ,i was kicking my ego in order for him to shrink to become worthy for the divine…,And it made me suffer alot .The problem is not the ego but our identification with him!.Now my ego is worthy for the divine !.And at last i have self confidence!.
It seems to me that there are two sides to this blog – those people who meditate on a spiritual path and those that need the ego to survive in this material world. Both are acceptable. However there is a definite distinction between the two as each is coming from a different mind set.
We do have a choice. The world is big enough to accommodate both lines of thought. If you are seeking inner strength, so be it. If you have an ego and searching for outer strength, so be it.
The ego is like a thumb. It comes with the human physical package.
Like a thumb the ego is a way to manipulate (in) physical reality.
The ego is natural, a part of being in Nature. It is not good or bad in itself.
The ego is like having a thumb for the individualized spirit.
Of course there is much more. But words are also like thumbs, ones that get tangled in other thumbs, wrestling like egos, pointing to concepts beyond words, thumbs, and egos.
Whats the big deal really?
Ok Andrew stopped being selfinfatuated.
I don’t understand why “seekers” get so excited about growing up and getting over yourself.
…because hardly anybody does! Look at the human condition: most cultures are stuck at the [corresponding 10-yr.-old] psychic structure of tribal/gang/peer-group; developed cultures are up to [adolescent] psychological [=I am my feelings] level; northern European culture is farthest along at young adulthood. An adult is one whose life is about something bigger than oneself; the rest of us are still children.
It’s good to know that others have had this same experience. I find “knowing I am the universe” hard to explain to others. The expanding vastness of my awareness, my being, wanting to share it with others!
“this shift happened to me, suddenly I found I was seeing myself from a completely different vantage point. I no longer saw the world from within the prison of my small self. Now I saw my small self from outside it. And this outside position included the whole universe. To say I was amazed is an understatement. I was in a state of awe and wonder at the spectacular turn of events, shift in perspective, and profound self-transformation. Now my sense of self was literally enormous. And this enormity was inclusive. The once-tiresome and mundane melodrama of my personal identity had broken wide open and suddenly felt like it was the thrilling journey of the entire cosmos. My own life now felt like it was one with all of life and my sense of self had transformed in such a way that now I wanted to embrace or include as many others in this newfound consciousness as I could.” -= AC
The above was some very interesting reading from some very thoughtful writers. On that basis, I would like to introdue to the mix the philosohy of the great Bengali saint and pundit, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, 1486-
1534.
His philosophy to understand the Absolute Truth, completing the histor-
ical arc, from the Buddha to Sankaracarya, is known in this world as,
“Acintya-Bheda Abheda-Tattva”. The phrase tranlates from the Bengali
as, “Inconceivably Simultaneously One and Different”, a real mouthful,
but one of the sweetest mouthfuls, if not THE sweetest mouthful, in all
existence, I think and feel?
Seriously, this philosophy can help us understand how the Complete Whole is a Person like us, in quality. Humility then becomes knowledge
of my own eternal position as a lover of the Supremely lovable. And in this world of time and space, I usually misconceive my relationship to
the cosmos, that I myself, am its lord and master. This the sages call,
ahunkara, false ego. And they call the self, true ego, or eternal simul-
taneous identity and individuality. The preceeding idea is also known
as “qualified oneness”. Caitanya’s philosophy places the conceptions
of impersonalism and voidism, at the feet of the Buddha and Sankar-
acarya, respectively. How can there be an ulimate void if anything exists?
How can the Supreme Person ultimately be the Supreme Impersonality?
Caitainya’s vision shows how to understand God as both impersonal and personal.
The above is offered as some food for thought, and we would like to respond to any questions that anyone would like to ask, on the phenom- onena of material and spiritual truth. We would like to respond to any questions anyone might have about the above food for thought. Thank
you for reading.
Antariksa,
The world has not considered that the ahankara or I-maker may be a functional area of the soul, and Andrew with his crowd is not considering what may amount to a vast region of unconsciousness in the soul, where ancient samskaras or selfish tendencies lurk, which must be purified in sadhana. Then, the world also lacks examples of where the ahankara region has been purified of all sense contagion and dualistic reaction, so that the thought-forms proceed from pure spirit, prior to sense experience, on the basis of a divine pattern.
I don’t think it is only the Absolute which is inconceivable, but also advanced personalities. Each entity is limited to his self-knowledge, as he tries to consider what another is like, what are the motivations and perceptions by which he lives and moves. What you say here too, that the ahankara considers its role to be one of domination, I think is the fundamental motif of the human society around us. The advanced personalities retreat from domination, which the ego considers the only good, into realms of pure rationality, that include a perception of spirit and awareness of its progress.
Here, it is important to remember that a shallow complexity of mind is not necessarily the sign of spiritual greatness. All souls are limited in their one-life expansion, and consciousness which casts itself out too much on the material plane, cannot recollect itself to experience spiritual joy, which is life’s purpose. Like the Buddha remarked, better than a thousand vain verses, is one verse that brings peace to the mind. Part of human “sin,” is a fragmentation as the attention is entrapped by the senses here and there, where the core values of spirit are not upheld. So, you don’t know where your friends are, or if there is any such thing.
Wow. This is heavy man. I get it and I don’t get it, which is fine, no attachment to totally comprehending what you’re sharing. But a deep place in me gets it, and recognizes its importance. Thanks for posting this.
It would be unusual to find someone honoring Chaitanya here, who did not secretly know this was an Incarnation of the Lord. Yet I have seen the trouble of the world is that it aligns itself under a false deification of the selfish principle, that I call the “primal Mine.” It is not possible for the ego to get out of itself to consider the opposing selfless principle, of taking joy at the joy of another. The religions spinning down from Heaven were therefore never intended to point to salvation. It is a hard thing to understand about the world that only those who can perceive spiritual essence, can be called “living.” The rest live only in their senses, treating others like objects with an end of domination. Compassion and other pure virtues flow from the angels, but from the humans, not so much.
Are there no egos editing this site? So much heavy mental!
“Look, look! There it is before us! A clear field with nothing in it!
No you, no me, no opinion, gone!
Just MEDITATE. Don’t talk about it, just do it. The mind and the ego are getting in the way. The deeper you meditate, the less you will know, but the more will be revealed. Even then, don’t talk about it.
I think part of what’s going on here in the comments [not entirely because there does also seem to be the scent of 'let me give you my opinion' . . . so I hear you] anyway, I think part of waht is going on is an exploration of the question ‘Is the field really that clear?”
I am sad to see the tone of so many of those who have responded to you,
Andrew. WE ARE ALL “ON THE WAY.” You, I, and all the rest of us. It’s
easy to see that no teacher is perfect. And yet, seen more lovingly, each
of those we look at is incredible!
Listeners can’t help feeling the self-centeredness – whether strong and obvious – or latent – in the most passionate teacher. There are very few of us whom others would call (comparatively) pure. But there seem to be many who cannot discern true INTENT and intended MEANING in what those who are inspired, write. Some of us are threatenend by another’s strength and insight or brilliance.
However, I think you have understood a great deal and have been wiling to share it with us. Thanks.
One thing that hurts, and hurts deeply, is to see that some teachers are able to have their message heard widely and with acclaim, while others, who may be as wise, pass through this earth with little recognition. They might love to say: “I was here too!” But no one would hear – or, if they did,
would considerthat statement to be self-aggrandizement.
Yes, all mysticism says that our earthly trip is from the self-centered self to the Self that sees and feels with the eyes of God, from the Ordinary or False Self, as the Buddhists have taught us to say, to the True or Real Self which is our glorious potential.
