Do Good Anyway (forget about separation)

Good works must naturally be spontaneous and quick, or else ego\mind will create nonessential things, and prevent it. Bobby Hinkle

 

Ron Alexander Don't think to much about it, the rational mind can easliy make excuses. Thanks Bobby!

• Ron Alexander The "ego" may go ahead and do it, but it expects praise!
 
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  Richard Kent Matthews Do it anyway, ego or not. The power is in the action, no matter how you think about what you are doing. If the hungry get fed, the homeless sheltered, the animals saved, the war ended, who cares if the person gets credit? It's the action, not the emotion around it.

   
• Richard Kent Matthews Keep doing good, even if your head swells.

  Ron Alexander 
• Like it Richard, and I don't believe in the "ego' is the "inner devil" as so many "new age" teachers do. I do believe that an unbalanced ego - egotistical, egoist and especially a weak ego can led to problems in our lives. To me it is like an inner child, we have to be aware of it all the time, and you are right "even if the head swells."

Richard Kent Matthews We are all selfish. If we get that, really get that, we can consciously redirect that selfish energy into some really good stuff. No need to suppress or replace. Just redirect. I know that I will be highly self interested until the day I die, maybe beyond. In the mean time, I delight in being of service. It gets me goodies!! And the world benefits, too.

Richard Kent Matthews No. The ego didn't exist until Freud invented it. And the devil didn't exist until someone way back when invented him. The ego is simply a survival instinct. And when we make it a bad guy, we do ourselves a grave injustice.

Bobby Hinkle Ultimately the ego/survival instinct loses so much power over us and melts into the totality and beauty of our whole life. I agree. I don't believe it is a "bad guy" ultimately. Thanks, Richard.

Ron Alexander:  I  do believe the "ego" is demonized and used as a convenient dualistic tool to not have to deeply think things through! Like the "devil made me do it."

Ron Alexander What about this Rev. Richard, in St. Francis Prayer, the last verse is translated as "in dying to the self, we are born to Eternal Life." Is that your translation and how do you interpret "self"? I always equated "self" to "ego" but in losing this "self or ego" , one must be ready to leave the body also.

 

Bobby Hinkle I love your comments, Richard. However, I do believe we often spoil "I" with selfish illusions. Perhaps we can call the spoiled "I" the ego...and...perhaps not. Thanks.

Richard Kent Matthews We tend to separate the 'ego' from something else of us. There is no something else of us. That's the challenge. It's not me; it's my ego. What? No. We are never the same from one moment to the next, or as is said, we never step into the same river twice. We cannot say we have an 'ego' any more than we can say we have unchanging skin. It's always in a state of flux. I like that.

Richard Kent Matthews Ron: You're asking a very involved question. First, St. Francis was Christian. And 'self' in Christianity is different from what we're currently discussing. Self, to them, is sinful, evil, fallen, unworthy of redemption. And the only way to be redeemed is to turn one's life over to Christ so that he lives through you. You die to self by allowing Jesus to enter your heart, mind, and soul to replace or to transcend the evil that is your real self, the self deserving of eternal death. See? Not the same.

 

Ron Alexander I used to teach ACIM and now think it is one of the major demonizers of the term "ego", and the body. There is one whole week in the workshop about "I am not my body." for each day of the week. After that particular week, there would be less bodies in my class!

 

Richard Kent Matthews What we're talking about here is division. Ego/self/id are all the same. There is only one of us. But we have been convinced by the psychological and spiritual 'experts' that somehow we must overcome or transcend ourselves. Bull CACA! The Buddha was clear: When you awaken, you discover you are the same as you were before awakening. There is no division, no soul to get saved, no ego to heal, no heaven to reclaim. We are simply one entity, talked into dividing ourselves into all these little categories that, ultimately, only serve to divide us even further. The experts don't always know what they're talking about, including me.

 

Richard Kent Matthews So, if I were to give any advice, I would say forget about separation, remember we are one, as individuals and collectively, and do our best. One very powerful way to heal is to consciously choose to serve