Don’t make negative thoughts personal, because they are not being thought by who you really are. This may sound confusing if you are identified with the part in you that thinks negative, imaging it to be you. Actually, the energy, or the consciousness, in you that thinks negative thoughts is what I refer to as the “Ego”. Whenever this energy is active, it stands out in your space. Who you are is pure positive energy, so the “Ego”, when it’s active, will always stand out as a “sore thumb” in your consciousness.
You are not the Ego
The negative energy that is present in the space of your consciousness keeps feeding on more negativity, it’s like self-replenishing cycle. However, this energy cannot sustain itself if “you” stop fueling it with your attention.
Look at it this way – who you are is pure consciousness, but a part of you has become “deluded” and has started focusing in a negative manner. If you start believing in this “negative” consciousness, you feed more consciousness into it, and thus make it gain more momentum and mass. That’s the reason why certain adults get more and more grumpy as they age, because of the increased accumulation of “negative” consciousness.
The negative energy, is like an entity, and hence I term it collectively as the “Ego” in you. The “Ego” is the part in you that judges everything in a negative manner; it gets offended, it looks to insult others, feels jealousy, lack, anxiety, shame and other negative feelings based in fear. The “Ego” is grounded in fear and hence anything that it thinks comes from a place of fear.
Freedom from the “Ego” is only possible when you start recognizing that you are not the “Ego”. As long as you identify with the “Ego” you will never want to let it go, and hence it will keep on perpetuating in you. The “Ego” is responsible for the creation of negative realities in your life, hence it’s of highest importance to dissolve this energy in you.
No Ego, No Suffering
When “Ego” energy completely dissolves in you, it will become evident that who you are is pure positive energy, and that there is no suffering in your being. It’s not a difficult thing to achieve, all it requires is a recognition that you are not the Ego, and hence a dis-identification from the movement of the “Ego”. The Ego energy will automatically slow down in momentum, and eventually dissolve, as you stop identifying with it.
Can you realize that the “Ego” is playing out in the background of your consciousness, which is very silent and vast? You are this vast consciousness, and your nature is based in love and joy. Peace is inherent to your nature. Shift your attention to this silent, and deep, part of you that seems to reside as the background to all the “negative” noise made by the “Ego”.
As you give attention to this “silent” consciousness, it starts waking up in you, and starts coming forth into the foreground of your experience. It dissolves all patterns of “Ego”, until there is none left. The “Ego” wants to survive, and hence it does put up a fight for a while, but once “pure consciousness” wakes up the demise of “Ego” is inevitable. The light of consciousness penetrates through the dark energy of the “Ego”, transmuting it back to its natural state. When there is no Ego left in you, there is no more suffering, what remains is an expression of love, joy and peace.
I have been on this journey but for a few days and the world seems so much more alive. Everytime I sit down outside, a little bird comes into my path. I feel that something inside of me has been activated! However, there is still this pull that gives me a slight sense of insecurity. I have this same song that spins round and round in my head. No matter how much I relax or not control, it resurfaces. It seems so minor but a constant irritant. As I transition into who I am, I pray for patience in the areas that still frighten and annoy “me” in my mind. I wish they did not matter.
I recognize so many faulty thinking patterns like my fixation with time, fear of being in this state of anxious mind always, and then fear of going crazy. They always come together, one behind another. I also notice that certain thoughts create the same pattern of discomfort in my body. Its like I am starting to observe the thinker but still get pulled in emotionally to what’s going on. However, I know that pieces of me are falling off and there is a light emerging. I just still feel like its shaky ground.
Celeste – What you are a reporting is good news. The shaky feeling is an indication of the inner transformation that has started in you. My teacher used to say that if you don’t feel like a crisis has started within, you may still be in the “dream” land. It won’t be this way for long, it’s just a temporary phase of transition, don’t panic just allow it. Remember that this whole process is about waking up from the “dream” identification, and becoming free of the pull of deluded thinking. I will reiterate that what you are going through is “normal”, everyone who awakens to the truth of their being feels “shaky” and groundless for a while. It’s part of the transition process, its very normal.
It’s a big shift in consciousness and it’s very normal for you to have the feelings that you are having right now – stark fear can arise suddenly, there may be a feeling that you are going crazy, that you losing touch with reality, anxiety and the general feeling of uncertainty about everything can arise. Rest assured, that these are very temporary, though they may come up now and again for a while. I would advise you to just relax, and stay in a place of surrender every time these feelings arise. If you try to work out these feelings, or try to sort them out, you will only end up prolonging them. Allow these feelings completely, and let them move freely in the space of your being. When you do this, they will automatically disperse from your space, leaving you feeling lighter.
The old mind or the “ego” doesn’t want to leave, and so it will put up a fight for a while. You need to be prepared for this, because I can assure you that there will be times when the mind will go into an “offensive” mode where it tries all types of strategies to get you back to the old way of thinking. Fear is the main strategy of the mind to keep you from freedom. The mind is not evil, it’s just scared of moving into a “new” place. Freedom is a new place, and the mind is scared of it. It associates all sorts of fear with this “new” place and so it tries to cling to its old way of thinking (fear based thinking).
If a song sticks in your mind, just let it be. If you get irritated by it, you just get shackled to it. Relax your focus, become an open field of consciousness. When you relax your consciousness you are not longer fixated on “one” thing, but your consciousness becomes more universal and whole. The normal state (actually abnormal) of consciousness in most people is that it stays “fixated” in the mind, the natural state (liberated state) of consciousness is to be “open” and relaxed, not fixating on anything. It will take sometime before you become aligned with this natural way of being, because for years you have practiced “fixating” consciousness in the mind.
Always remember that the mind is a machine, it’s a very clever machine, but its still a machine. The mind is mechanical, it’s not intelligent. The mind has only a few patterns, and strategies, that it operates in. Once you see through all the patterns of your mind, it can no longer create fear in you. Keep watching the mind, see through its strategies, see through its “mechanical” patterns. The mind is really just a “hoax”, it’s nothing to be afraid of. The mind can come up with these stories – “I am going insane”, “There is something wrong happening”, “You don’t know what you are doing”, “You can never be free”, and stuff like that. These are just stories, fear based strategies of the mind to get your attention. See through it, and realize that it’s just making noise, don’t believe it. You will be fine, just relax and allow the unfolding of this process.
Dear Sen,
I have been following your blog for sometime now…
I was interested in your reply to the poster above you said you had a teacher, and I wondered if this was someone you saw in person- or if it was someone you followed on-line?
I don`t have anybody in my personal life who shares my “desires”- for want of a better word- to” wake up”, I`m not saying they are not good people- they are- but I feel I would be helped on my way by interacting with others who have seen through the mind. Does that make sense? I had a sort of forced awakening due to stress and anxiety- quite out of the blue I suddenly realised this worrying , anxious, mind was not “me” and had a real eureka moment- the peace , the bliss was inexplicable.
But, and its a big but, I feel my mind still has its entrenched patterns, despite this ( temporary?) awakening- and I wonder if you think there is any benefit it seeking out a teacher- or do I continue to live my life as I am, it just feels a bit of a lonely place to be- when you can`t discuss with others- we are after all social beings- its just those I know would not have a clue what I was on about- if I discussed the kind of stuff you write about. Did /do you have other people to talk with, or do you think I can do this alone- whilst still carrying on my regular life. I just think it would be enriching to be with like people too maybe?
Thanks- its a great blog, and I`m appreciative of your posts- some beautiful stuff, really beautiful.
Manola, I think I was talking about Adyashanti, I came across his videos on youtube and listened to a few of his audio recordings on his website (adyashanti.org) with respect to the process of letting go into a state of allowing, which provided important guidance with respect to where I was with this process of growing in awareness. I never met him, neither did I have any inclination to visit any teacher personally because in today’s day and age technology makes it possible to access teachings remotely. The way I see it, what’s really important is to gain understanding, the more understanding you have the easier it is to navigate this process of moving towards inner wholeness, and talking to like-minded people can of course help you grow in understanding but eventually what really helps is to spend time in a state of inner introspection with yourself. No matter what teachings you access ultimately they find a grounding in you only when you bring an inner introspection to them, by allowing yourself to be open to letting these teachings within you and sensing the pointer in them. What helps you deepen your inner connection/introspection is isolation/aloneness, and spending time with yourself, rather than having a group to fall back upon – during the initial part of this process. Once you’ve gained enough inner stability/connection, you can engage in groups without feeling confused or disoriented or enamored by the outside influence.
A moment of awakening is just a moment of having a certain realization, that’s all. And this realization can help you see through certain patterns of resistance, you may need more realizations and understanding to dissolve deeper resistance. If you feel stuck the call is always to grow deeper in your understanding.
Thanks for the clarification.
I think for me, its a balance- some on-line and some physical interaction with like minds- yes, the technology is fantastic- but it does have its limitations.com
Love the blog- and yes, I do know there are resistances within me- and then some!
: )
thanks
Dear Sen,
Sometimes, when I read your article, I feel that all the hair on my whole body rising up and I laugh. I dont know what is this feeling, but I think something inside me is resonating, and there is another feeling, fear, fear to letting go, I think. It’s not huge, what i think, this fear is the ego, it fears of understanding. Recently I can see through some of my negative thoughts, and the moment I saw through it, there is something inside me that feels scared, there were also some thoughts said “seriously, are u sure that this is not important?”, and I felt a pull of emotions inside me. At the first few times, I dont know exactly what is this, but after some time, not long, I just suddenly understand that this is the Ego, that you are talking about in this article. Lately, it puts up a lot of fight, about the same thing, for the few days. My mind is so noisy, mostly with the same thoughts. But strangely, I feel that these thoughts’s pull and negative energy is weaker, some still a little bit strong but not as strong as before. My body’s vitality is almost dried up because of this, so sometimes I choose to ignore them while letting the emotions arise, and when I do this, the mind sending a thought like, “are you sure about this? you might end up refueling the negative thoughts”, sometimes i take this thought and think of it consciously, and sometimes I ignore this thought and the other thoughts.
I feel the change inside me, I used to be panic, stressed when the negative thoughts came, but now I feel calm, and sometimes frustrated because this huge amount of thoughts came non-stop in a few minutes range and this is the time I usually choose to ignore them. I afraid I might die if i keep allowing them to get them release or to think about them consciously.
Brilliant post here on dissolving the Ego. Combine this with Tolle’s views on staying in the NOW, and your Ego doesnt stand a snow balls chance in hell 🙂