Joy is Poison,
Embracing Unconditional Love and Letting Go of the Ego,
By Max Ryan.
In a vast experience of existence that more often than not can contain chaos and uncertainty lies the hidden jewel of joy,
Radiating as if a call back to home.
In the depths of our souls unconditional love weaves its magic,
Casting a spell of light and laughter.
Like a shimmering gem,
Joy beckons us to embark on a transformative journey,
Awakening our spirits to the boundless possibilities that lie ahead.
Today I want to delve deeper into the realm of joy,
Exploring its essence through the lens of the wise teacher Osho's profound wisdom.
Imagine joy as a radiant sun,
Casting its warm glow upon our beings,
Illuminating every corner of our existence.
As we awaken spiritually,
Like the first rays of dawn,
A subtle light begins to permeate our consciousness.
We start to shed the weight of our worries and concerns,
Feeling an inner lightness that dances in our hearts.
The burden we once carried no longer holds sway over us as joy sweeps into every fiber of our being.
That is what it's like to be truly awakened.
Osho,
A master of great spiritual insights,
Offers us a guidebook,
A compilation of wisdom titled Joy.
It serves as a gateway into the labyrinth of our souls,
Unlocking doors and hidden chambers where joy resides.
Just as a compass points the way,
This book directs our attention to the profound teachings that lie within.
Similar to the transformative principles found in A Course in Miracles,
The Law of Attraction,
Zen Buddhism,
And other spiritual traditions,
These teachings echo the universal truths that govern our human experience.
Here is a powerful quote from Osho's book Joy that I'd like to break down.
The ego subsists on misery.
The more misery,
The more nourishment for it.
In blissful moments,
The ego totally disappears,
And vice versa.
If the ego disappears,
Bliss starts showering on you.
If you want the ego,
You cannot forgive.
You cannot forget.
Particularly the hurts,
The wounds,
The insults,
The humiliations,
The nightmares.
Not only that you cannot forget,
You will go on exaggerating them.
You will emphasize them.
You will tend to forget all that has been beautiful in your life.
You will not remember joyous moments.
They serve no purpose as far as the ego is concerned.
Joy is like poison to the ego,
And misery is like vitamins.
With these words of Osho,
The concept of ego emerges like a shadowy figure,
An enigma veiled in layers of interpretation.
In the realm of psychology,
Sigmund Freud's conceptualization of the ego takes center stage,
Offering insights into its multifaceted nature.
However,
Osho's perspective diverges,
Unraveling the enigma even further,
Revealing that the ego sustains itself on the nourishment of misery.
It thrives on darkness.
The darkness that engulfs our lives,
Feeding off our insecurities,
Our fears,
And self-doubt.
The more misery it consumes,
The stronger its hold on our consciousness becomes.
So within this cosmic dance of existence,
Joy and ego share a delicate dance of opposites.
When joy blossoms within us,
The ego retreats into the shadows.
Its grip begins to loosen.
And in those moments of bliss,
The ego dissolves,
Unable to find purchase in the expanse of our happiness.
And in the absence,
An experience close to bliss can arrive in us,
Awakening our spirits to the profound beauty of life's potential.
However,
The ego entices us into its illusions,
Like a hall of mirrors at a funhouse.
It thrives on our memories of hurts and wounds and insults and humiliations,
Using them as fuel to perpetuate our suffering.
Like a sly magician diverting our attention,
It redirects our attention away from the joy that surrounds us,
Compelling us to focus on the perceived shortcomings and grievances of our meager existence.
But we always hold the key to our liberation.
A course in miracles reminds us that we assign meaning to our experiences,
Giving birth to our individual realities.
We have the power to choose where our attention rests and what meaning we ascribe to the events that unfold.
Simply by consciously shifting our gaze towards beauty and joy and laughter of life,
We can begin to reclaim our power and start to diminish the ego's perceived grip.
Forgiveness also holds an incredible power to unravel the ego's entanglements.
It is the balm that soothes our wounds and our wounded souls and mends the rifts that seem to separate us from love and grace.
Forgiveness is not an act of weakness,
Rather it is an act of liberation,
A conscious choice to release the chains of resentment and anger that bind us to the ego's realm of suffering.
On our path of awakening,
We might find ourselves struggling to forgive.
The ego,
Deeply rooted in our conditioning and upbringing,
Clings to the belief that holding on to grievances gives us a sense of control and vindication.
It tempts us to dwell on past hurts,
Amplifying them in our minds,
While overshadowing the moments of joy and beauty that grace our lives.
I do know that forgiveness can be a very difficult concept,
Especially in extreme situations,
But I always like to share what the Buddha said about true forgiveness,
That it is letting go of the thought that anything or anyone should have been any different than what it was or what they were.
In other words,
Real forgiveness is accepting everything and everyone as it is and they are,
And not how we think it should be or they should be.
Take a moment to let that sink in.
The truth beckons us to embrace a different path,
A path illuminated by love and forgiveness.
When we choose to forgive,
We step into the realm of grace,
Where the ego's influence wanes and the radiance of joy begins to drive the direction of our experience.
It is through forgiveness that we unburden ourselves,
Freeing us to return once again to the realm of pure potentiality.
But why have we been trained to know the ego so intimately?
The answer lies in the primal human story.
The moment when laughter was forgotten and separation from our divine essence was perceived.
In fact,
That's what the Course in Miracles says was the beginning of our perceived separation,
When man forgot to laugh.
Throughout history and various spiritual traditions,
This tale takes different forms,
Abiding of a proverbial apple,
An allegory of separation.
And in that moment,
The ego emerged,
Proclaiming our separation from source or life itself.
If you can begin to see that in the big map of life,
We have been conditioned to know the ego intimately,
Because it serves as a catalyst for our awakening.
It is through understanding the ego's mechanisms,
Through unraveling the knots of suffering it weaves,
That we find our way back to joy and to love.
The journey of spiritual awakening calls us to transcend the ego's grip,
To awaken from the illusion of separation,
And to remember our inherent connection to life itself.
Like a weary traveler navigating treacherous terrain,
We embark on the path of unraveling the ego's illusions.
We recognize that joy is the antidote to the ego's venom,
For joy holds the power to dissolve its grip in our consciousness.
By consciously choosing joy,
By embracing the moments of laughter,
Love,
And peace,
We starve the ego of its sustenance.
We reclaim our power and open ourselves to the infinite possibilities that abound.
I've always liked the concept of using a North Star to guide us.
It gives us a consistent direction in a way,
A purpose.
There's no purpose,
But that's too much to go into right here.
So why not try just embracing joy as our guiding star,
And forgiveness as our compass?
Let's look at our lives woven with threads of joy and sorrow,
Knowing that it is within our power to shift our focus,
To infuse our existence with the radiance of love and laughter.
As we unravel the ego's knots and dissolve its illusions,
We awaken to the truth that joy is our natural state,
An intrinsic part of our being.
I hope that this exploration of joy and the intricacies of the ego inspire you to choose again to dance amidst the various experiences,
Whether you label them good or bad,
With a little bit more laughter in your heart.
For within the depths of your being,
Joy awaits,
Eager to guide you on a journey of awakening and of true freedom.
