How Did the Idea of ‘Ego’ Originate?
Apparently, Presumptionally, and Conditionally
Or
Did it Ever?
“Natural Identification with the body is your birth as an ego, not some biological event.“
Beezone paraphase of Avatar Adi Da’s instruction in, The Dawn Horse Testament
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ne question that seems most relevant, to me, and it comes up in many different forms is, how did the root contraction and, therefore, the presumption of ego begin? I had to dig deep into this conundrum (not that I’m expecting an answer) to get a glimpse into how the illusionary process is structured. In The Dawn Horse Testament, Adi Da says it this way, “It Is The Paradoxical Presumption, In Consciousness, That Consciousness Itself…Is Reduced…To… a conditional form, state, and circumstance.” (Beezone bold emphasis)
I fully understand Adi Da’s cautioning that this kind of adventure is “egos game”, based falsely on “the presumption of conditional and limited knowledge.” And yet, I went forward, and this is what was discovered.
In April 1995, a devotee asked Avatar Adi Da Samraj:
DEVOTEE: I have always wanted to ask this question. I don’t understand. What is the reason for the self-contraction? What started it? If everyone is in the same condition, and everyone is responsible for their present activity and since it’s obviated by surrender and sacrifice by hearing and seeing and sadhana – transcendence – how does it seem to be inherent in the world and beyond the body? It seems awfully real to the questioner and everyone else sitting in the room! There seems to be a larger force keeping it in place?
ADI DA SAMRAJ: You are asking the question from a “point of view” of presuming yourself to be separate. You are making a presumption with your question. You are upholding ”unreality” as if it were reality. You are in the dream asking why you are ”dream” instead of ”waking up”. You are engaging in the exercise of naive realism, just presuming to be a body-mind and seeing reality from that “point of view”.
You are presuming you are ”your mind and body” – you are identified with ”experience” and feeling separate, independent, and isolated. And so you ask this question. If you had practiced to the point of Realization, and could take all of reality into account, ALL of REALITY – that presumption of separateness, fastened to an organism – then see if you would still have that question.
As you can gather, Avatar Adi Da doesn’t answer the question but addresses the question and, more importantly, the questioner.
He continues:
ADI DA SAMRAJ:The source of the question is not that you are looking at all of reality and coming up with a notion about it. The source of the question is your divorce from Reality.;How did all this separateness, all this blah-blah-blah, how did this occur?, you see.
You presume that separation has occurred and that it has occurred in the form in which you perceive it to exist, which is an illusion based on a gesture of ignorant organism life.
The question is based on a presumption, an illusionary one. But, in reality, it is not so. Reality Itself, Realized, is free of that complication that is based on your presumption.
***
From the above exchange, you can see Avatar Adi Da leaves much to speculate upon. And that speculation (further study) brought me to an essay in He-and- She Is Me entitled, “I Am The Avatar of One.”
The Original essay ‘I Am The Avatar of One‘
After reading and studying the essay,”‘I am The Avatar of One”, I wrote down my understanding below. Here is how I understand how Adi Da addresses this fundamental question.
Beezone Commentary
The One or Absolute has never been fully understood (Realized). “Its” realization has always been on either one side or the other – Totally “out” or Totally “in”. Never unified and All-Inclusive.
According to Adi Da, what the traditions had been called “non-dual” has never been “completely” understood/realized. The subtle, subtle, subtle nature (causal) of individuality or separateness (ego) as contraction and therefore relatedness – however sublime – was a “limitation” in the cosmos, until now.
Outside and before the human species, in the cosmic order itself, there seems to be a “presumption” of separateness. Adi Da clarifies this by saying it is only “presumptions”. But, Adi Da leaves open the question of who, what, and where is this “presumption”. Is it in nature (cosmos) or does it occur only when humans come about?
Adi Da addresses this question by stating that the “presumption” in the natural cosmic structure is far more subtle than just the physical human and natural world. There are other dimensions subtler than the physical which have a “presumption” of separateness, and this “presumption “Perpetuates The Apparition” (The Dawn Horse Testament) of separateness and therefore the need or desire (for some) for knowledge.
