"Know thyself" is ancient advice.
What am "I"?
I am "spirit." By this I mean I have cares and concerns. I can suffer. I can enjoy.
If no one existed who had cares and concerns, If no one existed to suffer or experience enjoyment, nothing would matter. The only reason anything matters is that "spirit" matters. In other words, the only reason anything matters is that beings who have cares and concerns matter. Thus spirit has intrinsic, original, unconditional value. All other value derives from their cares and concerns.
When a spirit like us has a purpose, that purpose becomes valuable. Everything that serves that purpose acquires some positive value as a means. Everything that obstructs the purpose takes on negative value as an obstacle.
The point is that every moment of spirit has intrinsic, non-derivative, unconditional value. That is true whether that moment of spirit resides within the boundaries of yourself, or within the boundaries of myself.
But what is that boundary that divides spirit into different selves? It is ignorance! We are separated from each other by the fact that we do not experience each other's cares and concerns as directly and concretely as we experience our own. Thus, it is by way of a defect in knowledge that my self exists as a separate thing from your self. When our love for spirit is mixed with our ignorance of spirit beyond ourselves, the consequence is that we are moved much more strongly to serve the spirit we know than the spirit we do not know. In this way, ignorance twists us away from the true aim of love of spirit which would be to serve spirit.
My untwisted self is this spirit I am that loves and serves spirit. My twisted self is the spirit I am that loves and prefers to serve the only the spirit that is singled out by my ignorance.
The problem is not the EGO, but rather, the ignorance that imprisons it. The proper treatment is not devaluation of my spirit, but an aspiration for empathy.
What am "I"?
I am "spirit." By this I mean I have cares and concerns. I can suffer. I can enjoy.
If no one existed who had cares and concerns, If no one existed to suffer or experience enjoyment, nothing would matter. The only reason anything matters is that "spirit" matters. In other words, the only reason anything matters is that beings who have cares and concerns matter. Thus spirit has intrinsic, original, unconditional value. All other value derives from their cares and concerns.
When a spirit like us has a purpose, that purpose becomes valuable. Everything that serves that purpose acquires some positive value as a means. Everything that obstructs the purpose takes on negative value as an obstacle.
The point is that every moment of spirit has intrinsic, non-derivative, unconditional value. That is true whether that moment of spirit resides within the boundaries of yourself, or within the boundaries of myself.
But what is that boundary that divides spirit into different selves? It is ignorance! We are separated from each other by the fact that we do not experience each other's cares and concerns as directly and concretely as we experience our own. Thus, it is by way of a defect in knowledge that my self exists as a separate thing from your self. When our love for spirit is mixed with our ignorance of spirit beyond ourselves, the consequence is that we are moved much more strongly to serve the spirit we know than the spirit we do not know. In this way, ignorance twists us away from the true aim of love of spirit which would be to serve spirit.
My untwisted self is this spirit I am that loves and serves spirit. My twisted self is the spirit I am that loves and prefers to serve the only the spirit that is singled out by my ignorance.
The problem is not the EGO, but rather, the ignorance that imprisons it. The proper treatment is not devaluation of my spirit, but an aspiration for empathy.
No comments:
Post a Comment