Beezone edit in parentheses
On Liberation from ego and egoic
Society, or, Cooperation + Tolerance = Peace
Adi Da Samraj, 1999
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“The Place Where Fire Invades the Plane of Humanity“
he un-Enlightened, or egocentric, body-mind-self is founded on the activity of self-contraction. The self-contraction is expressed as the effective differentiation of the presumed “self” from the Source-Condition, and from every other form of presumed “not-self”. And the self-contraction is, likewise, expressed as the constant concern and search for the preservation of the “self”.
The self-based orientation toward existence is manifested as the psychology of search and conflict relative to all that is presumed to be “not-self”, some and all of which is sometimes desired and sought, and some and all of which is sometimes feared, and even all of which is always limited, mortal, passing, inexplicable, and, therefore, inherently unsatisfactory. Therefore, the psychology of self-contracted existence is inherently disposed to seek control and dominance over all that is presumed to be “not-self”.
For this reason, individual egocentric lives are a constant expression of fear and heart-felt anxiety, and individual human actions are, on that primitive basis, always a more or less mechanical display of strategic techniques of self-manipulation and other-manipulation. And the collective, social, political, and cultural life of egocentric human beings is likewise dominated by the same exclusiveness, the same emotional base, the same inherent unsatisfactoriness, and the same motives that spring our of fear and are directed toward self-preservation, and toward control of what is “outside”.
(see: ‘The Engine that Runs the World’)
Human societies are always tending to be modeled after the un-Enlightened pattern of the individual ego. The political and social systems of the present-day world are not generated by literally En-Light-ened leaders, ideals, or institutions – and this is why the signs of the times are so profoundly negative. The entire world is now nearly out of control with egoic motives and their own form of Manifest Destiny. Mankind, presently is indoctrinated by materialistic philosophies, ego-serving technologies, and gross political idealisms.
The Place Where Fire Invades the Plane of Humanity
The ego-“I”, whether individual or collective, is eventually reduced to sorrow and despair, because of the inability of life to generate Happiness and Joy and Immortality. And that self-contained depression finally becomes anger, or loveless confrontation with the total world and every form of presumed “not-self” – including even the Transcendental Spiritual Reality, Which is “locked away”, by means of conventional ideas of “God Apart”, and is made into an “Other” by the egoic mind. And, when fear and anger becomes the mood of human societies, the quality of fire invades the plane of humanity. That fire is expressed as all of the aggression and competitiveness of mankind, including all of the ego-based politics of confrontation. And that ego-fire is, finally, summarized in the acts of war.
The differentiation of existence into egoically “self-possessed” units yields, in the case of each “one”, the craving for entirely pleasurized and unthreatened existence. This craving in turn yields inevitable conflict, fear, sorrow, anger, and all kinds of destructive acts in relation to “others” as well as to “self”. Therefore, all egos are in aggressive conflict with all other egos. All individual and collective egos are involved in programs of self-destruction, as well as other-destruction.
Democracy of One
Adi Da Samraj, 1993
The search for the independent preservation and ultimate enhancement of the separate self is the universal model of un-Enlightened egoity. Therefore, suffering, power struggle, and war are inevitable in egoic society. And, if the capability for political manipulation and war becomes technologically profound, universal suppression and universal destruction become the common expectation and destiny of all human beings.
The present “late-time”, or “dark” epoch, is just such a time of technological sophistication, in which the egoic model of humanity and human society is the universal basis of mind. Gross materialism gives human beings no option in the mind except that of the trapped and threatened animal. Therefore, a fiery mood is abroad, full of gross desire, frustration, fear, despair, and aggressive reactivity. The egoic motive of self-preservation is approaching its most destructive mood–the mood that appears in the moment of ultimate entrapment.
In that mood, there is no longer any will to preserve “self” or world or any others. There is simply explosive fire, based on the deep motives of egoic self-preservation, but reduced to action that is most primitive and entirely destructive of both “self” and “not-self”. In the collective mind of humanity in the present and growing extremes of entrapment, the explosion of great nuclear bombs merely represents the archetype of anger itself. And it is for this reason that the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, in the extreme moment of the now rising political confrontations, is an irrational–and, therefore, entirely possible, if not inevitable event.
Past societies have, in their extreme moments of confrontation, destroyed themselves, as well as their opponents. This is because ego-based societies function in essentially the same manner as egoic individuals. Individual human beings kill others and themselves every day. Therefore, groups and societies, confronting one another in egoic fashion, likewise threaten one another with destruction. And, in the extreme moments of confrontation, when self-preservation achieves its peak of righteous irrationality, it is profoundly likely that nuclear war will result.
“Isn’t it evident, in your deepest feeling-psyche, that this Wisdom-renouncing world is being controlled by the worst and most superficial conceptions of existence?“
The motives of present-day society are the same as those of past societies. The only difference is that, in the present day, the technology of both communication and confrontation has become both globally extended and profound. Haven’t you had enough of the brute, stupid, childish, and, otherwise, adolescent, exploitative representation of human existence that is played out daily by competing governments, politicians, militarists, scientists, technocrats, social planners, educators, exoteric and fundamentalist religionists, and media hypers? Isn’t it evident, in your deepest feeling-psyche, that this Wisdom-renouncing world is being controlled by the worst and most superficial conceptions of existence?
It is now time for every one, and all, to understand themselves, and to reclaim the world from the dictatorship of the ego, and from all of those who play at politics as if it were a sporting event that is supposed to excite and entertain every one on television.
It may sound naive to speak of the necessity for the present crowd of governments and institutions to understand themselves and renounce the self-imagery and the techniques of enemies, but the feeling that it is naive to speak in such terms is merely a reflection of egoic frustration and despair. Human beings everywhere must now transcend that very frustration and despair if they are going to prevent the enslavement and destruction of mankind.
Humanity is living in bondage now. Mankind is already, presently, globally, bound to egocentric and materialistic idealisms that are suppressing the human freedom to live by Wisdom and Realize the Truth. If human beings do not shake loose from this regime, they are going to suffer the extreme fulfillment of collective egoic destiny, in a “Narcissistic” holocaust that will either enslave mankind or destroy mankind .
The egoic model must, from now on, be intensively educated out of the collective order of mankind. If this kind of approach is not made soon, humanity will be entering into what has the potential to be the most destructive period of political confrontation in its history.
The problem of the automatic creation of suffering and destruction is inherent in the egocentric form of individual existence. It is this principle that I Call you to observe and understand. Human beings must learn from this observation of the ego, and so equip themselves to freely abandon the egoic model of existence.
This Essay has, thus far, primarily Spoken to the necessity for such education and change at the level of the leadership and collective order of mankind. Now I must move on to “consider” the implications of this education at the level of individual practice.
Adi Da Samraj, 1999