Translate

The ignorance of ego...


"It is characteristic of the ego that it takes all that is unimportant as important and all that is important as unimportant.

"Thus power, fame, worldly attainments and accomplishments are really unimportant, but the ego takes delight in these possessions and clings to them as 'mine.'

On the other hand, true spirituality is all-important for the soul, but the ego looks upon it as unimportant.

For example, if a person experiences some bodily or mental discomfort while doing a work of spiritual importance, the ego steps in to secure the unimportant bodily or mental comfort even at the cost of giving up the really important spiritual work.

Bodily and mental comfort, as well as other worldly attainments and accomplishments, are often necessary, but they are not therefore important.

There is a world of difference between necessity and importance. Many things come to the ego as being necessary, but they are not in themselves important.

Spirituality, which comes to the ego as being unnecessary, is really important for the soul. The ego thus represents a deep and fundamental principle of ignorance which is exhibited in always preferring the unimportant to the important."


Meher Baba
Discourses
Edited by Don E. Stevens
San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented, 6th rev. ed., vol. II, p. 62

No comments: