Leggo My Ego

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
If he is Indian, then his name would be pronounced "ROM", not "RAM".

Depends on what accent you're speaking with.

An uncontroversial spelling, one that renders an accurate pronunciation on both sides of the Atlantic (and in India too, of course) would be 'Rahm'.

I'll be back with more on-topic stuff a little later.

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
Intresting so you were a firefighter, explains why I see you on this site now and again trying to put out metaphysical fires, with your funnyness.

i do what i can do, but i do like the humor, and some truisms require a sense of humor, impo (in my professional opinion)

Also is that true that there second core value, is service before self....how can you do anything other but serve before the self, do they think they have a choice?

it's how the military tries to undermine the ego. think about that wording for a moment. "service before self", the usaf's second core value.
isn't it really saying the opposite of the primal isntinct of "self pre-servation" aka: selfishness before serving (anyone or anything). i don't think that is who we really are, deep inside. i do not believe we are selfishness before serving/helping others. i just think we are taught to believe we are.

It just goes to show that firefighters have huge ego's, if they think they can stand before the fire, and come out unscaved, only a mater of time...but lucky for them time is relative.

some firefighters have huge egos. some firefighters have nearly no ego at all if they are willing to run into a burning building, put their lives on the line, for a complete stranger, someone they have never met. and then there are firefighters who only pretend to have huge egos, when really they do not. but, i don't speak for all firefighters, these are just my opinions and observations while living with firefighters every other day, or for months at a time, from 1998 to 2009, while i was one of them.

Anyways your related story of a moment in your life, was intresting, fire and lightning makes everything more intresting and exciting. Unless offcourse you dont come out unscaved out of such a intresting scenario, then its not so fun.

i should be dead. at least i think so. i have no idea how i didn't die that night, none at all. i've had more than one experience like that. experiences i look back at and given all that i know, i don't know how i survived some of those expereinces. when one accepts as fact that they should probably no longer exist it gives rise to new emotions, ones i never knew, ones i can't find words for. if i could find the words, i would be able to clear out some of the space in my attic.


[edit on 2-9-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

reply to post by Astyanax


Hi Astyanax, long time old friend, I miss our conversations ... I know you're coming back to post, I just wanted to touch for one moment on the one part of your previous post that I didn't, in some random and exasperatingly abstract way, address.

A word about Buddha, Christ, Krishnamurti and all the rest. They are merely emergency-exit ushers. Their ways are for those who find reality too much for their tender hearts and minds, or who have come to the end of striving. The solutions proposed by the gurus and god-men work, but they are all forms of self-delusion and self-harm. They all demand, as their price, the sacrifice of a greater or lesser part of one's humanity and potential.

The funny part is, and to the extent that it means anything, that I agree with all that ... I say funny because I could have easily have said the above, in fact some of the folks named in that sentence would say the same thing because it is fundamentally true.

But if it is 'true' then it is true of all conceptual thought for precisely the same reasons.

It is funny, at least to me, that something you state in the tone of a cautionary tale is, if one doesn't have a personal position towards it, profoundly liberating.

See, you're a spiritual master and didn't know it ... careful though, people start building churches and asking you a lot of questions.

reply to post by Astyanax

A word about Buddha, Christ, Krishnamurti and all the rest. They are merely emergency-exit ushers. Their ways are for those who find reality too much for their tender hearts and minds, or who have come to the end of striving. The solutions proposed by the gurus and god-men work, but they are all forms of self-delusion and self-harm. They all demand, as their price, the sacrifice of a greater or lesser part of one's humanity and potential.

Profound statement, I gave up on following anyone many years ago, we don't need them, my knowing came from going into myself, my higher self if you will.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


If Astyanax is a spiritual master, he's the new U.G. Krishnamurti.

reply to post by Aquarius1


Interestingly enough, seekers who need to follow something or someone get very frustrated when the person they choose to follow isn't going anywhere.

That's why I find the buddha's predicament rather tragic and funny ... like I said earlier all was but lost when the word 'path' came into it. Kinda the way I feel about having used, sporadically as I might have, the word 'ego' in this thread. Ugh!

And before some silly person like enlightenup picks apart my words and says "stupid dog thinks he's buddha" ... no I am not, I have lost weight.

[edit on 2 Sep 2010 by schrodingers dog]

Originally posted by Astyanax

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
If he is Indian, then his name would be pronounced "ROM", not "RAM".

Depends on what accent you're speaking with.

An uncontroversial spelling, one that renders an accurate pronunciation on both sides of the Atlantic (and in India too, of course) would be 'Rahm'.

I'll be back with more on-topic stuff a little later.

