No matter where you go or who you talk to, there is an increasing trend of egoic identification. Whether you identify as a scientist, an engineer, a teacher, a cosplayer, a photographer, a doctor, a nurse, an actor, a leader – it matters not. We all develop egoic self-identification. It is a necessary and healthy part of our thought process.
Ego must be kept in check with humility. We ought to know our limits and not over-extend ourselves. We ought to stay calm, restrained, and humble in order to avoid falling on our own (mental) swords. In many instances, we ought refrain from saying anything. More often than not, instead of humility, fear of humiliation dictates our over-energetic response, our lack of response, or silence therein.
Humility should not be conflated with self-doubt, which is outright unnecessary. There is no need to doubt yourself or your instincts. Self-doubt implies that you fear your very thoughts are somehow “wrong” or “invalid” and therefore, lacking trust in your own thinking, cannot come to find an answer by your own faculties: this is false. All people are capable of coming to the appropriate conclusions, but the language for it may not be the same between individuals.
Consider doubt a necessary reflex of humility, a habit of rethinking and reassessing your thoughts from different perspectives and angles, but do not take these reflexes to mean you should mistrust your thinking. By having faith in your thoughts but also examining things from multiple perspectives, you can transform self-doubt into a meaningful and incisive tool.
Don’t doubt yourself, but delve with certainty into your thoughts and instincts. Lay still and meditate upon your thoughts, allowing them to rest and come to their own conclusion. Thoughts are like water; they have an ebb and flow, a cadence and a rhythm. Understand the harmony of your own thoughts.
Do not react to your thoughts, emotionally. Decouple this loop. Don’t make value judgements upon thoughts. Don’t associate with your “thought self.” You are not your thoughts. You are simply the observer, the fisherman at the stream, catching thoughts as they flow through you.
Religious Identification
Religion often gives people the strongest sort of self-identification. People inherently wish to see themselves as good. How that “good” plays out on a universal scale gets warped and distorted by ego. This is why humility is so important.
Many devout followers of religion, deep down, consider ourselves somehow superior to others who practice a different faith, albeit with all the same diligence. “Why am I suffering more?” we might ask. “God has chosen me.”
It is because we are multiplying our own egoic suffering. We have not yet come into a deeper awareness of our ego and learned how to humble it. We consider themselves somehow distinct and chosen amongst creation, when nothing could be farther from the truth. All creation was made equally. This is humility.
All Things Are Equal
When you begin to see insects and birds as equivalent in spirit to yourself, when you see other organisms as simply an alternative expression of the same underlying spirit, you begin to understand what I am trying to convey in terms of humility.
All living and sentient creatures come with the same fabric of spirit flowing through them. Nonsensical as these words may seem, it means that no religion or faith or person is better or superior or greater than another.
We are all prophets, if only we opened our hearts and truly believed. We are all messengers of God.
Religion is Falsehood
Religion itself is a falsehood invented by the Corrupter. People seek to be “better” or “superior” than another. There is no distinction. There are no pedestals. We are all of us, together.
All organized religion, be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Bahá’ísm – they all allow the Corrupter to enter into our veins through egoic identification with the religion. It is heard in words, in speeches or sermons, in the manner in which we say our prayers, the way we proselytize. The underlying sentiment is:
Follow us, for Ours is the true way!
Nay – there are many paths to the one Sovereign, but all are Truths of Creation, and none are better than another. They are merely different parts to one unity.
All paths lead to God, if God ye do seek. But most are seeking of a temporary pittance in this world: woe to them, for they forfeit the spiritual wealth that true faith and humility will earn them.
Most would rather the egregiousness of false righteousness than admittance to their own shortcomings or wrongness. Having stated such, I have to mirror this expression humbly upon myself: I too may be falsely guided and arrogant simply by stating these things, yet I walk with the faith that these words are given to me as a means of improvement.
I do not advise walking any path. I advise walking the path of no-path: like water, surrender to life and allow it to flow through you. See where your own heart and mind carry you through life, without aligning directly with any religion or any one. Who are you?
No religion is better than another. Choose thou religion and see through it, live by good principles and deeds. Some live blindly by commandments, and this is favorable: but better, live with faith, and seek out truth and wisdom. Question everything, but don’t doubt yourself. This is paradoxical and difficult to convey because it is a mental juggling act that does not come easy.
People Playing with Religion
People seem to think that by devoting their time to a religion or faith, praying for a particular outcome, they are doing a good thing: I believe this ought to be condemned as idiocy of the highest degree, in a demeaning sense. It is utterly nonsensical. Plenty of people do terrible things believing they are doing good.
It is better to take small, meaningful action to help those immediately around you than it is to impose your sanctimonious words and rituals upon people. Acting out of a misplaced belief that you are “better” than others somehow is tantamount to the polar opposite. The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Humility is of the utmost importance.
People seem to be on quests to collect brownie-points and be do-gooders according to God, but such idolatry is in vain. They simply wish to see themselves as good, without sincerely pondering the question of what goodness is. This is how Corruption enters into their thinking.
The Master does his job
and then stops.
He understands that the universe
is forever out of control,
and that trying to dominate events
goes against the current of the Tao.
Because he believes in himself,
he doesn’t try to convince others.
Because he is content with himself,
he doesn’t need others’ approval.
Because he accepts himself,
the whole world accepts him.
The Religion of No Religion
Thus, I bring posit the religion of no-religion, the practice of no-practice, the path of no-path. It is consistency in humility, it is force of habit imbued in character; it is wit, it is charm, it is fallibility, vulnerability, masculinity, femininity; it is alignment with the flow of life. If nothing else, perhaps it is Taoism in disguise.
It is perfection in imperfection: it contrives arrogance and sin, and yet scoffs sardonically at such asinine pursuits. For what worth is anything, save the joy of suffering the pursuit of a wholesome existence?
Be so engrossed in the improvement of oneself that nothing else consumes your attention.
A Step Back
Having said all this and likely alienated or aggravated countless people content in the stupors of blind faith, I now take a step back: there is good in religion, assuredly. But I am highlighting a particular intonation it invariably takes. There is no doubt my words will be misconstrued by miscreants and mischievous fools intent on misunderstanding.
Despite the potential for misuse, I believe my words have their place in freeing many goodhearted souls under the overbearing oppression of corrupted religious narcissism.
Therefore, I stand behind my words, despite what scorn and rebuke they will inevitably earn.
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