In undertanding this, many are confused about the ego and have dumped it, “lock, stock, and barrel.” But I would argue that the Ego is NOT BAD, but NECESSARY. It empowers us to be responsible as a self. It makes decisions and GIVES ITSELF for the good of the world as well as treating the earthly things of self (the body, possessions, passions, reputation, the gift of power without which there is no accomplishment) – with respect but with care so that they do not become our central focus and thus, our idols.
After struggling with these concepts for many years, i realized that we have nothing to give God but ourselves. We must not destroy our gift.
The Ego has received a “bad rap” because of the point Andrew and all the mystics have made: narcissism is the problem we all have to recognize and deal with: making ourselves consistently more important than others. Perhaps we finally realize that we are not the center of the world for anyone other than ourselves! The Center is in us, waiting tø get noticed and get out! The old, wonderful word for that Center is Spirit, and
it is holy. I see it as passionate, life-giving Love which DOES engage the
universe as Andrew is saying.
Personally, I have experienced it over and over and am moved by it and
terribly grateful to know it. I am INSIDE it and it is in me. When I am
awake and aware of it, I am strengthened and sometimes, even healed –
physically, attitudinally, emotionally. Sometimes I understand things that were “beyond me” before. Sometimes I am inspired enough to inspire others. It is WOW!
As one who has read, expereinced, and taught Spirituality and Mysticism, I feel we must be careful of great people who exaggerate or over-simplify or don’t realize the full implications of their words. All the greats have asked us to “Deny ourselves.” But that does not mean to destroy ourselves or to give up the goodness of human love or care of the human body or the joy of possessions of beauty which inspire and feed our souls. It means, I believe, that we should let go of our naggging self-concern, even to let go of our quest for holy perfection (for that is close to making ourselves godly. If we ever become that wonderful, I think it will simply happen, and no commitment or discipline will cause it. We probably would not even know it!)
We need to honor ourselves as much as we honor others. We need to respect ourselves because we are God-made human beings. We have purpose. Everyone is NEEDED (even though being needed can be warped
into a self-centered dependency, it seems. it makes us feel bigger, stronger, superior – and THAT is the self-centered ego.) Then we love to be the saviour, the teacher, the leader because, in comparison, we feel strong.
Evelyn Underhill used to say that we can’t make ourselves humble., that humility is only facing the truth!
We are not God and never will be. But we can be filled with God and leak
all over!
Grace Brame, Ph.D.
Speaker, Author, Teacher, and Singer and still – on the way like you.
We are not God and never will be. But we can be filled with God and leak
all over!
Well if there is one sentence, one statement, from everything that’s been written in the comments as well as Andrew’s blog, that I would like to settle in my heart, it would be this.
Ego is “that which is an obstcle ot our individual and collective potential to evolve” AC Evolutionary Enlightment p. 61 ???
First question how is Ego defined here ? what is Self ?
There is the Buddhist version, the advaita version, the new age version, the psychology version etc.
If Ego is the root of the intelectual mind, the sense of separation resulting from attachment to perceptions, from identification with a false self, would increasing the sense of separation result in realization of wholeness ? or would increasing the amount and diversity of things encompassed in the false self show us our true self ?
Thanks !
The path to eradication of the ego may be a little longer than people think, and the manifestations of personality in the egoless entity may also be unexpected. A selfless entity may have a higher source of creativity acting prior to the senses, and in constant opposition against thought structures as a mere reaction. Though the state of enlightenment was heralded in the scriptures, the pure selfless entity was not.
Such a one can recognize himself or herself, by awakening “knowledge about knowledge,” which is to say they have been living previously in conformity to the divine dharma, but had not made themselves aware of it. In general such a one hides in the human population, by allowing their forceful conclusion that their personalities are superior to his own, to stand. Even so, they may be locking him down to five percent or less of his potential, which can only be released in a field devoid of hostility.
