A Dialogue About Dualism - Demonizing the Ego!

The ego is powerful, and all of its power was given to it by YOU.
Ego is a constructed identity of a person, soul, energy, etc. that perceives itself to be separate from all other persons, souls, energies, etc. Its view is dualistic: “me and you;” and “me and the world.” The words “I” and “me” claim a unique role in the universe that this “identity” recognizes as “reality.” Yet, that reality is merely an imaginary story based on all the input a particular body receives from its physical senses from the moment it is conceived. Assumptions are made, beliefs are formed, conclusions are drawn, rules are established, and attitudes with their congruent behaviors become part of ego’s operating guidelines. The ego then combines all of these components to manage your life through the mental body with its thoughts. (Both visual and word thoughts are included; thoughts are thoughts, no matter what form they appear in.) For those who have heard that the world is an illusion, this is how YOUR ILLUSION came to be. The way your ego sees the world and your part in it is your illusion, no one else’s. And since ALL of ego’s thoughts are merely a creation of each individual’s imagination – they have nothing to do with reality.

Every time you accept the ego as your guide and Master you are ignoring the power, wisdom and loving presence of your True Nature. The ego controls you with doubt and fear. It keeps reminding you of the past to keep you open and vulnerable to its input. It pretends to be looking out for your best interest, but in Truth, the ego is not your friend. Its only interest is maintaining its control, because without its ability to control your life, the ego will cease to exist....and THE PATH TO RETURN TO LOVE WILL APPEAR OUT OF THE DARKENESS....

I Love You all and am glad to be another Soul amongest you all, in this shift to Self Realization (Awakening)


Return to LOVE,

In Peace, light & Gratitude,Kenneth

Hi Kenneth, welcome to this loving group. Several of my best teachers, including A Course in Miracles and two teachers (Marianne Williamson & Echart Tolle, who started there, talk about the ego in the same derogatory vien that you talk about it. Despite that, I still consider ACIM, Marianne & Echart to be of my most favorite teachers, however I think that an "Unconditional Lover" would have to love their ego also! Be aware of its trickery but be thankful for its protection for all these years. After all, we could not exist in this world very long from a young age without a well developed ego. At the same time, we want to avoid being an egoist or being egotistical. I think demonizing the ego activates it - causes it to be defensive and slows our ability to be non-defensive and non-judgemental.
I was in a group back in the middle to late 80's studying ACIM with Bill Thetford, who was the scribe of this wonderful text. He stayed mostly quiet on the sidelines of the group, except when we complained about the treatment of the ego. He just smiled, giggled a little and told us "just tear out those pages." He realized the deepest meaning of ACIM, and that is we are all One, and
There is a place in you where there is perfect peace. There is a place in you where nothing is impossible. There is a place in you where the strength of God abides.(ACIM W, 76) a cosmos of gratitude, ron

Thanx so Much Ron for enlightening me about the "EGO". In it all i agree with you entirely when you say :

"After all, we could not exist in this world very long from a young age without a well developed ego. At the same time, we want to avoid being an egoist or being egotistical. I think demonizing the ego activates it - causes it to be defensive and slows our ability to be non-defensive and non-judgemental"

albeit we can Understand it all from a personal perspective the more we ponder about it from a Universal perspective, yet still the general Truth is that "What we avoid...We only make it stronger".
knowing that the Law Of Attraction draws to us that which we consciously try to avoid, it makes perfect sense to say that Unconditional Love would definitely embrace individualistic Ego for a Positive experience...

Thanx so much for enlightening me more about it all. can you please help tell me more about ACIM....(Am so curious about it now that i have heard about it from you for my first time)...

In Gratitude,

Kenneth

Hi Kenneth, thank you for this statement:It makes perfect sense to say that Unconditional Love would definitely embrace individualistic Ego for a Positive experience...

I think what we have to watch out for is dualism - separation. I have been studying A Course in Miracles for 25 years I say. Jerry Jampolsky created his Center For Attitudinal Healing with it as the primary text. Dr. Bill Thetford, who I mentioned is the scribe, was a dept. head in psychology at Columbia U. and he wondered aloud why the faculty could not get along. A colleague, a Jewish Atheist (can't think of her name), started receiving this metaphysical info. at night, and Dr. Thetford wrote her channeled info. down into a large text and workbook. It became an instant mystical hit and many fabulous teachers sprang forth - Jerry, Eckhart and Marianne Williamson to name a few. I think Marianne has stayed closest to the original, and I would read her books, and find ACIM group if you want to study it further. It is definitely worth it.
I just don't understand how such a magnificent volume could be so ego dualistic demonizing, however I would do like Dr. Thetford told us:" just tear out those pages." The rest is among the best metaphysical material since the Bible. Many say that it is like Jesus writing with a more modern vocabulary. However, feminists would argue, that it is not "modern enough" as the Diety is referred to as "Father, He, etc."

In the original Aramaic Bible, "Abba" (father) is really "Abwoom" which stands for a genderless God.

Anyway, "I would rather be happy than right", and who am I to question ACIM, Eckhart & Marianne or You, Kenneth. You are much greater teachers than myself. I will end this with one of my favorite quotes from ACIM:

Everything you teach you are learning. Teach only love, and learn that
love is yours and you are love. T42