Self consciousness

[olmate]

I do not think it is any exaggeration to say that self-consciousness, the hyper-self-consciousness of egoism, is one of our greatest life challenges because self-consciousness gives rise to divided consciousness.

This is like having a mirror between the universe and ourselves. Every time we look into the mirror we see ourselves. The purpose of meditation is to smash that mirror so that we no longer look at reflections of things and consequently see everything backwards, including ourselves.

Now it does not take very much knowledge of life to perceive that this self-consciousness deludes us into seeing the whole universe revolve around ourselves; or to conclude that this self-consciousness is an appalling state to be in. Perhaps that is what brings most of us to meditation. We don’t want to look into that mirror and see everything backwards for the rest of our lives.

So, with daily practice we hammer away at that mirror to smash it to see what is.

Olmate

[GilesC]

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