The ego drives 'not good enough'

Suzanne Mercier - Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I love other peoples' bookshelves.  I guess it's a form of voyeurism - to check out what they own, drawing the perhaps inappropriate conclusion that the books on their shelf say something about who they are and their interests.

At the moment, I'm focussed on fear - what it is, why we experience it, what it does to us and how we can move beyond it.  I believe that fear is the great inhibitor that stands in the way of us seeing who we truly are and what we can accomplish once we see ourselves ... really see ourselves.

I went to Mo's bookshelf, spotted "The Power of Now" (Eckhart Tolle), and randomly opened the book.  The page it opened to was "The Origin of Fear" (page 43) where Tolle talks about different types of fear focussing on psychological fear - which is the worry that something might happen, not fear in the present of a true and immediate danger.  Fear of what might happen creates an anxiety gap which becomes our present companion if we are strongly associated with our minds.  This anxiety manifests as the unsettling feeling of not being good enough.  If the feeling is unconscious, it is felt indirectly as something missing,  a hollowness, an intense craving, a wanting and needing. We then seek to relieve this awful feeling through obtaining possessions or a special relationship - anything that may make us feel better about ourselves.  The problem is, it only works for the few moments when the acquisition is new.  Then the hollow feeling re-emerges.

When we identify with our mind, we have lost touch with the power and simplicity of now.  In that space, we are disconnected from our true power, "... our deeper self rooted in Being ,.." and fear, together with the desire to neutralise it, will be our constant companion.

According to Tolle, the number of people who have moved beyond mind identification is very small, so we can assume that most people we meet live with fear.  We're talking about moving beyond ego, and it's not easy.  The ego fights hard to remain in control of our lives.

One practice that can bring us into the Now is gratitude.  What am I truly grateful for, right now? The practice of focussing on our blessings expands our hearts as well as connecting us with other people and the world around us.  I know which space I'd prefer to be in.

What do you think?  I'd love to hear

All the very best
Suzanne