I cannot wait. You entered into this thread with a massive thunderbolt.

Indian spelling is normally Ram, but you are correct in the pancontintental sense. I had a Jewish Ethiopian that worked for me once, named Yakoub. His supervisors name was Jacob. I got a kick out of it, but I am a dork like that.

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
And before some silly person like enlightenup picks apart my words and says "stupid dog thinks he's buddha" ... no I am not, I have lost weight.

I came to the realization that the tubbiness was representative of all the things you're not that you carry around, that weigh you down.

That's probably just some insane thing I held onto however, just because I needed something to grasp and use when the opportunity arose.

reply to post by schrodingers dog



I absolutely love and adore the Buddhist framework and mindset. I am not able or not willing to be able to practice it, as I have more hedonistic views than a Spartan Tibetan monk would have, despite being relatively modest and conservative by American standards.

It does not keep me from taking the best of what I can understand (while leaving myself open for further understanding as my life experience provides me additional insight, and I reread documents and texts) and continuing to follow the all important Buddhist principle of not trusting the word of another man, but seeking for myself.

LOL, I frustrate a lot of people when i choose to discuss "religion" with them. Being from a christian area (which i also love and revere), i have lots of Christians to talk with. They mostly think I am wishy washy, because i change my outlook based on new insights, and really don't have a solid belief other than knowing that there is something more, even if that doesn't imply any sort of "afterlife".

Because of this, i do tend to try to balance enjoying the experience while still becoming a better person. Why become a better person? For a very selfish reason: because it makes me feel good to do nice things for other people. If i can use my position as people "boss" to restore some of their faith and set an example for how they should lead, then that is an example of why i do what i do.

No, i am not perfect..lol...it is a very myopic and overly positive view into the person that i am. But it is the topic of my post. Like i said, i like to balance duty and pleasure.

Soo, um....


you like how i will just leap off randomly into something that is completely off topic and self serving?

HA! Top that!!!

reply to post by EnlightenUp


in the first few seconds of that tape he asks: "what would you do with it (enlightenment)? How is it going to help you?"

i think that is part of anti-enlightenment. enlightenment is not considering what "it" can do for you, but what/how "it" can be useful to and for others.

enlightenment is not selfish, and can be selflessness. but, not always. enlightenment from a selfless point of view can enlighten one who has been selfless, but thinks of self for the first time, becoming self aware. this is my current opinion.


[edit on 3-9-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
reply to post by Aquarius1

 

Interestingly enough, seekers who need to follow something or someone get very frustrated when the person they choose to follow isn't going anywhere.

The problem with that is when someone says they are on a path there are always two choices, that fork in the road, do I go right or left, it is those wrong turns that get us every time.

No worries SD, I am not following you, what you are giving me is validation.

I have to admit something ... every time I look at this thread I have a huge smile on my face feeling everyone's presence. My face actually hurts from happiness.

I just think the whole thing is perfectly beautiful.

I love you guys ... deal with it!

reply to post by Esoteric Teacher


How would it be selfless if it would function for you to be selfless?

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
I just think the whole thing is perfectly beautiful.

I love you guys ... deal with it!

Love you too SD, but what about us gals, (hope you love us too)

Originally posted by EnlightenUp
reply to post by Esoteric Teacher

 

How would it be selfless if it would function for you to be selfless?

"End result" rationale only serves to allow people to rationalize illogical or unnacceptable behavior by justifying.

My opinion is that we should instead try to model our intention. Of course, this makes almost every act selfish. If i give to charity i likely do it because it satisfies some need, either religiously or emotionally, to myself.

I am a ultra loyal husband. not for her, but for me. i do not want my son to think of my like i did my father.

i have never argued with, yelled at, or cursed my mother. Only because the pain it would cause me to do so (this is 100% true, she is a saint and her pain causes me extreme emotional grief).

I live what most people would consider a pretty good, moral, ethical, and decent life. But i do it for me, not anyone else. that they may benefit from it is definitely something that is intended....for MY pleasure.

Originally posted by Aquarius1
but what about us gals, (hope you love us too)

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Very cool SD and one of all time favorite actresses no less, how did you know

I have learned to control my ego a long time ago. It may help you in the long run, but eventually it will hurt you in the long run. I noticed even on ATS that people seem to can't even control their Ego's.

reply to post by teapot


the point i was trying to make with that post is the benefits we may have by temporarily releasing our hold on our ego.

with the absence of ego, or temporarily discounting it, more options become possible, and even plausible.

sometimes ego is akin to anti-communication, in my opinion.

thank you for the kind words, they were appreciated,
et

[edit on 3-9-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]