Anything but Nothing

The mind wants its food, its content. Like an animal it constantly seeks for fulfillment, never resting long, for it digests quickly. Emptiness makes it uncomfortable... so on and on it forages. Anything will do. Anything at all.

It busies itself with news, internet, games, gossip, preoccupation, daydreams, avoidance habits, busywork, work of all kinds, relationships, drama, drugs, food, sex, distractions. All food to give it something to chew on, constantly.

Anything but nothing. Even fear will do. Even pain. At least that's a problem that needs to be worked out, something to focus on, something to chew on. Without that, what would there be?

At the very least, the mind can have its fear and pain. And even when we become aware enough to look at the fear and pain directly, we sometimes fail to see the layer beneath. Because that's where we find the WANTING of the pain and fear. Yes, there is a wanting there. A wanting for content to avoid the stillness and the silence. A content that includes fear and pain.

But... but... fear and pain seem so legitimate, so important, so obviously unwantable. How can anyone want this? How can anyone suggest that there is a mechanism within us that would want such a thing? Right? Why, that would be.... insane!

But that's exactly what is there, beneath the surface. The desire for it is what keeps it in place. Oh it may not be the first choice. The first choice would include content that would be considered pleasant. Pleasant content makes for a much better disguise.

But the fear and pain will do, if in a pinch. It will do to fill the void because even that is better than NOTHING.

Because NOTHING would be the end of content. And what is the ego without it??

 

Simply more content

 

Very insightful. In a way reminds me of Eckhart Tolle's works, with a touch of Buddhist philosophy.

Let's be thankful that both ego and mind can be controlled.

 

Because NOTHING would be the end of content. And what is the ego without it??

Ego without content would be "simply more content"? Seems like ego without content would be :svengo:... uhhh.... Poof! Gone! Extinct! Annihilated! The dreaded D word!

Anyway, that was what the pointer was getting at.

 

There's not really freedom in control. Seems to be an unnecessary occupation anyway. We can simply recognize what isn't true and then there's nothing left to control, but simply to be as we are... as I Am. The mind can be observed, and in this way consciousness awakens from its sleep.

 

Agreed; I should have worded my response better. ( I blame it on a case of too much freedom at the moment. )

I bow before your wisdom.


Q: Should a distinction be made between negative-based ego ( lust, laziness, gluttony, envy, pride, anger, greed; with the root cause for all being fear.) and other functions of ego ( Self-preservation, reality testing, competence, autonomy, independence, initiative, etc.)?

For experiential existence in a 3rd dimensional reality, some functions of ego would seem to serve a valid purpose.

 

Oh I got one to bow! Cool!!! arty:

(after a moment of strutting)... now what was your question? oh yes...

The thing to notice about the ego is... are YOU identified with something? Meaning... are you identified with whatever arises and takes form? Typically what you call "negative" arises because of an identification with something followed by a reaction. But if you look closely you can also observe that many of the things that are "positive" also fall into this category.

So are YOU completely lost in a particular form, or is there an awareness of the formless within which the form arises. Is there space there?

And if so, then you can honor the form, so to speak. You can still act on the level of form, still do things in the world in a practical way. Except now the doing is light, playful, and functional (vs. dysfunctional) because there isn't that heaviness and pain of identifying the Being that you are with the manifested form.

 

ego is just another form arising in who you are. You can let it pass by, give it no heed or importance. It's just more content too, another something appearing in nothing.
step outside of the character

 

this is true. did "you" assume that "I" wasn't doing that? or were "you" just speaking in a general sense?

 

This reminds me of the Merovingian' speech in The Matrix: Reloaded:

What is the reason? Does it matter? Soon the why and the reasons are gone; and all that matters is the feeling itself. This is the nature of the universe. We struggle against it; we fight to deny it, but it is, of course, pretense; it is a lie. Beneath our poised appearance, the truth is: we are completely… out of control. Causality. There is no escape from it. We are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, our only peace is to try to understand it; to try to understand the why.
​

 

Interesting, you know in reading this I see an immediate contradiction. "Soon the why and the reason are gone" followed at the end by "Our only hope, our only peace is to try to understand it; to try to understand the why."

