Of the many blessings that have come my way since discovering the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, and later participating in Michael Jeffreys’ Santa Monica group devoted to his work, perhaps none is more significant than the experiential recognition of the limitations of my “formative mind” – or what Eckhart calls the “ego.”
Michael refers to this as the “boss hammer,” because when it is recogniz ed it actually allows one to drop all conceptual belief systems. As they begin to fall away, as Eckhart says, “You can [begin to] notice a dimension within yourself that is far deeper than the movement of thought.”
Why is this so difficult to acknowledge?
As Eckhart tells us, the voice that is the formative mind or Ego is programmed and deeply conditioned habitual chatter.
The Ego is persistent in its need for attention. This ever-present clamor for recognition and validation convinces the person who is listening to it to give it more and more attention, until through conditioning you eventually accept it as “your self.” And in our social conditioning this is powerfully reinforced, and we are led to believe that this voice in the head is our identity.
As Eckhart says, this misapprehension is what is symbolized in the story of the Garden of Eden, symbolized as the apple and knowledge of good and evil. It is the evolutionary ability of the mind to make distinctions, starting with good and bad (good=berry – bad=poison), which enabled the “smart” ones among us to survive.
But the fallacy of this identification with the “voice in the head” is the basis for the world’s very oldest teachings and traditions; I believe that it is the foundation of all of the world’s religions but was then distorted for various reasons by the priesthood and the power structures which then emerged.
No comments:
Post a Comment