I want to work with you here today on how to get rid of the ego. This question is very interesting, because it encompasses other questions, it involves other questions. Freedom from the ego is also freedom from jealousy, envy, fear and the conflict present in desires. So, the answer to “How to get rid of the ego?” is the answer to “How to get rid of jealousy?”, “How to get rid of envy?”, “How to get rid of fear?”, because we're dealing with the same element here.
Now, let's make a few things very clear for you here. When we refer to the word “ego,” the idea we have is of a present entity, it's of an identity, at that instant, present causing the suffering of envy, the suffering of jealousy, the suffering of fear, the issue of ambition, the issue of conflict present because of desires, all that involves the presence of the ego. However, for us the ego is “someone,” it's a “person,” it's a present entity, it's an individual or an individual consciousness.
We've been saying here on the channel that the ego is a fraud, an illusion. We're not saying that it doesn't exist. Yes, there is a model of thinking, feeling and acting in us. This model is the model of conditioning, it is not the model of a real entity, of a true identity. It's a program, it's the way we function in this body-mind. So, we can say that the ego is an illusory individuality, that the presence of conditioning – of this way of feeling, acting and thinking – is what determines this illusion. So, the illusion is the illusion of a present identity. In this sense, it's an identity that exists, but it exists as a conditioning model, as a programming model. This is the identity of the “I.”
Can we get rid of it? Here we have to investigate the structure and nature of this “I,” this illusory center, this false center. An approach to this requires a study of ourselves, a study of who we are, however, none can give us this study, a book cannot give it to us, a technique cannot show it to us. We need to discover here how we respond to this moment from this “I,” this ego, this center. In other words, we have to discover this movement of conditioning expressing itself as being “someone,” as being a “person,” as being an individual consciousness expressing itself in speaking, feeling and acting.
So, let's look at one of the important aspects of this matter of the ego. Here I want to talk to you about one of the very clear aspects within this movement of conditioning of this “person,” this “I.” I'm referring to this pattern of action. How do we act from this illusory center, this false center? How do we behave? How do these present actions occur? How do they happen right now? Notice that they are always creating confusion, disorder, some form of contradiction, conflict and therefore suffering in our lives. Why does this happen? Why does this happen?
Our actions are born – and we all know this – out of thought. So, let's carefully investigate this with you. Our actions are born from thoughts, so first we have a thought and that thought is a stimulus. It carries a sensation. Thought carries with it a feeling, an emotion, a way of feeling and therefore a sensation. Based on thought, on that thought, we take action. So, what are our actions? See how important it is to investigate this. Our actions are the result of thoughts. What are these thoughts? They are stored remembrances and memories. We go through experiences in life and these experiences are recorded and stored in us as memories, as remembrances, and from there we know how to repeat these actions. So, our actions, as a result of memories, of past experiences, these actions, here and now, are reactive.
So, our actions – the actions that are born from this past in us – are the actions of this center, that is the “I,” the ego. The point is that these actions, and this is what hasn't become clear to you, a detail that isn't yet clear to you, is that this action never corresponds to the urgent, challenging need of the instant, of the present moment. In other words, we are always responding to this moment from that “I” that comes from the past, which is memory, which is recollection, which is the result of experiences from yesterday or many days ago. We are always responding to this moment in a reactive way. Our response, therefore, is not Free, not Natural, not Real, it does not respond, it does not correspond to the real need of this moment.
So, our actions based on this center, which is the “I,” are reactions that come from the past. The truth is that we don't know what that action means in the present moment, free from the center, the “I,” the ego. So, these actions are always producing suffering for us, suffering for the other, because they are actions centered on the “I.” These are the self-centered actions of this sense of person we believe ourselves to be. Is it possible to act here, in this instant, in this present moment, to this challenge of this now without this background, without this memory, without this action, which is merely a reaction from the past?
