Dear Amarantians,
While I was reading the book ‘The Laws of the Spirit World’, I found this information very relevant to us. Hence, I thought of putting it on this forum.Copied and pasted it here without any modifications.
How does one deal with the ego?
The fight between the ego and the subconscious mind will last a lifetime, but you cannot embark on a spiritual journey until you make a strong effort to eliminate your own ego.
Here are three simple steps to start on this path:
1. Analyse yourself
There are varying degrees of pride - some human beings have more, and some have less. However, all
human beings have some sense of pride. Yes, riches, fame, power, beauty, gifts, talents etc. are all obvious things that lead to pride. But the worst kind of pride is spiritual pride the pride of thought the ‘I’ factor, that is, “I am right”, “I am humble”, “This has happened because of me”, “So many people come to me for help and guidance”, “I do a lot of social work”, “I am a great healer”, "So many people are drawn to “I have built many hospitals and schools for me " people”, “I am a very religious person”, “I know”, “I have achieved so much”, “I am very good at my work/ job/profession”.
The moment the ‘I’ factor appears, it is a sign of pride and the first step towards your spiritual downfall. All success, talent etc. come from God. We are His instruments, given these gifts to share and for the service of man. We have to be grateful and thank God for all that is given to us and we should humbly accept these blessings and not feel ‘I’ did it all.
Now analyse yourself and accept the fact that you are a proud person. Sometimes, when you give it proper thought, you will feel foolish about being proud. Pray to God and ask Him to guide you. This is the most difficult step, to recognize and acknowledge that you are proud and have true desire to change.
It is difficult to start walking on the spiritual path because this requires change. The ego knows this: it knows that it will eventually be discarded , and this is what it does not want. Therefore , it will make you resist change, so your resolve has to be much strong than your ego.
2. Control the Pride
Understand that pride is in thought. When you something good or achieve something, a feeling of
pride may set in, but do not think and act proud. Distract your mind by thinking of something
completely different. The first few times, it will be very hard to control yourself like trying to break a
bad habit you have become accustomed to. Your physical mind has become so used to this bad habit
that you start believing you cannot do without it.
Slowly, these thoughts will diminish and soon disappear. The urge will be there, but the test is not
to give in. Even if you fail the first few times, do not be angry or negative; instead, be humble enough to
accept that you might fail initially. Relax and try again. The key is to go on genuinely trying until you
succeed, and you will succeed if you are positive and consistent. You will notice that things get simpler and clearer, and you will begin walking on the right path. Most importantly, maintain your control.
3 . Replace proud thoughts with humble ones.
Write down your unclear thoughts or understanding of things so they can be cleared and replaced by correct thoughts and understanding. In this manner, that small, proud thought will not develop into full-blown ego. Proud thoughts will still arise from time will know to control to time, but you Remain consistent in your effort.
Regards
Ashish