I've noticed that trying to understand the why is a common preoccupation of the ego. But there's another way to look at it, and sometimes it's hard to explain it exactly with words. It's like... something within us opens up and wants to remember Self, and in a way it may "feel" like we're trying to understand the why. On the other hand, the ego/mind becomes confused with the flowering of the Self and so its only response is to grasp for more ego/mind stuff (i.e. trying to understand the why). Life is such a paradox. Because really, there's no trying to understand anything. It's a futility. Understanding comes sometimes, but not because of trying for it. And ultimately, it's not even necessary. We are called to respond to a causality that is not of "our" making, not in "our" control... as it states in the quote above. Peace comes from surrender and willingness to respond as directed, not from seeking understanding, not from seeking anything really.

 

yes I see it... Having no reason as to why yet hoping to understand why. Is it a true contradiction, however? Or is it a constant intertwining revolution in and around each other? A conflict... much like the ego itself? We try to understand everything with out ever having a true understanding of what is real and what is not. Futile, but we still are drawn to it. We can't help ourselves. Or can we? Are we blinded by what seems simple and easy and what is accepted as the norm?

Does peace really come from surrendering or submitting? Is ignorance the ideal bliss? One could argue that that peace comes from pursuing that understanding and not being a victim of causality, rather having the power of choice.

 

impersonal, of course

 

That's the thing. There's this intertwining. And we don't have to unravel it. We can just accept it and let it be as it is. And sometimes in the space of this acceptance it miraculously becomes unraveled for us and a new insight dawns. Or it may not.

There's only conflict if we introduce it, if there's a pushing and efforting and some kind of force involved. The ego IS that very conflict. Without identification and attachment, the conflict falls like loose chains. It's the struggle itself that binds us.

Yes, we can't help ourselves... until we can. This may seem nonsensical, but what's going on here is conditioning. As long as we are bound to a conditioned response then no, we can't help ourselves. But in RECOGNITION of this, the conditioning begins to lose momentum. And at some point we discover that yes, now, we CAN help ourselves... which only means that the conditioning is no longer prevalent. In the mean time, we can simply observe this conditioned response. In the recognition we are already free to some extent.

Yes, the conditioning blinds us, because we are not present, not in the here and now. But I may not have understood your question fully. Please elaborate.

Here I would have to ask you what you mean when you say surrendering or submitting. My intuition says that we may be using these terms to mean different things.

In the peace there's a different kind of knowing. You could say that it's a much deeper, wiser knowing. But also the knowing comes on a need-to-know basis, and it only comes to a mind empty of its own insistence that it knows something.

One could follow that path, and learn from experience. We often try very hard to construct our world and our lives in such a way as to avoid the sense of victimhood. And really, by victim we mean loss of control. We want to have control very much. We believe we CAN and DO have control. And in this we are foolish. But we will beat our heads against that wall until one or the other cracks. (I'm putting my money on the wall!) lol!

We always have the power of choice. But the only choice before us, which we don't always recognize, is between Reality and Illusion. We have chosen illusion for eons, and can continue to do so, for as long as we wish. Here again, the amount of suffering we're willing to put up with will no doubt determine the duration.

 

While corresponding on the internet there seems to be no shortage of opportunity to encounter and observe reaction. Of course while seeing it "out there" we may overlook what is happening "in here". On the other hand, there's really no difference.

 

I think when that space comes unraveled, for me, it is a moment of clarity and a satisfaction of knowing is present. Shortly after there is something else that will take it's place. At times we slip into acceptance and take it for what it appears. This is the more widely justified thought I feel.

Do we always introduce the conflict of the ego or is it introduced to us? or is that choice is an illusion, created between those with power...and those without as a mechanism of belief. I play this game with my co-workers all the time. I walk around and say what a crappy day it has turned out to be all cloudy and dark. They will all believe me even though they saw the forecast for a bright sunny day. Still they believe, there is a fraction of doubt because they also believed the weatherman. But, here I am telling them it is dark and cloudy. Now Do they have a choice to seek the truth or have I instilled my power over them to make a choice. Some of them will go on for sure believing it is dark and cloudy and think that they will have to cancel their after work plans. Others will immediately run for the windows and see for themselves. Was it me that gave them this power to choose? Yes, I introduced the conflict to them.

I agree, there is a conditioning going on and I feel it is a careful well planned conditioning. Control. The methods in which we are given to help ourselves are limited. From that conditioning we have received we are blind to what is really happening. We no longer see the man behind the curtain.

We could be understanding surrender differently. I equate surrender with submitting. To me when one surrenders to the establishment they are submitting to the will and the and to the desire of another. We submit when we feel our hands are tied.

I agree that there is a different kind of knowing. One inherently knows a truth when it is discovered. Perhaps a gnosis or that moment of clarity.

I think that many of us believe that we are in control when we are really not. Many of us would like to think we are in control, but we are not. We have been made to be dependent and few of us break those bonds of chains and maybe that is why we are here in these forums. Many of us can see the man behind the curtain and that he is keeping our consorts in chains and they have willingly surrendered (or submitted) to him.

 

Yes, the fog often returns. But it's not really important, for once clarity penetrates there is an expansion that follows, and it is assured.

Not sure what you mean here.

LOL at your game! Let me put it this way, as long as people are asleep, meaning disconnected from the awareness of who they really are, they will react according to conditioning. They will also be prone to being easily led or swayed. They may also be lost in perceptions, not recognizing the ultimate sameness of *all* perceptions, being that they are in fact ALL PERCEPTIONS, and thus all relatively false. So they can listen to "you" or the "weather man" or "someone else". They will always look for someone else to listen to because they don't know to look within. When people operate in this fashion there's really no choice there. Being unaware they are not responsible... aka response-able, able to respond. In this way we can refrain from judgment and blame. "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do."

It is only upon awakening that the capacity to choose is introduced, and then only one choice becomes meaningful... the choice for Truth and Reality, because anything else is recognized as illusion.

I sense that you speak of conditioning and control of "some people" over "other people". While I recognize that this takes place I want to clarify that what I'm referring to when I speak of conditioning is that of "people" in general by the fact of their being asleep to themselves. We respond as characters in a dream, recognizing neither the character nor the dream as being the fiction that it is.

Yes I figured as much. We are speaking of different things here. The surrender you refer to speaks of a power struggle, a declaration of a winner and a loser depending on who is determined to be dominant. However I'm not referring to any sort of dynamic between people. I'm referring to surrendering to the Source. And here it is interesting to note that the entire struggle of humanity (which gave rise to the ego) was based on our usurping power and claiming our own authorship (and authority). So now we project and play out this "power struggle" amongst ourselves because that is the sign of our ignorance and lack of awareness. It is only when we stop and recognize the futility of our actions and the pain that arises as a natural consequence, that we come to question this desire to claim some kind of power for "ourselves". In fact we question the very reality of the "self" that desires such power. And that is when we are able to surrender. Surrender what? Surrender the illusion of power and control. And there is no one left to feel weak and disempowered. There's no one left to feel like a "loser". Because we recognize that We and the Source are ONE. And in the surrender to Truth, we come to know wisdom and empowerment, and see very clearly that it is not "our" own.

 

Ego boost?



Wow, this thread is getting deep. Thinking/rationalizing isn't exactly my forte; I'm much better at just being.

 

I was pretty much referring to those that are asleep they just accept everything at face value and never question. I think it was RATM that said What does the billboard say? Come and play, come and play. Forget about the movement.

lol yes, the game is always fun to play. They are like sheep, "lambs to the slaughter"

Yes, I think that people in general don't want to wake up, they would rather be told what to do, what to buy and just exist in their status quo. They don't have to worry Visa will be there telling them not to worry they will take care of everything. That is where I wondered if ignorance the ideal bliss... They don't know and they don't care to know. They ignore what the self tells them and place their lives into the hands of others.

I had my awakening many years ago...while sitting in an astronomy class, what the instructor said hit me like a truck. I heard what she was saying...more than just what she was lecturing. Soon after I took a leave from college because I realized that I was not educating myself for me...I was doing it because I was supposed to according to "them". I go back and I learn for me I educate myself for me. It didn't take me long to realize that I was an Earth child and that I had always been and didn't even know it. Everything came into focus into a clarity that I hold today. Soon my beliefs were gone and I started to find truth.

I do tend to view things in a dominant and submissive perspective at times as I feel we are too often dominated by those with power. But, should we surrender to the self and to truth? Should we recognize and ebrace it and be with it as one?

 

Certainly, but one thing I heard a long time ago was never under estimate the power of a question. What... asks the question and How...defines the answer.