Some gurus say that it is impossible to “cleanse the ego” — that all we can hope to do is cope with its evils; that all we can really do is train ourselves to “just remain calm” whenever its fear-based desires repeatedly resurface.

Of course a true Master knows that, even though the ego IS indeed an inherent part of being human — even though we will indeed be challenged by the ego’s fears and tempted by its desires for the rest of our lives, a certain “purification” of it IS possible.

And it is the HOW of this cleansing that is the rub … For ironically, you cleanse your ego by refusing to “clean” it; and you “conquer” your ego thereby by refusing to fight it at all.  Essentially, we “destroy” our ego by using the difficulties it brings us to emPower all of our subsequent choices; we “defeat” our ego by using the temptations it presents us to make our subsequent acts of Kindness truly magnificent ones.

You see, it is easy to be nice to others when we are feeling good or when we are being treated well.  Such Goodness is easy to give, and therefore it is relatively weak when given.

And yet it is incredibly difficult to be Kind to others when we are feeling bad — when we are “down” or angry or sad or tired or afraid.  In fact, our ego makes such Goodness well near impossible to give … and therefore it makes that Goodness stunningly Power-full when we give it anyway.

So basically, my Friends, we “cleanse” the ego as an enemy
… when we realize it is our most important Friend.

Filed under: simple Answers to tough Questions by Scaughdt