I love this post, love this perspective of treating the ego like it's not the only voice in the room. It's so helpful to embody the choice!
I love listening to the audio of the scrolls, and would like to request a voice with more affect. The voice of the reader is flat, as though he is reading something that is not meaningful to him. I'm imagining that this is not your voice VMB....
Thanks for listening!
I wish you were around when i was starting my spiritual seeking, around 1976.
VMB, Profound. A mentor, Will Shutz authored a book, “Profound Simplicity.” Think I still have it. Want to re-read. Not sure why. A nudge, a quiet whisper. Thank you for Being, for writing, for sharing…I hear your voice when I read your scrolls…or, Mary Magdalene, is this your voice I hear? MM: I know now you are humble, raw, aching, seeking, unvarnished, present always. I think I’m falling in love…again. I like falling in love. ❤️🙏❤️😎🐶
This metaphor really helped me understand, "The ego cannot create the light of awareness any more than a lens can produce light. It can only color what shines through it." Thank you. You've given me some good food for thought.
Wow! This piece so powerfully captures what the ego feels like to me: “The ego does not create attention; it directs it through preference. It moves attention toward what promises reinforcement of identity and away from what threatens it. The direction matters.
When praise appears, attention leans forward. It wants to extend the experience, secure it, deepen it. When criticism appears, attention contracts. It scans for defense, explanation, counterattack. Attraction expands; aversion tightens. Both are movements within attention, but they are not the same movement.
The ego lives inside that oscillation. It does not know how to rest in simple awareness. It requires contrast. It requires something to pursue or something to resist. Without attraction or aversion, it feels as though nothing is happening. And so it keeps scanning, bending attention toward the next object that confirms or protects its sense of self.”
I love everything about the teaching in this post. 🙏
My ego may not like what Helminski or Cynthia or you write about it but something else inside me (Being, perhaps, or Attention) have certainly caused it to perk up & get a little pissy about the shift - or I guess I should say MY shift into different perceptions, reactions, to it and them. Just stirs such delicious pondering I find simultaneously natural & an eternal part of me & also unsteady & not quite sure about. Definitely more grounding & ME than any other shift I’ve experienced even if I’m not sure what it is. Somehow the change as I experience Being & Attention in different ways & not just Ego strutting around being Boss as I’ve let it - things are changing. And I’m too focused on just coping w/surprising changes I haven’t expected, intrigued, all I can do is roll with it & learn thru an experience that feels real & meant to be. If that all wasn’t confusing, I don’t know what is but I do know I am grateful. 🫶🪽
Excellent post. VMB, you've set me a "rhema-nating". Ego and me are having nice little chats. I gently rub Ego on the shoulder, saying "Don't be afraid. It will be alright."
I love this post, love this perspective of treating the ego like it's not the only voice in the room. It's so helpful to embody the choice!
I love listening to the audio of the scrolls, and would like to request a voice with more affect. The voice of the reader is flat, as though he is reading something that is not meaningful to him. I'm imagining that this is not your voice VMB....
Thanks for listening!
I wish you were around when i was starting my spiritual seeking, around 1976.
I'm sending love to you.
VMB, Profound. A mentor, Will Shutz authored a book, “Profound Simplicity.” Think I still have it. Want to re-read. Not sure why. A nudge, a quiet whisper. Thank you for Being, for writing, for sharing…I hear your voice when I read your scrolls…or, Mary Magdalene, is this your voice I hear? MM: I know now you are humble, raw, aching, seeking, unvarnished, present always. I think I’m falling in love…again. I like falling in love. ❤️🙏❤️😎🐶
This metaphor really helped me understand, "The ego cannot create the light of awareness any more than a lens can produce light. It can only color what shines through it." Thank you. You've given me some good food for thought.
Please keep writing these VMB, I don't pretend to fully understand but I love being challenged with a different perspective. Thank you.
Wow! This piece so powerfully captures what the ego feels like to me: “The ego does not create attention; it directs it through preference. It moves attention toward what promises reinforcement of identity and away from what threatens it. The direction matters.
When praise appears, attention leans forward. It wants to extend the experience, secure it, deepen it. When criticism appears, attention contracts. It scans for defense, explanation, counterattack. Attraction expands; aversion tightens. Both are movements within attention, but they are not the same movement.
The ego lives inside that oscillation. It does not know how to rest in simple awareness. It requires contrast. It requires something to pursue or something to resist. Without attraction or aversion, it feels as though nothing is happening. And so it keeps scanning, bending attention toward the next object that confirms or protects its sense of self.”
I love everything about the teaching in this post. 🙏
My ego may not like what Helminski or Cynthia or you write about it but something else inside me (Being, perhaps, or Attention) have certainly caused it to perk up & get a little pissy about the shift - or I guess I should say MY shift into different perceptions, reactions, to it and them. Just stirs such delicious pondering I find simultaneously natural & an eternal part of me & also unsteady & not quite sure about. Definitely more grounding & ME than any other shift I’ve experienced even if I’m not sure what it is. Somehow the change as I experience Being & Attention in different ways & not just Ego strutting around being Boss as I’ve let it - things are changing. And I’m too focused on just coping w/surprising changes I haven’t expected, intrigued, all I can do is roll with it & learn thru an experience that feels real & meant to be. If that all wasn’t confusing, I don’t know what is but I do know I am grateful. 🫶🪽
Thank you!
Excellent post. VMB, you've set me a "rhema-nating". Ego and me are having nice little chats. I gently rub Ego on the shoulder, saying "Don't be afraid. It will be alright."