Deepak Chopra
Knowing who we are and how precious and valuable we are to the world is not an easy chore for many of us. We get conflicting messages from the world and we get conflicting messages from ourselves. Some people around us will show love and respect...so we begin to feel valuable. Others will push us aside, condemn or ridicule us based on both truth and false assumption.
Our egos tell us we are special in one breath as they seek the support of our well wishers; and a disgrace to humanity in another as they comply with the opinion of our naysayers. No wonder we are confused about who we are.
So who do we listen to? Definitely, not the ego.
The Ego Twins
I believe the ego is actually twins. :) ( Of course, as a mother of twins...I see twins in more things:). I call these ego twins: Redeemer and Shamer.
Shamer
Shamer is the one that tells us we are not enough...we will never be enough. It wants us to believe that we are separated from God and others so the twins can reign and control our lives. It does this by convincing us we are not worthy of grace. It points out our faults, our failings, our sins as evidence of just how unworthy we are. When Shamer is active we feel pretty miserable and assume no one will ever accept us. We act on that prophecy by being afraid to reach out, but at the same time desperately seeking one special relationship that will fill us and protect us from our own unworthiness. We are afraid to step up to life challenges and we accept the negative opinion of others as truth, even when it isn't.
Redeemer
Then there is Redeemer ego. When Shamer gets too active, Redeemer steps in . (These twins are very competitive). Redeemer is going to try to create an image of worthiness in us for others to see. It will poof itself up with external successes: diplomas, degrees, financial status, popularity, power...etc. Redeemer redeems us from Shame by "doing and owning", "collecting and holding on to", " defending and attacking". When Redeemer gets too big for its britches...and the world around it calls it out...Shamer will once again step in to bring the party down to the basement where fear and doubt reside.
Up and down we go when the Ego Twins are in charge. Where Shamer wants us fearful, passive and submissive...Redeemer wants us achieving, aggressive, doing and attacking if we must. In either scenario we do not feel good. Shamer convinces us we are "less than" and Redeemer tries to convince us we are "more than" all those around us. We can never gain enough when Redeemer is in charge and we can never be worthy of more when Shamer is in Charge. There is no fulfillment, no joy...just survival. The ego twins do not want us to see how totally crazy they are...and how like smoke they would disappear once we realized who we really were.
So why do we let these twins run havoc in our lives? Because we do not know how to discipline them when all we have to do is call a time out for both of them.
If we truly want to know who we are...we need to recognize the ego at work and consciously seek to get beyond it to the truth of our beingness. We are not these egos. They mean nothing.
The Observer
We are the Observer that watches the Ego pair wreck the house without concern because It cares less about the house or the things of this physical world.
We are the Love that knows no judgment, no fear, no shame and that has no need for redemption. If we knew that... we would not define ourselves by our ego...we would not define ourselves by the ego opinion of others. We would just know that we are no better or no worse than anyone else on this planet.
The Observer is in all of us. If we take the time to go inward and see the world through Those eyes instead of our own; to see each other through Those eyes instead of egos...what a different experience it would be for us...what a different world it would be for all.
All is well in my world.
The ego is not who you really are. The ego is your self-image; it is your social mask; it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants control and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear.
Deepak Chopra
No comments:
Post a Comment