Sat Yoga Archives, Gnosis, Spiritual Texts
Monday, 20 August 2007 00:00
There is a common misunderstanding concerning the implications of ego death. Many people assume that once the ego dies in the process of spiritual transcendence that the individual will have no further will to live. This is incorrect. The will to live will actually become more powerful than ever. But now it will be a holocentric will, not that of a body-identified subject, that functions through the mind and employs the organism for higher purposes.
After the death of the ego there is a rebirth. This is why the process has been referred to with such metaphors as that of the snake shedding its skin, the moon shedding its shadow, and the caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Rather than bringing about a lack of will to live, which is often how the ego feels—indeed many egos have a wish not to live, if not an active suicidal drive—the reborn Self will be filled with joyous energy, fully empowered, liberated from the weight of negative emotions, flying in the upper reaches of angelic intelligence, engaged in creative projects for the well-being and salvation of our besieged planet.
Those who imagine that ego death means sitting around aimlessly do not grasp the reality of the Supreme Being. Once the ego surrenders to the Absolute Intelligence of the Self, life really begins. What dies is the bundle of egoic attributes that usually include confusion, apathy, aggressivity, anxiety, misery, and other forms of selfish pettiness. After the ego surrenders to God, one accepts life on its own terms and acts from genuine joy, love, hope, faith, and a boundless appetite for being an instrument of salvation for all beings. In the Buddhist tradition, this is known as functioning as a bodhisattva.
There is no feeling of deadness in one who has passed through the sacred process of ego death and rebirth, but an exquisite aliveness that the ego cannot understand. This is because the ego is a fictional tissue of identifications designed and installed with the purpose of adapting to others, getting approval, manipulating people and situations, gaining power over others, and wallowing in such pathological pleasures as revenge, debasement, and even destruction of others who are perceived as enemies. These unpleasant aspects of the human ego are what require its death and rebirth.
Of course, some egos are healthier than others. Some egos function as pillars of society and use their powers for good. They may be quite ethical, appreciative of higher values, of beauty, of the importance of taking care of the natural environment, and they may even be religious. What is the difference between a good ego that functions in a highly principled, idealistic, and adaptive manner and one who has undergone ego death and rebirth?
The difference can be understood only if one grasps the structure of the ego. The ego is split. Its will is not single, whole, and integrated, but multiple, dispersed, fractured; and its mind is utterly uncontrollable by its own conscious center. The conscious subject does not know what is actually going on in its own subconscious regions. The conscious part of the ego is not in control of the ego’s real agendas. The conscious part of the ego is usually not even aware of the axioms, fantasies, traces of trauma, oedipal wishes, and superego commands that operate constantly from below the horizon of the cognitive and conative jurisdiction of the consciousness. That is why the ego can be said to be in a condition of false consciousness. Even when that false consciousness functions for the ostensible betterment of the world, it is operating within a larger command system that limits its effectiveness. Moreover, the unconscious operating system yields such fruits as anxiety and other emotional residues, such that one is generally in a state of suffering rather than in rapture.
The ego may know exceptional moments of joy, but they are usually situation-governed. One may, for example, transcend the ego during peak experiences, perhaps moments in beautiful natural settings, like watching a sunset on a beach, or while running a marathon, or taking drugs or alcohol, or while involved in sexual intercourse. But these will not last, and some will have negative consequences. But joy in simply being eludes even the most principled and idealistic egoic identity. The pull of its inevitable attachments is always sabotaging its ability to remain present and serene.
The death of the ego means the death of deadness; the death of suffering; the death of moral, psychological, aesthetic, and spiritual blindness; the death of fear and anxiety. The death of ego implies oneness with LIFE.
Of course, bringing about the demise of the ego is not always an easy matter. That is why the science of Sat Yoga has developed a battery of techniques to help in achieving this end. Through the increase of awareness and understanding, the disabling of outmoded defense mechanisms, the lifting of repressions, and the input of shakti—those glowing flows of spiritual energy that are transmitted from the Source, both directly and via illumined teachers and communities of compassionate, evolving souls. Through wholehearted discipleship and devoted practice, the grace of egoless presence soon appears as the ultimate miracle of Being.