CONSCIOUSNESS
This is where things get subtle and outside the lower mind of logic and conventional understanding. Consciousness is now considered.
“Your birth as an ego…Is An Event In Consciousness. It Is The Paradoxical Presumption (Beezone emphasis), In Consciousness, That Consciousness Itself…Is Reduced To (or Bound By) a conditional form, state, and circumstance.” The Dawn Horse Testament
The above Dawn Horse Testament excerpt from Sutra 25 92004 edition), clearly states that “Unconditional Consciousness” is “paradoxically” reduced BY an illusionary, conditional, non-existent ego. If that doesn’t spin your head, I don’t know what will!
In the essay the questioner asks about the presumption of separateness and if it is IN consciousness itself or is it created “outside”, in the conditional world (remember this is prior to the human being part of this “consideration”. The question is about the nature of separateness in the order of things. Adi Da answers that “separateness” is part of the order of conditional world and consciousness itself. In that “conjunction” there are “functions” making the presumption of duality (separateness). Consciousness being “neutral” in the “play” of things then seems to have a “limit”: now in this “play” of duality is there (presumed) in the “structure” (even before the human involvement comes onto the “stage”). The play seems to be about Consciousness Realizing Itself which is Always Already the Case except when/where/how it is not!
Beezone note: You want to talk about a mind f&*^%$!
WHY?
“The Presumption Of ’cause’ Is a Principal… experience, form of knowledge, or form of belief Associated With the ego-‘I’. And the… experience or knowledge Of ‘the Ultimate Cause’, Is The Ultimate Occupation Of the ego-‘I’.” – The Dawn Horse Testament
The “presumption” exists in the form of ‘contraction’, and it IS in the play and structure of the cosmos, before the human manifestation, in nature, in the cosmos.
Since there are many levels to this play, many of which we humans are not aware of, a “break-through” needed to occur. Otherwise we, in our best and worst present state, would continue to play the opposites against one another. The Most Direct Intervention was necessary at this place and time.
This is a Cosmic time, not just a world era. The break-through of Adi Da is a direct Revelation of this. Look at history, nothing like this has been revealed. Simulaneously, “history” of this presumption – human egoic history – has many “sacred” and “taboo” areas that are now presumed to be “threated” by this break-through.
THE SEEKER and its TABOO
The paths (Religions) prior to Avatar Adi Da’s were always about “not yet”, “coming”, “getting close”,”almost”, “keep trying”, or limitedly stating Full Realization, etc. But (according to Adi Da), the Way of Adidam (Adi Da Himself) is not about “not yet” but Here, Always, Prior and Forever (Eternal) and of, course, not as you imagine it! You can’t parrot his words and make it true. You cannot claim Adi Da and His Way as yours. Adi Da is not an other!
For His Revelation to be Generated and Implanted there had to be a “vehicle”. Avatar Adi Da Samraj is that Vehicle – Transparent, and Direct. Human and Divine. Communicating, teaching, living, and Illuminating all in and as All, Eternally. That is His Confession and not “your” belief. It has to be based on “your” Recognition and “your” understanding of “this” presumption.
The issue at hand is this “contraction”, which is presumed and happening presently is occurring at all levels, simultaneously. And trying to deal with it at any one level is fruitless because that is partial, limited, and “ego working on itself”. The only possible “solution” is Direct, unmediated, prior to arising. What IS, is what is already the case – not any exclusive conditional aftermath of time and space.
There is a Way that is not a way. The Way from the beginning (and the middle and end) is always a Direct Way. And yes, there is a process that requires an involvement, a responsiveness to that which is an Offering. If
not, there is only the ”not yet”, ”self-revealed”, ”other-directed”, “self-oriented”, “self-proclaimed” seekers path.
“Consciousness (Itself)…is Never (a) Prisoner Of conditional Existence” – The Dawn Horse Testament
Your choice, your responsibility.