EGOS AND IDEAS
EGOS AND IDEAS
It is commonplace among spiritual aspirants to believe the total effacement of the “ego” is the key to bliss and knowing the Ultimate Reality. They assert that the ego is that part of the “mind” that is responsible for a being’s sense of identity and separation from the TRUTH—the Ultimate Reality, or the Ahtman. Hence, if one destroys the “ego”, you do not exist because “I” do not exist. But if I do not exist, and all the universe is but illusion, then who is it that entertains these notions, these ideas? If all is illusion, does that imply that it has no value? No purpose? If it has no purpose, no value, then why does the Ahtman express it at all? If it does have value and purpose, then why do I seek to destroy it and deny it? Do these questions have a “reality” of their own? If so, do they have value? Does real imply value? Do answers to all questions exist within the infinite pool of ideas, which create the universe at large? But just what is an idea? What is the nature of an idea? Does it have a source? A shape? Can one idea be independent of other ideas? What qualities define an idea? Is the Ahtman an idea? Is Reality an idea? Is Illusion an idea? Is the ego an idea? Is destruction of the ego an idea? Do ideas move? If so, does not movement necessitate the existence of space and time? Are not all arguments bound for circularity? Are not all arguments collections of ideas? Are some ideas superior to others? Are these questions nothing but ideas? I conjecture that the Ultimate Reality is an idea, but then who am I to conjecture? Merely an ego, an indivisible idea.
What distinguishes a “concrete” idea from an “abstract” idea? What represents an idea? Words? Images? YES! I have caught a glimmer of light! I have an IDEA! LIGHT is the “physical” representation of IDEA. Am I onto something here? Have I come into the LIGHT? Have I been ENLIGHTENED? Indeed, LIGHT bulbs abound and take shape. The behavior of light mimics the behavior of ideas. Light behaves as both a particle and a wave. This is a fundamental principle of Newtonian physics. Nothing travels faster than the speed of light…perhaps. Einstein showed that Newtonian physics break down at such speeds. Time is no longer a constant. Can ideas be faster than light? Certainly others have had such strings of ideas. But where do they lead? Can I go outside the circle? Can time stand still…?
It is commonplace among spiritual aspirants to believe the total effacement of the “ego” is the key to bliss and knowing the Ultimate Reality. They assert that the ego is that part of the “mind” that is responsible for a being’s sense of identity and separation from the TRUTH—the Ultimate Reality, or the Ahtman. Hence, if one destroys the “ego”, you do not exist because “I” do not exist. But if I do not exist, and all the universe is but illusion, then who is it that entertains these notions, these ideas? If all is illusion, does that imply that it has no value? No purpose? If it has no purpose, no value, then why does the Ahtman express it at all? If it does have value and purpose, then why do I seek to destroy it and deny it? Do these questions have a “reality” of their own? If so, do they have value? Does real imply value? Do answers to all questions exist within the infinite pool of ideas, which create the universe at large? But just what is an idea? What is the nature of an idea? Does it have a source? A shape? Can one idea be independent of other ideas? What qualities define an idea? Is the Ahtman an idea? Is Reality an idea? Is Illusion an idea? Is the ego an idea? Is destruction of the ego an idea? Do ideas move? If so, does not movement necessitate the existence of space and time? Are not all arguments bound for circularity? Are not all arguments collections of ideas? Are some ideas superior to others? Are these questions nothing but ideas? I conjecture that the Ultimate Reality is an idea, but then who am I to conjecture? Merely an ego, an indivisible idea.
What distinguishes a “concrete” idea from an “abstract” idea? What represents an idea? Words? Images? YES! I have caught a glimmer of light! I have an IDEA! LIGHT is the “physical” representation of IDEA. Am I onto something here? Have I come into the LIGHT? Have I been ENLIGHTENED? Indeed, LIGHT bulbs abound and take shape. The behavior of light mimics the behavior of ideas. Light behaves as both a particle and a wave. This is a fundamental principle of Newtonian physics. Nothing travels faster than the speed of light…perhaps. Einstein showed that Newtonian physics break down at such speeds. Time is no longer a constant. Can ideas be faster than light? Certainly others have had such strings of ideas. But where do they lead? Can I go outside the circle? Can time stand still…?
posted by Todd Reinhard at 9:09 AM
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