The latter kind of so-called belief is most likely to be gained in order to boost or titillate one's ego. In other words one's ego is enhanced by the acquisition of what is often an unhealthy dose of unreality. When belief is "gifted," however, a very different process is involved, namely a taking away from the ego. And this process, which is sometimes referred to as "letting go," is the crucial difference. Not only that, but letting go can be applied in a number of different situations, resulting in psycho-spiritual benefits for the receiver. It may well be this removal of substance - if I can call it that - from the stifling shell of the ego that brings about the receiving of the gift of belief that appears to have no connection with the subject being investigated.
I wonder, having once experienced the process of, "Coming to believe....." why anyone would wish to return to the state of being totally dominated by one's ego. Perhaps this is what was in St. Paul's mind when he said in his "Letter to the Galatians" [3:ii and iii]:-
"How was it that you received the Spirit - was it by the practice of the Law, or by believing in the message you heard? Having begun in the Spirit, can you be so stupid as to end in the flesh?" [New Jerusalem Bible] A similar quote from the King James' Version says:-
"Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh (or ego)? Have ye suffered so many things in vain?......" [3:iii and iv]
There is undoubtedly great power in the process of letting go. It almost demands a human response of faith. Of course this may fly in the face of the intellect, of rationality. That does not mean, however, that a faith response - a response from the heart - flies in the face of reality. But at all times discernment needs to be practised. Somewhere, somehow, doors are beginning to open; doors that for so long I have chosen to shut.
A favorite poet, T.S. Eliot, thought ideas begin and end in a place that is not quite conscious. My take, over the half-century since I read that, is that the conscious mind is largely ego-driven but the unconscious --the repository of all our memories-- may not have an ego at all. It doesn't really need one for the work it does and communicates its concerns to consciousness in symbols and emotions. It has an identity --it shares ours-- but experiences reality in its own way and has no need of the mechanism that drives conscious progress in hunting and gathering to sustain life: I don't know for sure if the unconscious mind has an ego. In this sense, it is closer to the concept of the soul --it informs our waking progress and navigation through everyday life, but communicates its approval or disapproval through dreams, emotions, symbols of conscience. We have to let go a little or a lot to hear from it. We sleep, we dream, we feel and admit to feeling. We answer to it. Of course this proceeds into judgement which, in the economy of the universe, probably comes from within.
ReplyDeleteGeo; An interesting comment. May I make some suggestions? I would agree that the conscious mind is ego-driven, but the degree to which the ego forces its influence is down to the individual, and how far that individual has dealt with his/her (for example) sub-personalities and other traits developed from life experiences. I would agree that the unconscious doesn't have or need an ego, since the ego largely consists of thought, emotion and physical senses (or so I would maintain, for reasons too long to go into here). However, the ego must have its roots in the unconscious, roots made up of all those uncomfortable and even painful memories conveniently suppressed, at the very least.
DeleteWith the rest of your comment, I am largely in agreement. Of course, the nature of this whole subject is such that no comment box is large enough to go into all the detail. Indeed, I do not think a blog post is large enough either. There are too many associated strands to explore. My thanks Geo.
Tom, many is the time when I've been puzzling over something and I can't seem to solve it. Until I go to sleep. Almost miraculously the solution comes to me while I sleep, whether in a dream or not. I just know in the morning when I wake that something has given me the solution. Perhaps my ego was getting in my way until I let my mind rest.
ReplyDeleteHullo Bruce; I too have had this experience. It has, in the past, almost seemed as if I have needed to use my egoistic thinking process until it has become thoroughly exhausted. Only then have the inner pathways been cleared sufficiently for answers to emerge.
DeleteHi Tom
ReplyDeleteCertainly there are a number of different ways in which we believe, but I gather your suggestion of belief as gift is one that does not insist on a commitment to see reality in one particular way.
But I also think there is a cognitive component which will in turn is influenced by cultural influences. Raised in India and involved in the same process of letting go of the ego so to speak I most likely would still remain a Hindu. Hence I like to think of all the different faiths as different fruits of the same spirit in action, as in the spirit of freedom envisaged by St Paul.
Best wishes
Hi Lindsay; That echoes my thought exactly.
DeleteI got a sense from this post and the previous one of “ego bad”, thus leading to an unwinnable battle, because ego is the very thing hates being branded a scapegoat. I’ve found that ego is ready to bow and leave the room not after losing a deadly struggle but when it has been well received as a trusty servant and good company too.
ReplyDeleteAesop’s tale of the North Wind and the Sun—their competition to remove a man’s cloak—also refers.
Hullo Vincent; If I have given the impression that I believe the ego to be "bad" then I must correct that impression. I don't think ego is either good or bad; it just 'is.' However, ego, and in particular its predisposition to 'attachment' is part of a process that I do not find desirable. As an analogy, suppose one was to park one's car on a hill. There would be nothing good or bad about the car or the hill. But releasing the handbrake and relinquishing any form of influence over the car would lead (almost inevitably) to dire consequences. Thus I see the ego as a process that needs to be persuaded to follow more appropriate paths than it has become accustomed to following. In the end, love must be the vital ingredient in this persuasion, sometimes very tough love! [Although the Sun won out in the end, perhaps the prior onslaught by the North Wind set the process up?]
DeleteSorry, no comment. My ego got in the way.
ReplyDeleteNice one Ellena!
DeleteEngaging in work to make ourselves more able to cooperate with our higher intentions seems to be the goal. When the universe responds differently from what we might expect is when we learn the most. I'm glad the doors are opening for you, Tom.
ReplyDeleteHullo Susan: Perhaps another way to express your opening words, but certainly not to disagree with them, is to say that the purpose of life is to raise our consciousness. I think that that was what Ouspensky experienced in your earlier quote. Doors do seem to open onto all sorts of things; and the surprises are not always pleasant. Thank you for your comment.
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