Wisdom is really important; and ego, we have to cut it. The
less ego, the better. It is a pity because we don’t really need this ego. The
‘I’ that knows everything already, the ‘I‘ that is expert in this and
specialist in that we don’t need all that. Because if we don’t have them, then
we are more smart. We will become more intelligent, smarter, really.
The only reason I can do many things well and that everyone
likes is because, perhaps, I have very little ego or none. I keep checking
myself to see if any ego pops up. Perhaps the reason that your ego doesn’t go
away is because you don’t have the chance to rub with other people, like no one
checks you, no one fixes you; no one tells you what’s wrong with you because
you don’t do anything with other people. Or, you are in a very high position
outside in the society, like you are a boss or some director, manager,
whatever; you are the one who tells everyone what to do all the time, and no
one ever talks back at you. Also, sometimes even as a practitioner, you have no
chance to be corrected by anyone else. But don’t be offended; cut that ego off.
Okay?
It’s not enough that you meditate. You’ve got to be exposed
to many situations to grow up. You have to go out and also react to the reality
in order to have more intelligence. Meditation helps also, but if you don’t
have a chance to polish it, then it doesn’t work.
If anyone at all scolds you, or even wrongly accuses you, be
thankful for that person. That’s good for your humility, actually; and even if
it’s not true, it’s also good for you. At that time, you check yourself out and
then you know how much ego you have. If at that time you just still say, “Oh,
I’m such a good person, why does he say like this and like this?” And you
complain all day, and then you’ll begin to hate that person, then still it’s no
good. Anyway, if someone corrects you in any way, that’s really good for you.
You learn from that mistake, and you become better and better.
No one is bad, just ego is bad. Truly the egos is the worst
enemy of everyone. Many people like to keep it, that’s the problem. If you
listen to this ego too much, you forget your great Self, your intelligent Self,
your wise wisdom Self. That is the only problem. It’s a pity if you keep
listening to the ego, like you know too much and all that. Then you don’t know
your real Self. The main problem is the ego separates us from our true Self,
from the one who truly knows everything. If we just think we know everything
about this world, then we don’t know our Self. That’s the greatest problem with
the ego.
The ego is the greatest enemy. Sometimes the ego destroys a
marriage, destroys a relationship, destroys a friendship, destroys the love
between mother and son, or father and daughter even, because the ego causes
conflict all the time—doesn’t want to do anything that is pleasing to the
mother or father or pleasing to the partner, just wants to do the thing that
causes trouble. Day after day like this, if a partner always causes trouble,
then of course the relationship is broken. You cannot remember anything but bad
things about each other—bad souvenirs, bad happening, bad events, bad result –
and never good. So, of course the relationship cannot live this way, the
marriage cannot continue.
This is just physically speaking. Talking about the
spiritual level, of course you’re even far away from your Self. If you’re
clinging to your worldly know-how a little bit, even if you don’t even know
enough and you think you know a lot, and you just cling to that, then you don’t
know your Self. For example, if you have something in front of you, like even
just a thin curtain, you cannot see yourself through the mirror. But if that
thin curtain falls down, then you can see yourself clearly. This is the ego
problem. It just stands between people; it stands between your real Self and
anything else that comes near you. Then it makes everything damaged or ruined
or distorted; it is not the real thing anymore.
It’s a pity. This is not the thing we should keep. It’s our
enemy. The little knowledge that we think we know—that is not our true
knowledge. The ego is really hard to get rid of, very, very hard; and it ruins
many things in this world. It causes war. It causes enemies and hatred, and
ruin of nations. The people who have no ego never want to war with anyone
because they can see through the uselessness of those things. So, ego is the
worst enemy of everyone in this world.
Animals, they don’t have ego. True dogs, for example, don’t
have any ego. They are so pure, that’s why they can love you every minute. Even
if you just scold them, they come with wagging tail immediately, the moment you
come and love them. They never hold any hatred within their heart for a second.
You can see that. So if you want to see the egoless being, look at the dog.
Truly it’s like that.
Most animals don’t have ego at all, until humans interfere
and ruin their nature. That’s the problem. We humans not only ruin ourselves by
our little so-called knowledge of the world, but we also ruin nature, and we
also ruin animals. We force them into crazy behavior. I observed it all and I
know it. It’s the truth. I’m not just telling it from books—it is truly like
that.
Source:earthweareone.com
