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Aug 28
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In part of one of this article, I discussed 3 traps the ego uses to keep most people from enjoying the abundance of the Universe and living a life of peace, joy, and happiness. These traps were:
- the ego always prophesies negative futures
- the ego always want more
- the ego has to be right all the time
In part 2 of the article, I will continue my discussion on other powerful traps the ego uses. So with that, let’s take a look at the next trap the ego use to cause suffering and unhappiness.
4. The ego judges what is good or bad
The ego judges everything to determine if it is Good or BAD. In actuality, everything that occurs in the Universe just “IS”, however, it is our ego that deems things, situations, circumstance, and people as Good or BAD. To the ego, Good is anything that should BE, and BAD is anything that should not BE.
Good and Bad is always an opinion or a viewpoint, and it is always based on some arbitrary value system that we learned from people of authority such as our parents, religious leaders, etc., or it’s values that we just made up based upon our experiences. For example, many people consider physical pain Bad, but physical pain IS our bodies’ way of announcing that our well-being is out of harmony, and it requires our conscious attention. Without pain, we would not get feedback from our bodies which could result into more severe problems. Think about it? What would happen if you were engrossed in a telephone conservation and you accidently placed your hand on a hot stove? Normally, the nerves in your hand would send a signal to your brain, and you would feel pain in your hand. Although your hand may be hurting, most people would considered this pain (feedback) as Good because you were alerted to remove your hand before you caused serious damage to it. Therefore, pain is not Good or Bad; it just IS.
Let’s look at another example that Good and BAD is always a point of view and never an objective reality. If a burglar is breaking into your house and the police shows up and stop the crime, is it Good or Bad? You probably would say it Good that the police showed up to stop the burglar, but the burglar would say it is Bad. How can this same situation be both Good and Bad? It is your ego’s perspective that defines it as Good. Your ego would say it is Good because people shouldn’t break into my house. From the opposite perspective, the burglar’s ego would define it as Bad because the he/she will be arrested. Therefore, when the police showed up and stopped the burglar, it wasn’t Good or Bad; it just IS.
Action Item:
The next time you find yourself judging a situation or person as Good or Bad, recognize that it is your ego that is defining the situation or person. Instead be thankful for what IS. For example, if your house burns down, don’t judge it is BAD. Instead be grateful that you and your family didn’t get hurt.
5. The ego wants to feel superior and special
The ego love to compare itself to the “competition” (other people) in a way that becomes detrimental. When the ego starts to view other people as being “more successful” than itself or if another competitor has more, knows more, or can do more than you, the ego feels threatened because the feeling of less diminishes its imagined sense of self relative to the other person.
To counter this feeling of being less, the ego may try to restore itself by criticizing or belittling the value of the other person’s possessions, knowledge, or abilities. If this fails, it will become angry, jealous, or resentful.
The ego does this because it feels it is superior and special. To maintain its superiority and ’specialness’, the ego believes it has to compete with others. So it becomes ruthlessly competitive. It can not accept the idea that it is not superior or special. However being superior or special implies that some people are more worthy than others, and that would mean Source Energy (God) plays favorites. But this is not the case because to God, we are all one.
Action Item:
If you hear that voice in your head complaining that another person is more successful than you are or has more than you, be aware that this is the ego being competitive. Furthermore, if you find yourself right up against a fit of anger, jealousy and resentment because your ego feels diminished, release these negative emotions. If you can’t release these negative emotions, focus on 10-20 things you are grateful for in your life now. As you do, these emotions will be replaced with joy, love and peace.
6. The ego is ready to be offended
We all know people who get offended by just about everything. Whenever a person is offended, he / she is at the mercy of the ego. The ego has set up internal rules of how we are to be treated and how everyone and everything MUST conform to its rules. The ego has rules about the way things should be and the way people should behave. If these rules are violated, the ego becomes offended and hostile. However, these rules are a way of guaranteeing a terminal state of being offended.
Action Item:
The next time you feel offended, be aware that one of your ego’s rules has been violated. Next, ask yourself ”why am I offended, and what rule did the other person violate? Next, ask if this rule is true, and where did I learn it? If it is not true, release the rule and create an empowering one to replace it.
For example, if you saw an interracial couple together, and you were offended, your ego probably has a rule (belief) that people of different races should not date. Using the questions above, ascertain why you are really offended. If you believe that your ego’s rule is true and valid, ask yourself, “would God be offended?”
Now release the rule, and learn to accept all people in all situations including yourself.
Well, I have covered six of the ego traps that cause people to suffer. If you become aware of them and use the action items I provide, you will experience a shift that change your reality. Come back soon for part 3 of this article.
Namaste,
RC
