If there is an egoic self, it exists within who you are. That’s different than thinking it’s who you are.
– Adyashanti
This is a very good pointer. There may be an “egoic self” here – identifications with certain stories at conscious or more visceral levels – and, as any experience, it happens within and as what we are. And we can notice that. That gives the mind some distance to it. It softens the identification a bit. And that’s big. That’s a new way of being. That opens the mind up to something very different.
We can also say that who we are happens within and as what we are, and independent of whatever form who we are takes we can notice it happens within and as what we are. Who we are may just be this human self operating on its own. It can be identification as this human self. Or it may even be who we are at more subtle energy levels, for instance as a soul. In either case, we can notice that who we are happens within and as what we are. And over time, this can be an ongoing noticing.
A note on terminology: This human self operating on its own can be called the psychological ego. This is the human operating system and it’s something we want to be as healthy as possible. Identification with a self – whether it’s human or soul or something else – is what’s sometimes called ego in a spiritual context. And that tends to lessen as we keep noticing that it happens within and as what we are.
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Initial notes….
- If there is an egoic self, it exists within who you are
- identification = ego
- happens within what we are
- so even if happens, can have some distance to it, notice it etc., not 100% caught up in it
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Initial draft…
This is a very good pointer. Even if there is an “egoic self” here – identifications with certain stories at concious or more visceral levels – that happens within and as what we are. And we can notice that even if there is an apparent egoic self here. That gives the mind some distance to it. It softens the identification a bit. And that makes a big difference. That’s a new way of being. That opens the mind up to something very different.
Note: This is easier to notice if we have had a glimpse of what we are, and that glimpse can come spontaneously or through basic meditation or certain forms of inquiry (Big Mind process, Headless experiments, Living Inquiries etc.).