Friday, 9 December 2011

Exercising the Spiritual Muscle

I watched a few clips from a webseries by Oprah Winfrey- it features Eckhart Tolle (the spiritual guy i've mentioned before). In the clips of the video i watched they discuss the Ego. Now the ego Eckhart talks about is different to the conventional ego (being arrogant) most people might use. When Eckhart talks about the ego he means- the part of a person that feels the need to identify with things, people, places, opinions, whatever.
So for example, buying a designer bag because it makes you feel superior to others- because it in some way adds to your perceived selfworth- that is your ego.
But that is only one example to explain it- i find it quite difficult to fully express all the dimensions of it in summary form (Eckhart explains it in about 2 chapters- but i shan't post the entire thing here, lol)

"The realm of consciousness is much vaster than thought can grasp. When you no longer believe everything you think, you step out of thought and see clearly that the thinker is not who you are.
-Echkart Tolle

See there is a lot of that kind of stuff in his books- it seems straightforward in principle, but it is very tricky to apply and fully understand.


Realisations
So these are some "aha" moments (Oprah also calls them 'lightbulb' moments) i had whilst watching today.

-It is not possible for other people to hurt me. They are just offering their observations- and i am giving them meaning.
-Stop being dependent on love and approval - in a way that is identification by other people's opinion.
-Another person's criticism isn't necessarily bad or wrong. But it is important not to take it offensively- a criticism is simply their take of you from the story of their lives.
-Love should not be a trade- true love is unconditional

The last comment especially resonated with me due to recent events in my life. Following on from the 'Elation of Separation' post i did, i have realised that love (in all its beautiful forms) is only true if it is unconditional. So what the other party believes or does, should not be able to sway how much you love them.


"In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow or open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever... The ego always either wants something, or if it believes there is nothing to get from the other, it is in a state of utter indifference: It doesn't care about you."
-Echkart Tolle, A New Earth (pg 84)

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