“I”

The primary delusion of mankind is our inability to see things the way they really are. Because of a subtle willful blindness we see things in a distorted way. The world is in fact a seamless dynamic unity, a single living organism that is constantly changing. Our minds try to chop it up into separate static bits and pieces, which we then try mentally and physically to manipulate.

One of the mind’s most clever creations is the idea of the person – and closest to home a very special person which each of us calls “I”; a separate enduring ego or self. In that instant this seamless world is cut in two. There is “I” and there is all the rest. That means conflict because “I” can’t control the vastness against which it is set, though it will try, as that is the nature of the “I.”

This isn’t to deny that the notion of an “I” works in the everyday world. In fact we need a solid stable ego to function is society. But “I” is not real in an ultimate sense. It’s a name: a fictional creation that bears no resemblance to what is really the case. Because of this all kinds of problems arise.

Once our minds have constructed the notion of “I”,   it becomes our central reference point. We attach everything to it and identify with it totally. We attempt to do what appears to be in it’s best interests and defend it against threats and menaces. We look for ego affirmation at every chance to confirm we exist and are valued. The preoccupation arising from all this absorbs us completely, at times to the point of obsession. However this is a narrow and constricted way of being. Though we can’t see it when caught up in a fit of ego, there is something in us that is larger and deeper; a whole other way of Being.

Reposted from https://hipmonkey.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/i-am/ in an off hand way ….