We operate from two identities simultaneously during our life, but one of those identities is greater, and is the one that we should strive to know, and be One with.
Tag: self-awareness
A Mystical Perspective on the Problem of Evil
A friend asked me what my take was on the problem of evil, or theodicy, so I thought I'd write about it here.
A Psychological and Mystical Interpretation of the Myth of Adam & Eve and the Garden of Eden
I think the story of Adam & Eve is a mythological allegory describing humanity's "fall" of consciousness into the dualities of self-awareness, subject/object relationships, and the opposites of existence. This is symbolized in the partaking of the "tree" of knowledge of good and evil, i.e. dualities.
You are a Colony of 70 Trillion Organisms
We often think of ourselves as one being, one human, a single individual that was born, who lives their life, and dies. But is that the case? Or is there more to it?
Falling in Love with the Earth is Knowing God and our Self: A Commentary on Thich Nhat Hanh and Climate Change
This past week I was saddened to see the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that paints a grim picture of the current status of climate change and the future projection of this century. This report was commissioned during the 2015 Paris summit on climate change. It's a wake up call to the [...]
What is “Eternal Life”?
Eternal life is not eternal if it doesn't exist right now, because that which is eternal has no beginning or end. We either have eternal life now, or we don't have it. Because you are reading this now, you can be sure you have it, even if you don't know it for yourself.
Is There a “Healthy” Ego?
In spirituality and mysticism we often encounter discussion about the ego, the psychological self, the "self" that we think we are. This is often referred to as a kind of illusion, something to rid ourselves of to see reality as it really is. It is called an obstruction, a veil, something which hides the Divine from us, which obscures our perception, and that it must be torn from top to bottom and done away. Sometimes mystics loudly loathe the ego, punish the ego, call for its death, its annihilation, its crucifixion, its extinguishment, extinction, falling away, passing away. This all sounds quite harsh to the "self" that we think we are, and so some spiritual teachers deny that we need to eradicate the ego, but rather transform it into something good. Which is it? Do we need to allow the ego to fall away, or transform it into a "healthy" ego? I'll share some of my thoughts about that.
What Good is the Ego-Self?
Over the past several months I've explored the nature of the human ego as it relates to spirituality in many of the major religious and spiritual traditions, as well as in science. As I noted in a series of posts, it seems that a recurrent theme throughout many of them is the idea of sacrificing ego, overcoming ego, transcending ego, even experiencing a kind of "death" of the ego, so as to realize the true nature of the self, of reality, and of God. We might ask then, what good is the ego? Is it all bad? Do we want to destroy our ego? Is that true spirituality?
What is the Spirit or Soul?
Many religious people believe that the spirit or soul is the ego-self, our personality, the person we think we are in our heads, our psychological "self," with all our memories and experiences and relationships, etc. But none of this existed at our birth.
Overcoming Ego and Transforming Self in Confucianism & Taoism
Confucianism and Taoism are two similar philosophies or religions mainly found in China. They also have a history of teachings about the "self" and overcoming this entity in order to realize a greater union with reality.