As the Bible asks us, what good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your soul? The ego is the condition of soul loss. The death of the ego is the regaining of soul—in fact of the divine spirit that transcends even the realm of soul—and the gateway to reunion with the Absolute. Only if enough of us are willing to achieve the inner transformation that enables us to be manifestations of the One Without a Second will our planetary home have a second chance to flourish as a Paradise. Let us take refuge in the Heart, the One Self, let us create a pure world of loving oneness, and live together once more in the power and the grace of the Transfinite Self, in wisdom, in light, in innocence and playfulness. This is our highest calling and our true destiny.
Namaste,
Shunyamurti
There is no feeling of deadness in one who has passed through the sacred process of ego death and rebirth, but an exquisite aliveness that the ego cannot understand. This is because the ego is a fictional tissue of identifications designed and installed with the purpose of adapting to others, getting approval, manipulating people and situations, gaining power over others, and wallowing in such pathological pleasures as revenge, debasement, and even destruction of others who are perceived as enemies. These unpleasant aspects of the human ego are what require its death and rebirth.
Of course, some egos are healthier than others. Some egos function as pillars of society and use their powers for good. They may be quite ethical, appreciative of higher values, of beauty, of the importance of taking care of the natural environment, and they may even be religious. What is the difference between a good ego that functions in a highly principled, idealistic, and adaptive manner and one who has undergone ego death and rebirth?
The difference can be understood only if one grasps the structure of the ego. The ego is split. Its will is not single, whole, and integrated, but multiple, dispersed, fractured; and its mind is utterly uncontrollable by its own conscious center. The conscious subject does not know what is actually going on in its own subconscious regions. The conscious part of the ego is not in control of the ego’s real agendas. The conscious part of the ego is usually not even aware of the axioms, fantasies, traces of trauma, oedipal wishes, and superego commands that operate constantly from below the horizon of the cognitive and conative jurisdiction of the consciousness. That is why the ego can be said to be in a condition of false consciousness. Even when that false consciousness functions for the ostensible betterment of the world, it is operating within a larger command system that limits its effectiveness. Moreover, the unconscious operating system yields such fruits as anxiety and other emotional residues, such that one is generally in a state of suffering rather than in rapture.
The ego may know exceptional moments of joy, but they are usually situation-governed. One may, for example, transcend the ego during peak experiences, perhaps moments in beautiful natural settings, like watching a sunset on a beach, or while running a marathon, or taking drugs or alcohol, or while involved in sexual intercourse. But these will not last, and some will have negative consequences. But joy in simply being eludes even the most principled and idealistic egoic identity. The pull of its inevitable attachments is always sabotaging its ability to remain present and serene.
The death of the ego means the death of deadness; the death of suffering; the death of moral, psychological, aesthetic, and spiritual blindness; the death of fear and anxiety. The death of ego implies oneness with LIFE.
Of course, bringing about the demise of the ego is not always an easy matter. That is why the science of Sat Yoga has developed a battery of techniques to help in achieving this end. Through the increase of awareness and understanding, the disabling of outmoded defense mechanisms, the lifting of repressions, and the input of shakti—those glowing flows of spiritual energy that are transmitted from the Source, both directly and via illumined teachers and communities of compassionate, evolving souls. Through wholehearted discipleship and devoted practice, the grace of egoless presence soon appears as the ultimate miracle of Being.
As the Bible asks us, what good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your soul? The ego is the condition of soul loss. The death of the ego is the regaining of soul—in fact of the divine spirit that transcends even the realm of soul—and the gateway to reunion with the Absolute. Only if enough of us are willing to achieve the inner transformation that enables us to be manifestations of the One Without a Second will our planetary home have a second chance to flourish as a Paradise. Let us take refuge in the Heart, the One Self, let us create a pure world of loving oneness, and live together once more in the power and the grace of the Transfinite Self, in wisdom, in light, in innocence and playfulness. This is our highest calling and our true destiny.
Namaste,
Shunyamurti
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