Michael left another really interesting comment about my post yesterday: 

"Hi Carsten/Marco ~ I hope you don’t mind me playing…

Language by its nature has inherently built in limitations. That being said we can always imply things, keeping in mind that at the end of the day all words are metaphoric representations of something that does not exist ~ words are maps, they are not the territory (“you” are the territory ~ already)

We have a very limited perspective and understanding of what we call the “ego” in the West. In its purest sense (unlike the definition you might find and see promoted in many new age bookstores and groups) the ego is ALL of you; not just the “bad” but also the “good”. Whether you are having a thought” I love myself” or “I hate myself”, “ I want to kill somebody” or “I want to be the next Mother Teresa…” ~ it’s still the ego that thinks, acts, chooses, fears, loves, hates, thinks it’s going to hell, imagines that if it does this or that, it will go to heaven or experience liberation…

The ego is your ideas, notions, speculations, beliefs, concepts, emotions, desires, and discriminations and perceptions. The ego IS the personality. The part of you that thinks you are responsible (and acting accordingly) and the part of you that feels your not responsible… and acting accordingly : ). The ego is the part of me that does something very kind to a person one minute, and the next… well… you get the idea???

Even the act of choice making will be filtered through the ego/personality. Getting in touch with your “authentic Self” requires patience, commitment, non judgment and practice. Getting to know your own value system and how that relates to the day to day decisions you make or don’t make can provide great understanding and comfort to the choices you make in your life. It can be a stepping stone in creating more alignment with your “authentic Self”.Learning to quiet your mind through meditation or spending time in nature or creativity will also cultivate your choice making process, supporting you to express your own inner wisdom. Listening to the signals of your own body (does it feel discomfort or comfort) when you think about the different options you may be considering are all ways to elevate your decision making experience.Choice making is a process though, and it will be unique for “each individual”, it will require different approaches for “each individual”. You cannot beat yourself up. Be gentle with it, be easy with it, approach it effortlessly, were possible.In time, there will be a point (if you have not already experienced it) where you will be able to make choices spontaneously, without any effort on your part. The choice will arise in each moment and it will be the right response to every situation as it occurs…"

Really amazing answer but this time I disagree with parts of what he is saying. (Michael~Hope you do not mind me playing. :-)

Of course words are limited. The mind that we have to use to describe what it cannot understand is limited too. Do talk about the ego, debate what it is and how we might feel without it is very limited because what we talk about is intellectual. The real experience has to be felt since it is an experience that is beyond the capacity of our limited understanding.

I do not believe the ego is all of me. Well, maybe that depends how we look at it. It is all of the illusionary me, the Carsten that was born and has to die. But if I let go of that if I drop my story, all the ideas that I have of myself, my country, my skin color, my sex, my family, I still exist. I still have likes and dislikes, I can still be angry, I can be nice or grumpy. I still have good days and bad days, feel strong and feel weak. I still might hurt people, be rude or disturbing. 

But it comes from a different place. It does not come from Carsten, that limited idea about nothing with all the pain and the hang ups and limitations. It comes from the source of all things. Dropping the ego plugs us back into the Force, Mother, God, the Tao, whatever you want to call it. We reunite with where we came from we are going home.

Does dropping the ego mean to sit on a meditation cushion to smile all day and show the other cheek if somebody punches you in the face? Not to me. Dropping the ego means to me to live life to the fullest, to do what I love to do and make whatever my inner voice tells me to do possible. And why would there be anything that I could not achieve? My actions are not executed by a small limited ego that is a collection of all the wounds that were inflicted on me during my lifetime. Now it is not a person that acts. The drop reunited with the ocean, now the whole ocean is acting. The whole universe is behind any action of an egoless man because man and all became one.

A realized man is hard to describe because it depends how the universe wants him to express itself. But whatever he does, whatever he says will always be for the greater good of all since he is one with the universal intelligence.

The act of choice making can only be filtered through the ego if I give it a chance to do so. If I listen to my heart, answer with a simple yes or no and act instantaneous the ego will have no chance to interfere. The “authentic self” does not require any practice, letting go of ideas and beliefs does. My own value system does exist but it is connected to the universal value system and can change at any given time. Quieting your mind with meditation is a great idea. But to me the mind will always keep on spinning and doing what it is trained to do. The trick is not to listen. But again that can be achieved through meditation.

Choice making is a process….. Are we talking about self-realized people? If they are it will be unique for each individual but whatever they do decide will be the best for all involved. To me the approach to it is always the same though. Listen to your heart and not giving the ego a chance to get involved by answering quickly.

Be gentle with it is a good point and I do agree. Even though it is very often not my own approach. 

And yes there will be a point where we will be able to make choices effortlessly, where we will live effortlessly. We could have done that all along if we just would not have listened to our egos.

 

 

 

"Over". Manhattan/New York City 21st Street between 6th and 7th Avenue 01-24-08 at 5:34 PM.

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Please check out my website at carstenfleck.com

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