Self, Ego and Selflessness

     "... the end of polarities is the completion of all skillful means, all practices, and all methods that were used to surmount ignorance. When ignorance is no longer pitted against wisdom, there is nonreferenced ease. ... We have to extract the 'me' from our salvation and prohibit identification with the self's return. Many people can understand selflessness; few can keep the self from meddling its way back in. This is not accomplished by forcing but through understanding. To understand exactly what the self is is to end the self. Once understood, it assumes its rightful place in our functional lives but never again assumes a place of power and authority. It takes just one polarizing moment that has gone undetected for self-centered living to resume."

       Rodney Smith. Awakening. A Paradigm Shift of the Heart. Shambhala, Boston, 2014.

"polarities" refers to opposites, the divided mind, boundaries etc
"nonreferenced" means unconditional - independent of causes and conditions
"functional" a healthy ego is described in Western psychology as like a verb (functional) rather than a noun (a solid object)
"polarizing moment" as soon as we identify with one (versus another) view, opinion, preference, the fictional "solid self" is re-created. This imaginary solid "identity" causes suffering.

 

October near Lewis Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada