What is the Ego?
Our special theme says, “The ego is insane.” It also says, “The Son of God is egoless.”
What am I?
The correct answer would be “the egoless Son of God,” but is that my actual experience?
Am I free of all sorrow and suffering? Do I live in eternal joy? Is my experience absolutely free of fear and guilt? Do I see only peace surrounding me? Is my experience that of the deepest silence and tranquility?
If not, then I do not know myself as the egoless Son of God. And if I would like to know my egoless Self, I have some work to do to undo illusions in my mind.
I choose to see my brother’s sinlessness.
Our lesson begins by saying, “Forgiveness is a choice.” However, it continues by saying, “I never see my brother as he is, for that is far beyond perception.”
I think Course students sometimes feel that if they let go of the current judgment in their mind, they have let go of seeing their brother with ego, and they are now seeing him and accepting him as he is. However, our workbook lesson says that our brother, as he is, is far beyond perception. That means that as long as we perceive a world and bodies, we do not know our brother. If we do not know our brother, we also do not know our Self.
A Course in Miracles points far beyond simply being kind to others, although being kind to everyone is a very good start. A Course in Miracles points to full awakening, manonasa, as the way to see and know everything as it is.
Sister Bernadette Roberts described creation beyond the world and beyond consciousness as “eternal form.” She wrote, “Beyond consciousness, the ultimate Truth of the divine is that it is neither immanent (within anything) nor transcendent (beyond anything), but IS everything that eternally exists.”
What eternally exists? Sister Bernadette is clear that it is not consciousness or matter as we perceive matter, but there is “eternal form that cannot be grasped by the senses, the intellect or consciousness.” Whatever that is, that is our brother as he is. That is also our true nature.
As you interact with others today, contemplate that you have no idea what this one’s “eternal form” is. You cannot see him/her as he/she is. You do not know anything as it is, not even yourself. Let this sink in as deeply as you can allow it to sink in. Don’t let the mind short-circuit your contemplation by saying, “He is light,” or “She is God.” Don’t be satisfied with mere concepts today. However, DO realize that ego is the obstacle that blocks true vision. It keeps you from seeing everyone and everything in its “eternal form.”
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