Deep thanks Johannes/Sevaji for this wisdom on the ego and attachment to the material world ~ I live in a land where more is never enough for some~ Material wealth can bring comfort but cannot in itself fill an empty soul or bring the peace and happiness of knowing the inner true self~ Divinely ~ Coralina ~
“Ego Aggrandizement
The ego is a trap to condense you into believing that small world that it has built and whatever material wealth it has accumulated has some great relevance and significance. The ego is what draws you away from eternal truths in pursuit of spurious pleasures.
The paradox is that the more you aggrandize the ego the smaller your world becomes. The belief that indulging the whims and desires of the ego will make you into someone important and give you validation is utterly false. Nonetheless, it is a belief that is held by the masses. This is why people indulge in ego-gratification and self-aggrandizement, some more than others.
The desire for prestige, accreditations, diplomas, fame, wealth, attainment of material possessions, being popular, being the center of attention…all these are the longings of the ego. So much time is spent in these pursuits, so much energy wasted for what is nothing more than a dream.
As great and as large as you try to make your ego, as much as you try to make yourself valuable and loved by society – even if it is in subconscious ways – you are actually diminishing your true greatness.
Maybe you are poor, without degrees, without much material wealth – but don’t be fooled, the ego is more deceiving than you know. You may believe that because your possessions are few that you are safe from the game of ego aggrandizement, but the ego works in very sly ways. You must dig deeper into the inquiry. You may discover just how much you covet the little you have. In fact, people can take great pride in being simple and are not aware that they are in subtle ways fulfilling their ego by having a little or a lot. One who has much but is unattached is far better off than one who has very little and covets it greatly.
The longing for more is not only present in those who are wealthy but also in those who are poor. Rather than doing the inner work to know themselves, so many seek to construct an outer facade masked with all the latest things society says you need to fit in and be liked.
It’s like creating a jail cell adorned with gold, silver, and jewels but even the most beautiful of jails is still a jail. Freedom comes from opening the door of the cell and walking away from all the gold, silver, and jewels. The precious metals and gems mesmerized you into feeling comfortable and secure, because to walk away from them and out through the jail’s doorway meant to walk into the unknown.
You are far more vast than the little world the ego builds for you. Even if you have mansions, yachts, and millions of dollars, even if you are emperor of the world, this is so minuscule compared to the vastness you are – but do not let this vastness become another ego trip because viewing yourself as being so god-like, so divine, so beyond other’s small views, can be another trap.
As you release the attachment to seeking fulfillment in the material world you will see that these material things were but mere specks of dust gathering on a tiny surface on your mind compared to the infinity of the open sky that is your realized and awakened consciousness.
To be free is to walk into the unknown, to walk beyond the walls that have contained you and limited you, no matter how well the walls have been decorated. Liberation comes when you give up the false security of the ego and befriend your soul. The spirit is meant to have wings to soar above the clouds, to discover its vastness which is limitless, timeless, deathless.
Discover your true Self and realize that though your wings may have been clipped they can grow again. Courage and faith will give you new wings to fly. The cage can be opened at this very moment but don’t wait for someone else to open its door. Drop the ego, drop the comfortable, drop the fear of the unknown and the door opens automatically.
O Fearless One
Have you forgotten your wings?
Cut the strings of attachment
That have held you earthbound for lifetimes
Free from the shackles of Ahamkara (ego)
Know you are the boundless Atma (soul)
Infinite
Sacred
Divine
Many blessings,
Johannes ~ Sevaji”