Cleansing the smaller self … (10/23/2020)
Some teachers say that it is impossible to “cleanse the ego” — that all we can do is train ourselves to be calm whenever the ego’s fear-based desires inevitably surface. In contrast, 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 the ego’s desires for the rest of our lives, a certain “cleansing” of it is indeed possible. The ego’s thoughts can be redirected, and thereby made into a positive force. And in this way the ego can be “cleansed” … In essence, we cleanse the ego by refusing to “clean” it … We “combat” the ego by refusing to fight it. We destroy the ego by using the difficulties it brings us to emPower our subsequent acts of Kindness. We defeat the ego by using the temptations it presents us to emPower our subsequent selfless choices.
Some teachers would have us believe that we cannot accelerate our Awakening; that we are on course to becoming Enlightened, and that the current of this course is too strong for us to alter. In contrast, the true Master knows that while this statement is essentially True – there is one crucial amendment: namely, that we cannot accelerate our Awakening simply because we are all already awakened!
Awakening is not something to gradually learn over time, nor is it something that is slowly revealed to us over the course of our lifetimes. Awakening is actually a choice – one that is available to every sentient being in every moment of their lives. It is the choice to further another’s Joy when we would rather enjoy ourselves. It is the choice to comfort another when we would rather be comforted. It is the choice to Forgive when we would rather attack, and it is the choice to have Compassion when we would rather criticize … None of these things need to be gradually learned – none of these things require a teacher or an accumulation of “life experience”. They are all an innate Knowing. They are all an inborn Wisdom that inhabits us from the first instant of our conception until the very last moment of our lives.
As such, we need neither wait for our Awakening nor try to accelerate it. We simply have to choose it — by acting accordingly.
;