From Ego To Enlightenment - A Journey Within

As a busker,

One thing that does not work is self-consciousness.

A busker needs to be working.

A busker needs to shed all ego and get down to work.

Play your songs,

Play them well,

Earn your money and don't get in people's way.

Glen Hansard Dear friends,

We are going to consider how we might try to prevent the ego getting in the way of our attempts to live the good life.

In embracing a spiritual life,

It is important to explore all aspects of the self.

We must each take an honest look at our inner self,

At our agenda and our belief system.

When we become aware of our whole being,

We will have a better understanding of our true selves.

We will be more able to see our inconsistencies.

And we may be perturbed when we become aware of our negative sides.

It is at this point we need to find a way to forgive ourselves and to heal.

In a compassionate way,

We need to look at what we might perceive to be our blighted past.

We must recognise and appreciate this as part of how we have become the person we have become.

Through this acceptance,

A gentle healing can begin.

This healing will be a stepping stone on the path to connecting to the light within us,

The light of God or whatever we conceive the ultimate reality to be.

As our preoccupation with our own feelings wanes,

Our awareness of that light within us will surely grow.

Of course,

Becoming ego-free is a new and strange mindset for many of us in the Western world.

Here we tend to be goal-focused,

Rushing from one activity and distraction to the next.

Less familiar with the idea of just being,

Here we are doing in order to achieve.

We find ourselves conditioned to believe that without ambition we can get nowhere.

It is difficult to refrain from showcasing our accomplishments when we believe we need these achievements in order to be appreciated,

Admired or promoted at work.

Focusing instead on how to benefit our colleagues and society in general may not fit the mould in our competitive world.

But this may just be the new pathway we need in order to embrace an ego-free spiritual life.

It is difficult to relinquish these feelings of entitlement that accompany the ego.

It is hard to check our tendency to ambition and our attachment to attachment.

Yet all these tendencies hinder us in the way to the transformative experience of a spiritual awakening.

We must nurture the virtues of gratitude,

Humility and non-attachment.

We need to practice gratitude for all the gifts given to us,

Including our family,

Our health,

Our relationships and all our material needs that are so regularly fulfilled.

And we need to practice humility,

Recognising that any success we have is not our own achievement,

But rather a God-given gift,

Which we have done little to earn.

The reality,

When we stop to notice it,

Is that we are but a small speck in this awesome universe.

That should ground us,

It should ground each of us in utmost humility,

And it should lessen our tendency to attachment and pride.

Non-attachment is the opposite to acquiring or grasping,

Or to clinging onto what we've acquired.

We must remember that life is transient,

Constantly changing.

Grasping or clinging leads to unhappiness,

And it diminishes our spiritual well-being.

In Buddhism,

In the Second Noble Truth,

We are told that attachment is the cause of our suffering.

Attachment can hinder us from reaching out to the ultimate,

Because in that frame of mind,

We believe we already have all we need,

Caught up as we are in the object,

The relationship,

Or the activity that we are attached to,

Or that we find ourselves distracted by just now.

In moments of quiet contemplation,

We empty ourselves of ego,

Anxiety,

Resentment,

Judgment,

Desire,

And so many other negative tendencies.

The teachings of Richard Rohr,

A Franciscan priest and ecumenical teacher,

Is grounded in the practices of contemplation and self-emptying.

People who are living in reaction to someone or something outside themselves are in a constant state of flux,

Adjusting their reactions,

Seeking to find acceptance and approval in every changing situation.

Anthony de Mello,

A Jesuit,

Counsels against being at the mercy of any event,

Thing,

Or person.

Some of us feel a need to belong.

Most of us feel a need to belong.

This need results in our acquiring and clinging.

Whereas what we really need is to centre down,

To go on a sincere journey of self-discovery and find the inner self.

It takes time,

Effort,

And patience to discover and to heal the hidden parts of our inner self.

It takes time to experience the joy that comes from recognising and coming to terms with the true self,

Or the fact that God,

Or all we seek,

Is within us.

Saint John of the Cross refers to kenosis.

In the thinking of Saint John,

Kenosis is the concept of the self-emptying of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God and to the divine will.

To abide in emptiness is to have the realisation that we are not the personal doers we've always taught ourselves to be.

We are dependent on good fortune and on so many other people if we are to accomplish anything at all.

We must go through this life humbly realising we couldn't do it alone.

Therefore we must go along on life's journey in a state of gratitude,

Attributing neither fame or blame to ourselves or to others.

Self-emptying makes space for immense feelings of love.

So the message,

Be awake,

Be watchful for the voices of Buddha,

Jesus,

And all the bringers of good news and formulae for the living of a meaningful life.

Namaste.