9 - H4H News: How Does the Ego Deal with the Present Moment Compared to Essence?
Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.
Last week we ended our broadcast stating that a main difference between the ego and Essence is how each deals with the present moment.
Since they are opposites, they deal with the present moment in opposite ways. The ego fully resists the present moment while Essence fully accepts it.
Essence accepts the present moment because the present moment is what it is. It is reality. Essence can communicate with us only when our mind is quiet, when our awareness is in the present moment. It doesn’t invade our minds like the ego, and it doesn’t talk much: it communicates with us more through feelings. Its wisdom just drops into our minds, and we are suddenly at peace.
The ego resists the present moment because the ego is an illusion. Therefore, it has no power in reality. It only seems to exist in illusory states like the past and future.
Like a pied piper, the ego plays certain “tunes” to lead us away from the present moment. For example, if we have some regrets, it leads us into the past with the “if I only I had …” tune. And if we’re the anxious type, it leads us into the future with the “what if” tune.
That’s why mystics say that this life is an illusion. It’s an illusion because most of us do not live in reality. The main cause of human unhappiness is that spend more time thinking about life than we do actually experiencing life. We spend a great deal of time fretting over the past or future, which keeps us from living in the now.
What good does it do to fret about the past or future? How is that functional? The answer is that it isn’t. As much as the ego tries to appear helpful, how beneficial is following these tunes when we can’t change the past, and we can’t predict the future?
The truth is that dancing to these tunes lead us only to suffering. It prevents us from dealing with our lives effectively in the now because the now is perceived through a lens distorted by past regrets and future worries.
The ego has many tactics to lead us away from the present moment, and one of its favorites is judgement.
How does the ego use judgement?
Tune in next week!
Last week we ended our broadcast stating that a main difference between the ego and Essence is how each deals with the present moment.
Since they are opposites, they deal with the present moment in opposite ways. The ego fully resists the present moment while Essence fully accepts it.
Essence accepts the present moment because the present moment is what it is. It is reality. Essence can communicate with us only when our mind is quiet, when our awareness is in the present moment. It doesn’t invade our minds like the ego, and it doesn’t talk much: it communicates with us more through feelings. Its wisdom just drops into our minds, and we are suddenly at peace.
The ego resists the present moment because the ego is an illusion. Therefore, it has no power in reality. It only seems to exist in illusory states like the past and future.
Like a pied piper, the ego plays certain “tunes” to lead us away from the present moment. For example, if we have some regrets, it leads us into the past with the “if I only I had …” tune. And if we’re the anxious type, it leads us into the future with the “what if” tune.
That’s why mystics say that this life is an illusion. It’s an illusion because most of us do not live in reality. The main cause of human unhappiness is that spend more time thinking about life than we do actually experiencing life. We spend a great deal of time fretting over the past or future, which keeps us from living in the now.
What good does it do to fret about the past or future? How is that functional? The answer is that it isn’t. As much as the ego tries to appear helpful, how beneficial is following these tunes when we can’t change the past, and we can’t predict the future?
The truth is that dancing to these tunes lead us only to suffering. It prevents us from dealing with our lives effectively in the now because the now is perceived through a lens distorted by past regrets and future worries.
The ego has many tactics to lead us away from the present moment, and one of its favorites is judgement.
How does the ego use judgement?
Tune in next week!
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