Go Back into Yourself

From Wisdom Quarterly

"Thus must you train yourself:
In the seen, [let] there...be just the seen
In the heard, just the heard
In the otherwise sensed, just the otherwise sensed
In the cognized, just the cognized [by the sixth sense, mind]..." Buddha

 It is really interesting that all the information that is available to us today to reach enlightenment has created ego in a new way. 

There are those who believe in love and those who believe in science. There are those who believe in Buddhist philosophy and those who believe in the Yoga Sutras. Of course there are also those who combine an Eastern philosophy with their religion creating all kinds of new mixes and matches. But the question is, are we any closer to being enlightened?

Human beings never cease to amaze me. You can give them the secret to the Universe and they will still find a way of denying its spiritual value and finding a way of creating a new dogma or theory in order to understand it. 

I can only say that if religion had any value whatsoever, it would not have caused so many wars and so much hatred here on planet Earth. We keep saying we want peace and we keep doing the opposite. Is the collective Ego really healing?

I personally think it is and very much so. But I still think there is a lot of ego in people and many spiritual seekers are finding that life is much easier after applying some of the Universal Secrets into their personal lives, but the ego is still rather big.

There is really only one way to heal the ego and that is with love. The ego is responsible for ruining just about everything from marriages to friendships to business opportunities and the list goes on (not to mention Mother Earth). I have personally witnessed the destruction of many relationships because one ego absolutely had to be stronger than the other. So destroying a relationship seemed like the better choice over finding a little bit of heart and humility in the relationship.

It is still going on. People are still finding ways to divide rather than unite. But it isn’t easy to heal the ego and it isn’t easy to be enlightened. All this information is creating a lot of confusion for many people and pulling them away from the essence of spirituality which is going in and finding out who we are. 

The most harmonious relationships I have ever had were with people who knew who they were. Once we know who we are on a spiritual level we don’t try to convince others to go our way or to follow us. I find that many people are still imposing their opinions on others and trying to convince them that their way is the right way. 

Working on one’s self means you don’t have to convince anybody of anything. You work on your own self and others do the same. Emptiness seeks to fill itself up, so often we seek people to either convert to our ideas or be released from our personal responsibility of working on our own selves. A truly enlightened person finds peace in solitude and joy in independence.

Freedom of thought does not mean we judge. When we stop judging we can then listen and find something in common with that thought idea, but if there is any bit of ego in the thought, it will ignite a power struggle. It is the nature of the ego to provoke and disrupt while the heart seeks peace and harmony.

We generally have both in us but some of us like to provoke more than others consciously and unconsciously. If we are in denial we will not be conscious of whether we are provoking or not. If we have a strong opinion about something it is certain that our listening skills will not be as in tune as when we release an opinion and just breathe.

Many people have healed the ego and found true enlightenment but there are also many who have developed a spiritual ego or spiritual arrogance in the very same way that is done in every other area of life.

In yoga we say "go back to the mat," which means, go back to work on yourself. But with all the hype and loss of dignity the yoga community has gone through recently, going back to the mat doesn't sound as appealing anymore. How about, "go back into yourself?" The spiritual path is between us and Spirit. Everything else belongs to the playing field of the ego mind.

Namastè.