It seems that part of the challenge [and inspirational opportunity] of being human is the utilization of language to share, clarify, structure cognition from the stimulation of perception as well as thought, to and with the various life experiences both internally and externally. Apparently the spiritual masters through the ages have informed us that words cannot in essence convey the truth, but they can point to it. So how Andrew’s blog is received and responded to depends perhaps on our skill in navigating the territory of language and meaning [as well as intent]. Sometimes a simple statement can house a large truth. I read the following recently and offer it here. “we are here for the Divine to reveal the Divine to Itself. (It is so easy to get caught in the ego’s games of claiming spiritualness for itself.)”
I offer this quote not to imply that Mr. Cohen is involved in any such game, I don’t know him, have never met him, and am only recently becoming slightly familiar with his teachings via signing up to receive his emails, so I would not presume to know his “level” of enlightenment. I do mention that quote because the ‘ego” does seem to be construct phenomenon that expresses and reflects one’s identity, and that has held some fascination not only for ‘self-involved’ individuals, but also psychotherapists, and certainly spiritual seekers and spiritual teachers. [To Ego or not to Ego that is the question].
I do not consider myself awakened. Something in me likes the idea that I am actually in truth already awakened and just haven’t realized it yet or awakened to that reality [but that's a whole different theme]. I don’t know what Mr. Cohen awakened to in the experience he shared, but it certainly sounds like it was a beautiful, numinous, empowering experience. These rare moments [I've had my own version of a potent and numinous moment] are often challenging to find adequate words to describe. Many or most reading these comments can probably attest to such an experience for themselves. Yet it is the attempt at finding such adequate language that is important because the import of the experience itself, what it holds energetically, perhaps even its catalitic potential, necessitates the painstaking exploration in the utilization of language to convey that potential.
I mention this because some of what Mr. Cohen wrote left me with guess work as to what he meant, or a sense of wanting deeper clarification. What exactly is meant by ‘Big Self”, it seems to be a general classification referencing the territory beyond the individual ego [but perhaps capable of utilizing it?]. The ‘power’ phenomenon he referenced reminded me of what A. H. Almass in his book ‘The Pearl Beyond Price’ refers to as the latif of strength [one aspect of several divine aspects conveyed throughout and interpenetrating the body mind consciousness] when sufficient movement and shift has occured to allow for such a instreaming reception to occur. Different teachers [from different spiritual paths, lineages, countries] will emphasize different aspects of the so called awakening phenomenon. As we are increasingly becoming a world culture it seems imperative for our conceptual perspectives, and the language that houses them, to deepen and clarify themselves so that misunderstanding can be kept at a minimum. I paste two paragraphs from ‘The Pearl Beyond Price’ that I feel is relevent to a deep consideration of the ‘ego issue’ and it’s relation to the larger matrix of spiritual awakening.
“An identifiction with ego is incompatible with the complete experience of Being, and thus the apparent dichotomy between the reality of the man of spirit and the experience of the man of the world has a very real basis, it is also true that it is possible for human beings, even in the process of moving towards identification with ego as children, to be open to the realm of Essence. In fact, the arising of the different aspects of Essence is part and parcel of normal human development. Our understanding of how essence arises in children and then is put aside in favor of ego identifications is a new and rather surprising set of observations, which at first glance fits neither into the object relations understanding of human development nor into the world of impersonal being.
Human beings are born into the realm of Being, and from the beginning manifest the true differentiated aspects of Being. This Being is never totally lost, and actually manifests in the child in predictable and supportable ways. It is true that awareness of this Being is lost in the process of the structuring of and identification with ego, but by understanding in detail this structuring, and the patterns of identification, we can actually remember in detail the process of our “forgetting.” We can remember, understand and undo this forgetting, retrieving what has been suppressed and opening the way for growing into true maturity and realization.”
So it seems to me that the “Bigness” that wants to express itself in relationship to the world is not the bigness of the ego, but our essence, in all its various divine aspects, that can interface with the ego [or rather transmuted ego] for the purpose of enacting service and love of the highest intention and unfolding capacity.