Wine & Wisdom - Samuel Johnson

From ' The Ethics of convivial drinking' 

Evolution of Consciusness (38)- Ego vs Soul

Ego vs. Soul.

According to religions, Mystics and Seers,

The true identity of human consciousness is Soul and the Soul is said to be

Eternal, Blissful and Wise (Ultimate Intelligence & knowledge).

But, normal state of identification is that of personal Body, Mind and Intellect.

Which constitute the persona - individual’s personality/ego.                                          

This identity being personal is limited and finite due to finite nature of the Body

and limited knowledge of the Personal Mind.

However developed and refined, the body has physical limitation and the

personal mind has limited knowledge due to additive nature of knowledge.

So, the world view and the experience would also remain limited.

But, if we look at the fundamental pursuits of Ego-Self,

They are similar to the attributes of the Soul in their essence, as below.

 

Pursuits of Ego-Self                Nature of the Soul  

Immortality                                      Eternal

Perpetual Pleasure                       Bliss 

Complete knowledge                   Wisdom 

 

Failure in realizing the goals is due to finite nature of Individual Body and Mind.

But goals are pursued since the days of civilization and continues with the help of

Science and Technology. 

For example,

 

Ego Aspirations               Science & Technology   

Immortality                       - Cryonics – Body preservation at low temperatures  

Perpetual Pleasure        -Research on Psychedelic substances

Complete Knowledge    -ToE - ‘Theory of Everything’, String Theory etc.

 

Science and Technology may succeed.

Even if it succeeds, according to Jean Paul Sartre view –

 

Even if Man is immortal, Life is made finite by the choices one makes.                 

That is,

Even for an immortal man, intrinsic limitation of Egoistic knowledge(Psychological) will create a boundary, beyond which there will be conflicts.     

So, the peace, happiness and repose one seeks in life may remain elusive.

Immortalizing the ‘Me’ and the ‘Body’ may not quench this thirst.

Considering these limitations of the individual Ego-Self,

It appears that Ego-Self is a poor imitation of True-Self or Soul.

That is,

Ego-Self is imitating the attributes of True-Self or Soul, and also giving hope by

becoming better over time, like a fake product becoming better through refinement.

And, possibly we are refining a fake product to make it original.              

But, fake can never be the original.

This comparison reveals two main aspects,

Firstly,

Deficiency of a fake product can be experienced as such only in relation to the original.

And secondly and most importantly

Fake product has no foundation without the existence of the original.

If we apply this thinking to the ego-self,

The sense of inadequacy we feel towards Ego-Self could mean that it is not the original.

And,

Sense of lack of repose in Ego-Self could mean that it has no foundation either.

So, by this coarse logic, we can say that Ego-Self is not genuine and another true identity of 

the self has to exist 

But,

In the case of external fake and original objects, it is self evident and straight.

We don’t have such liberty in the case ‘Self’, because it is internal and we are conscious of 

only one self  that is  ‘I’ or ‘Me’.        

So, existence of True-Self or Soul is based on logic (Coarse/ Superfine) or Faith.

It is not an empirical fact.

Now,

Is it possible to gain some certitude regarding its existence beyond logic or faith?

It is possible because,

There are episodes of experiences where Consciousness do not require the Ego for its 

sustenance.

For instance,

During the sensations like Fascination, Wonder and Awe etc, one can notice the absence of 

Ego, but still one is perfectly conscious.

Absence of Ego doesn’t make the consciousness as impersonal, it is still personal without Ego

 playing the role of arbiter.

These episodes of experiences also show that Ego is not indispensable as sole arbiter but can

 simply remain as repository of practical knowledge.     

So,                        

By becoming aware or remembering one self during such episodes, one can not only gain

 certitude but also 'feel' a  self which is not anchored in Ego.

And to move any further,

One has remember one self in day to day situations, thereby stopping the mechanical 

response and weakening the role of Ego-Self as sole arbiter.

Less domination of Ego-Self as a consequence allows the True-Self to flower.

Many mystics or seers uses the word ‘Flowering’ or similar word to indicate that one can not

arrive at True-Self or Soul through deliberate Ego centric act.

Since, any outcome through such act will be within the ambit Ego-Self.

It is like, any deliberate act to over come inferiority complex will end up as measure of one's 

inferiority than anything else. 

So, True-Self or Soul will start to ‘flower’ on its own when domination of Ego-Self diminishes. 

 

 

Evolution of Consciusness (37)-Oneness Of Religion(Gurdjieff)

Multiplicity & Oneness of Religions.

MULTIPLICITY of Faiths and Religions exist only at the periphery.

As one gains understanding and moves towards the center, differences that exist at the

Periphery gradually reduces like distance between the radii of a circle, and vanishes at the

center, where truth of ONENESS alone prevails.

As long as one stays at the periphery, the differences continue to exist.

Differences are caused by the relative expressions of the absolute.

Expressing the Absolute is like expressing an alimentary TASTE,

which is not present in any of the known food.

So, it is relatively expressed in comparison with the known tastes.

When it comes to ‘Religious Experience’ of oneness, it becomes much more complicated.

Because, realized souls not only try to express and explain the ‘Experience’ but also

formulate a system to enable others to attain that state of consciousness.

These systems are naturally anchored in the society of that particular period,  

culture and social mores.

And, the respective religions  have come a long way from the founders to the contemporary followers,

covering centuries, going through divisions and changes in their structure and form.

                                               

So, differences bound to exist not only among religions but also within a religion.

Secondly,

Religion also became an identity of a person or a group.

Together,

Religious expressions and identities have become sources of disagreement and conflict.

The point is,

The religious Knowledge and Identity has very little to do with religiosity as such.

In fact, kernel of the religion is out of focus, obscure and left for the chosen ones.

 This trend is unavoidable and inevitable as long as one remains at the periphery.

That is maintaining oneself in the plane of Dogmas, Concepts, Ideas and Ideals.

Staying at the surface level may give identity, belonging, solace, security and

esoteric knowledge of the faith.                                        

All this can only add up to one’s psychological identity and knowledge.

And, we know,

‘Knowledge’ is not ‘Knowing’,

 Just as,

 Self-Discovery is not 'knowledge of one self ' but knowing one self.

It is imperative that one has to move from Plane of Knowledge to Plane of Knowing.

For that to happen, one has to go deeper towards the center irrespective of the faith.

One has to move from,        

‘Conception’ to ‘Perception’

‘Idea’ to ‘Fact’

‘Belief’ to ‘Realization’

In other words, one has to move from Religious identity (Ego-Self)

to Religious Truth (True-Self).

                                                                                         

Then alone religion become a meaningful human endeavor, otherwise it will remain a

divisive factor like any other collective identity.