The Ego, the Reference Point

Self-Centered Thinking

It is true we use thought and that it is useful and important. Thought that does not have a 'me' in it, does not cause suffering. That is fine. This is just normal daily living - no problem. Thought or the mind is not the problem.

Thought is very useful. It has brought us many beautiful and functional things via science and technology, through design and engineering.

However the mind is not useful for the ONE thing that matters most - our own nature.

The skills which work in areas like science, technology, engineering - like analysis, synthesis, stepwise refinement - do not work when it comes to unraveling our own true nature. The mind functions within the pairs of opposites and divides and divides again. This does not work for several reasons

• The Mind, working within the pairs of opposites (good/bad, happy/sad), is working in Duality. But our true nature is NonDual and the mind is incapable of encapsulating or describing our true nature.

• Our true nature is Awareness and all objects, including thoughts, occur in that Awareness. Thought, occurring as objects in awareness, cannot grasp 'no-thing'. Awareness is outside the scope of thought.

When the 'me' is seen through our livingness continues as before. So-called 'good' things happen, so-called 'bad' things happen. That is the world in its duality and we live in that world.

What changes then is that the commenter, the criticizer, the comparer, the reference point is not there?

Life is exactly the same. You go to work, you earn the money, you feed the cats. No suffering. That is the difference.

Life goes on. Life lives through us without the reference point standing in the middle of the street with a Stop sign. We are lived. Life lives us.

It ALL centers around the belief in an illusory, conceptual, separate self.

How do you handle that? Look into it and see if it is true. Not base the handling on the belief that the separate self has a substantial and separate existence. That which is conceptual is not substantial.

We do not need the conceptual self to motivate us, to give us drive - our Aliveness has been doing that all along. The only difference is that up till now the commenter, the one who has the problem, the one who is the problem, has gone along for the ride.

It cannot be any other way. There is only Awareness - that is truth. We 'are' Awareness - it is our true nature. Awareness just perceives.

No plans, no agenda, no strategic plan, no grand design.

All the rest is the 'current identity' that we believe in so completely.

See through that. The current identity is just a bundle of thoughts.

Just see that.

Written by Mike Graham, 19 Jan 2008, last edited 17 Feb 2008