Very good!
The question is: what is ego? This is a frequent question. After all, what is ego? There is a curious thing about this question. People ask this question with the intention to get rid of the ego. One who wants to know about the ego actually wants to get rid of the ego. But see the situation here as it has to be investigated, as it has to be understood clearly.
One who asks what the ego is, is the ego; and the one who wants to get rid of the ego is also the ego. It is the ego that wants to get rid of suffering, but it is the ego that produces suffering. See how delicate this issue is. The ego wants to know about the ego, it wants to get rid of the ego, it wants to get rid of the suffering, but it is the basis, the structure, it is the nature of all this confusion. It’s the one that hides itself so that you can't find it, where you can't really see it.
We're going to work with you here, today, in a few minutes on the end of the ego. And here I am purposely using the expression “the end of the ego.”
The end of the ego is truly the end of the illusion of the sense of “I” present within this experience of contradiction, of suffering, of every form of conflict. So, a life free from ego is something indescribable, inexplicable, because it is a life free — really free — from suffering. I am referring to this most blunt and painful suffering of the human being. I am referring to this unhappiness that is so common in human beings. I am referring to this psychological condition, this internal suffering where you, as an entity, see yourself separate from the other, from nature, from objects and yourself, feeling lonely, in anguish, in depression, in anxiety, in all frames of psychological fears, all forms of fear.
All this is present because of this “I,” this ego. Osho called this “the false center.” Yes, the ego is a “false center” — that was Osho’s expression about the ego —. He [Osho] even says: “Abandon the ego, abandon the ego.” So, Osho invites you to abandon the ego. Osho uses the expression “the false center.” It is indeed a beautiful expression because the ego is a “false center.” It [ego] has given you a notion of life, of the world, of existence, completely illusory. You see yourself, see the other, and life from the viewpoint of this “I,” this “me.”
This way of looking and seeing “in separation” sustains conflict, contradiction, and fear. Along with fear, in the ego, what prevails is the affliction of desire. So, fear is desire and desire is fear. It just changes the perspective, the way we approach and look. When you look, you clearly see that the presence of desire is due to the discomfort present here and now. Something is missing at that moment and the ego in its lack, in its deficiency, in its fear, produces the desire.
The sense of an identity present here is an illusion, it is a fraud. That’s why Ramana Maharshi, to those who approached him, always had this question to ask them, he asked: “Who are you?” Look at yourself and ask: After all, who am I?
It is always the sense of “I” present within that experience upholding every form of suffering. So, life from this “I,” which separates itself at every moment from whatever is presenting, is something that always shows itself in desire and fear. As long as there is some form of separation – in that separation, which is this duality: “I” and the “not I” – there will be fear and there will be desire. This is typical of this “false center.”
After all, what is thought? How does it move inside each of us? While it [thought] sustains this model, while it establishes itself in this model of always creating this “false center” ... Because it is thought that creates the thinker. There is no thinker. The thinker is present when thought is present. You cannot report a thinker when there is no thought. If there is no thought, there is no thinker. The thinker’s idea is an idea of thought.
The classical concept is completely illusory — “I think, therefore I am” concept. This existence presupposes the presence of thought, which is the thinker itself, because without thought there is no thinker. And the illusion of existing is the illusion of thought in this format of this present entity that thinks. There is no thinker without thought. Thought is what creates the thinker. It does this because it seeks to sustain itself in experience. There is only the process of thinking, which is the movement of thought. There is no identity present in this process of thinking.
Thoughts appear within this experience as an existential phenomenon. This existential phenomenon is basically memory, remembrances. If there were no memory, there would be no thoughts. Without memory there is no thought and without thought there is no thinker.
The reality of mental consciousness, egoic consciousness, which is this “false center,” is this reality of the “I,” of the “me,” of the ego, which is nothing more than a set of images, memories, remembrances, ideas, beliefs, opinions, and conditionings. All this is based on thoughts.
So, what is thinking when the thinker is not there? Thought and thinker appear together. It is only one phenomenon.
So, what happens to thought when there is no thinker? What happens to the thinker when there is no thought? Coming closer to the Truth of your Being, of your Essential Nature, of That which transcends the sense of “someone” present within this experience of Life here and now. The Reality of your Being is the Reality of That which has no name, which is outside of time, which is outside of “I.”
All of our conditioning in human history, in civilization, in culture, has brought us to this point, to this moment in human history where we carry this illusion, the illusion of an identity separating itself. So, there is this “me” and the “not me.”
The Reality of your Being is the Reality of Life, which is the Reality of Real Consciousness, That which transcends time, which transcends history, which transcends the world, the body, this experience of duality, of separation, this “me” and the “not me.”
The Realization of the Truth of your Being – this has been called Spiritual Enlightenment or the Awakening of Consciousness – is the reality of Christ, it is the reality of your Essential Nature. Thus, the reality of the Awakening of Consciousness or Spiritual Enlightenment is the reality of Ramana Maharshi, the reality of the Buddha, the reality of the Christ, it is the reality of your Being and of all those who have realized the reality of their Divine Nature, their Real Nature, their Essential Nature.
So, our work here is to discover the Truth of that key — that Real key — that opens that door to the end of illusion, which is the illusion of the “I,” of the ego, of this false center.
This work consists of and is based on, as a fundamental principle, True Meditation in practice. Self-awareness is what gives you the basis for True Meditation. Without Self-awareness, there is no True Meditation. Here on the channel we have been talking about True Meditation in a practical way — we have a playlist here on the channel about it.
So, this Real key, this master key that opens the door to the revelation of the Truth of your Being, of your Essential Nature, of your Divine Nature, for the Real abandonment of the ego, is within this True Meditation in practice. To look at every movement of thought, feeling, emotion, and sensation. To perceive each present experience, objects, people, sensations, and feelings. Whatever is arising in that moment is part of what shows up as the experience.
Approaching this without placing “someone” within this experience — this illusory “I,” this “false center” — is approaching Self-awareness. This is approaching Self-realization through True Meditation. Approaching that experience in this present moment, without putting that element of separation — the element that sustains duality, which is that “I” that judges whatever is arising: thought, feeling, emotion, sensation, perception, experience — without putting that element, which is the “I” element, here and now, within that experience, this is to approach the True art of Being Pure Consciousness: that is True Meditation.
Working to end this illusion, this sense of separation and therefore this duality. This is an approach of Life Free from the illusion of “I,” the illusion of suffering, the illusion of this “false center,” this sense of duality, this sense of separation.
So, this approach of the Truth of your Being, which is the approach of the Reality of God, necessarily goes through Self-awareness and True, Real Meditation. Real Meditation work is one that you approach and the sense of “I” does not enter into this experience here and now, so it is possible to perceive Reality. The Reality of your Divine Nature, of your Essential Nature.
So, that is our purpose in this meeting. We are working on this here with you within this channel and also in online, face-to-face meetings and retreats. OK?
If this is something that makes sense to you, here’s the invitation.
And see you in the next one! Thanks for the meeting!
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