Oakville Zen Meditation
Ego Part 2 : The #1 hacker of our mind
The ego is I me, myself, mine that is our opinion and perception of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. It is our own created self-image with its positive and negative components, which can be true or false.By definition, our ego takes everything personally whether the causes are right or wrong. Like an iceberg, most of our ego is submerged deep into our subconscious mind and, yet, its power is such that our day-to-day behaviors such as physical, mental and emotional are almost totally under its control.Like a coin. It has 2 sides: good and bad. They are entangled and one cannot exist w/o the other one.
Last week we reviewed 3 mind hacking tools used by our ego such as
1) The 3 poisons ( desire, hated, illusion ), 2) our negative feelings, and 3) our expectations.
This talk is adding 4 more hacking tools used by our ego:
4 The fourth tool used by our ego to hack us is to transport us into the past and future. The ego is a master traveler. Being in the past and future is our default mode since our ego dislikes the present moment, judging it being too often routine, dull and boring. Strangely enough we are projecting ourselves in the past / future as living entities all the time, and yet, the “past you” are dead and the “future you” are not born yet. You are, by definition, fictional in both past and future.
A pic of you 25 years ago is not the genuine you but someone else since you cannot be in 2 different spacetimes, that is 25 years ago and in the present moment. Why is transporting us in the past or future a great hacking tool used by our ego? The past you (already dead) is a great source of guilt, regret, sorrow, disappointment, bitterness, and the future you ( not born yet ) is a significant source of anxiety, fear, stress, and expectations.
This is why Zen emphasizes the spiritual value of practicing being in the current moment, because it is the only spacetime in which we are alive, regardless how exciting or boring the current moment is. Teachings regarding the "NOW" from Thich Nhat Hanh and E. Tolle are very useful
5 The ego is very skillfull in creating a negative self-image such as believing in being stupid, lazy, being a victim, incompetent, or any other negative traits.
Creating a positive self-image such as believing in being powerful, super intelligent, master controller, super confident, over achiever, having an ego maniac trait, narcissistic behavior, etc, can also be as detrimental as the poor self-image traits as far as the concequences.
6 The sixth effective tool of our ego-mind is to create and maintain a stiff mind-set full of opinions, beliefs, intolerance, comparison, labelling and judgments. We feel “good” about them but at the same time this frozen mind-set is a trap because it precludes any mental/ cognitive and emotional improvements.This is why Zen advocates the opposite that is cultivating an “Open mind” also called “No mind”
7 The seventh weapon of the ego is to create this false notion that we are a permanent, unique, independent, in control, separate and self-sustained entity. All of this is delusion. We are all interdependent and interconnected. These delusions could create a feeling of separateness from others, if not loneliness, and ego-centered selfishness ; all of them generating potential detrimental consequences.
EGO Hacking tools are summarized as:
1 Desires, hatred, illusions 2 Negative thoughts, 3 Expectations, 4 Being in Past/Future
5 Self-Image, 6 Rigid Mind 7 Feeling of being independent and in control
