![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Jul. 24th, 2002
On "obliterating the 'I'"
Jul. 24th, 2002 01:34 pmHeh, I found this I'd written about a year ago in response to someone who was extolling the virtue of "obliterating the ego" in a forum on Beliefnet.
"'Be as you are' is good advice, but the idea of obliterating the 'I'... in my opinion, is not.
"If you manage to obliterate the 'I,' the problem is that, like the cat in that folk song, it comes back the very next day. Wherever a thought slides through your neural pathways, the 'I' is there to ride along with it. Unless you stop your mind altogether, the 'I' will return to plague you.
"What I think mystics are trying to get at, is that it can be important to learn how to calm the turbulent mind and develop a sense of stillness. The inner reflection of this is the running 'mental commentary' that you may not even be aware is always going on. "
"'Be as you are' is good advice, but the idea of obliterating the 'I'... in my opinion, is not.
"If you manage to obliterate the 'I,' the problem is that, like the cat in that folk song, it comes back the very next day. Wherever a thought slides through your neural pathways, the 'I' is there to ride along with it. Unless you stop your mind altogether, the 'I' will return to plague you.
"What I think mystics are trying to get at, is that it can be important to learn how to calm the turbulent mind and develop a sense of stillness. The inner reflection of this is the running 'mental commentary' that you may not even be aware is always going on. "
More on the "I"
Jul. 24th, 2002 01:41 pmMore notes from about a year ago:
"When one 'surrenders to God' or 'dies to the self' or becomes a 'vessel filled with God' what becomes of the 'I', what is left of that which we normally think of as 'me'?
"The analogy I frequently use is that of a leaf becoming aware it is connected to a tree. Equating the leaf-self-consciousness with the tree-self-consciousness is a natural result; the leaf 'transcends' itself and becomes directly aware of a much greater reality. When fall comes, and the leaf browns and gets ready to fall, it has a more transcendent awareness of the fact that it will live on, perhaps forever. The leaf is the tree, they have identical DNA and are both the product of the same biological process; but the leaf never ceases to be as an identifiable individual.
"The 'Self' of God outshines the little-s self for a moment, but the sun does not drown out the moon's light, even during the day."
I'm fond of the quote by Anthony DeMello: "Why would a person care about a candle being extinguished when day has dawned?"
"When one 'surrenders to God' or 'dies to the self' or becomes a 'vessel filled with God' what becomes of the 'I', what is left of that which we normally think of as 'me'?
"The analogy I frequently use is that of a leaf becoming aware it is connected to a tree. Equating the leaf-self-consciousness with the tree-self-consciousness is a natural result; the leaf 'transcends' itself and becomes directly aware of a much greater reality. When fall comes, and the leaf browns and gets ready to fall, it has a more transcendent awareness of the fact that it will live on, perhaps forever. The leaf is the tree, they have identical DNA and are both the product of the same biological process; but the leaf never ceases to be as an identifiable individual.
"The 'Self' of God outshines the little-s self for a moment, but the sun does not drown out the moon's light, even during the day."
I'm fond of the quote by Anthony DeMello: "Why would a person care about a candle being extinguished when day has dawned?"
Here's a thought
Jul. 24th, 2002 11:35 pmI wonder how hard it would be to design a little script (for entertainment purposes only) that would make it seem like you were getting a palm reading over the computer. All you'd have to do is hold your palm against the screen for a few seconds and the applet would tell your future.
First Draft of new webpage
Jul. 24th, 2002 11:40 pmWell, I guess this is at the stage where I could use some constructive criticism. This is the first draft of the page I've been working on for about two weeks now.
Renewal Gnosticism
Renewal Gnosticism