Right on, Jim! Personally, I have found Byron Katie's "turn-arounds" to be supremely useful in showing me how "out there" was *always* a reflection of "in here" -- and zap! Just like that, the Egoic separation and suffering dissolves in a burst of delight :-)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "whynotnow7" <whynotnow7@...> wrote: > > "the separate Ego *loves* to feel angry, wounded, and self-righteous about > the evils "out there...to perpetuate its own ignorance :-)" > > Exactly. After all, if the other" out there is causing my problems, why on > God's green earth would I want to find any commonality with them, the > "other"? After all it is "they" who are the cause of all of my problems! > > Interesting how that choice is ours alone to make, and at the same time > provides us no neutral ground. We are either burnishing our separate ego > through the demeaning of others, or finding common ground with them and > loosening the ego's grip of separation. > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "RoryGoff" <rorygoff@> wrote: > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > What did they "say" ? > > > > > For some reason, Vaj snipped the final portion of the original post, which > > read thus: > > > > * * * Just as an anecdotal aside, by chance my wife and I were present at a > > circus in Florida about 20 years ago, and we were both struck by the > > strong, self-aware presence of the elephants. We had done some > > "animal-whispering" over the years, were concerned about the elephants' > > welfare, and "asked" them how they were faring. We were both surprised to > > get a very strong response along the lines of, "Don't bother me; I love it > > here," from them, along with a *very* > > strong sense of loyalty to their keepers. > > > > I will just add, we were both surprised at their response *because* we were > > aware of the cruelty so often evinced in Circus trainers, as Vaj cites. > > > > I would also add that in my experience the separate Ego *loves* to feel > > angry, wounded, and self-righteous about the evils "out there" -- just one > > more way to vaunt its own "compassion" and "enlightenment" and put down the > > so-called "other". I do not write this to excuse the "evil" but rather to > > point out one way in which the separate Ego uses so-called "enlightenment" > > and "holier-than-thou-ness" to perpetuate its own ignorance :-) > > >
