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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Forms of Body-Consciousness - Ego Or Arrogance

Thinking highly of one's wisdom, wealth, physique, beauty, experience, social status or family creates the delusion, "I should be loved or respected for these things." This self-love, or rather conceit, removes all sense of reality and generates many false notions. On top of that it usually backfires. Searching for respect and regard through a glorified image of myself, will not find it. It just breeds discourtesies. I think that the whole world revolves around me and should listen to my opinions. Both the "superiority complex" and the "inferiority complex" ("I am the best", or "I am no good") are forms of arrogance because the thought process is egocentric and the repeated word "I", "I", "I" is predominant. Because of internal confusion of identity, the soul wishes to find security by winning the attention of others.

The natural state is love for one's true self and others. Ego is love for the physical identity and its temporary masks. Even though we suspect we are weak, we seek to prove our strength before others. As yogis we redirect this self-love to God and through that love-bond, we are able to love all others and maintain our self-respect. We remain unaffected by praise or insult. The soul no longer sees the world relative to itself. It can see others in their own right and naturally respects their opinions. In the ego-centric state I am the "sun" and others are my "planets" but in the yogic state God becomes my "sun" and I see all others in relation to Him rather than in relation to me.

1 comment:

Joyce Rachel Lee said...

Hi Putty,

Thanks for your comment in my blog.

In the Bible, there's a verse that says, "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." (Galatians 2:20). I quote this verse because ego or arrogance stems from "I". No one is without ego because ego/pride drives us forward.

However, in terms of spiritual life, when we learn to live by the life of Christ, we do not succumb easily to our ego/pride/arrogance because pride kills our relationship with the other saints (e.g. comparison who's the most spiritual bro/sis in the church, who "donates" the most money, etc).

Thanks for inviting me to read ur blogs :)

Best wishes,
Joyce

 

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