The ego, as a collection of our past experiences, is continually offering miserable lines of thought. It’s as if there were a stream with little fish swimming by, and when we hook one of them there is a judgment. The ego is constantly judging everybody and everything. It has its constant little chit chat about thingsthat can happen in the future, things about the past, too, and these are the little fish that swim by. And what we learn to do — this is why it takes work — is to not reach out and grab a fish.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
How to avoid "miserable lines of thought"
All right, dear people. What is it that gets us in trouble regularly, repeatedly? Well, it's the ego, of course. Here's an image of how that works that may help us remember to let go or (better still) not to get involved in grasping in the first place:
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I like his phrase about the ego having "constant little chit chats..." Isn't it just like that?
ReplyDeleteI find it helps to have a definite intervention to stop such "conversations" in my head. Either get up and DO something, or else plug in another thought as soon as I am aware of what my mind is doing. Happy New Year everyone!
annie c
Thanks for your good advice, annie c., and thanks to you too Ellie.
ReplyDeleteEllie, please, where did you get this great quote from Prather?
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Yes, it's a good one, isn't it, Elizabeth?
ReplyDeleteI think I found it in a collection of quotes. I'll have to retrace my steps but I'll give it a try. If I find it, I'll post that here.