Contact with the other, contact with life, contact with what is shown here on the basis of this past is a separatist contact, it's a contact that divides, that clashes, that is a mere reaction to this instant, this moment, this challenge. What we're saying is that we don't have a Free action and, therefore, we don't have a correct, intelligent way of dealing with the instant, of dealing with the present moment. Why don't we have it? Because the basis of our action is memory, we are always in this movement of the “I”, in this instant, which is the past.
The past is here in the present, the past is here at this instant, in the present moment, projecting itself to gain something in the future. So, the intention of the “I” is always to accomplish things. So, the intention of the “I” is always to respond to this instant on the basis of what it already brings, what it already is, what it already represents. This model of conditioning, this programmed model of action is conflicting.
Here, we are working with you on the end of the illusion of the “I,” the end of the illusion of the ego and, therefore, the end of this movement that comes from the past and that reacts to this moment. For the ego, for the person you believe you are, you are “someone” who is here, in this instant, in this moment, paying attention to what is being shown here. The person here, in this moment, paying attention to what is here is just a reaction, it's just programming, it's just conditioning. That's the “I,” the ego. So, we are always within the present moment based on the past. Observe your mind, it works on the basis of memories, of recollections and remembrances. So, your responses to this instant are responses based on those recollections and memories.
So, psychologically, we live in time, which is the psychological time of the “I,” of the ego. “I am this because of what I was yesterday and I will be tomorrow because of what I am today,” but what “I am today” is only the representation of a conditioning that I already have from the past. So, today, in fact, “I am” only the past and tomorrow “I will be” only this today, which is still the past. So, what is this “I”?
This “I” is a movement in psychological time. There is no entity present in this condition, in this “person.” So, the person I believe I am is an illusion, it's just the result of past experiences, psychologically stored, preserved, always giving this “me” this notion of “I was,” “I am” and “I will be,” while, in reality, what we have here is just the past.
We go through experiences and we are always recording these new experiences on top of the past. So, we are always in this movement of accumulating, acquiring, preserving and cultivating more and more the sense of the “I,” of the ego, which is the past. There is nothing Real except for the Presence of this Intelligence that is outside of time, this Real Consciousness that is outside of time, this Real Being that is outside of time, because we live in this psychological time, which is the time that thought has produced because of its memory, its stories and records.
Notice that your name is a record of memory; your story in a dissertation or being told to someone is just the past that has been recorded. All the reference you have of the “person” you see yourself is the past. So, this is the central idea of the “I,” of the ego, this is the illusion of the “person,” of this “me” who lives in this time that I have called psychological time. What is the Truth about You?
The Truth about You is not in time. It is the Reality of that Being, of that Consciousness, of that Divine Reality, which in the ego is unknown, in the “person” is always something unknown. To get rid of this sense of “I,” of the ego, is to discover the end to this psychological content, to all this psychological baggage that gives you this sense of an identity in time, in this time that is today. It's the end for this “person” who believes to be here being “someone” today, who was “someone” yesterday and who will be “someone” tomorrow. This is the end of this experience of the “I” and therefore the end of this model of thinking, feeling and acting based on psychological time, on the illusion of this present identity.
Thus, understanding the Truth of your Being requires a study of yourself. When you study yourself, when you see all this movement, which is the movement of conditioning, which is the movement of pattern, which is the movement of repetition, which is the movement of memory of this illusory identity, this sense of “person,” all this is undone when there is an emptying of all this content. This becomes possible when there is an approach to the Truth of Meditation, to the True Meditation in a practical way.
I have been talking about the importance, the importance to you here, of Self-Awareness, because when we approach Self-Awareness, we have an emptying of all that psychological content, of that psychological time, of that sense of “I,” of the ego. This happens when we approach the Truth of Meditation, then a new action arises, an action Free of this illusory center, this sense of separation. This is the end of duality, it is the Truth of Non-duality, it is the Presence of God, it is the Presence of your Being.
For this purpose, we have online meetings on weekends. You can find our WhatsApp link for these meetings here in the video description. If this is something that makes sense to you, let's work on it together. We also have face-to-face meetings and retreats. So, here's the invitation. Please give us a like, subscribe to our channel and we'll see you, OK? Thanks for the meeting and see you next time!
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