You read these words and encounter them as novel, as unfamiliar. I read them, and I know them as my own, thought up and laid down in print by my self. We both grasp at the text: I by claiming ownership over it, and you by seeking to profit from it. We may call this spontaneous grasping egotistical, and therefore ‘unenlightened’, but that makes it no less natural. In fact, to condemn our grasping is only to grasp on a higher, more “spiritual” level: “I must not grasp, I must not be egotistical—I must be better!”
If this self-making occurs so spontaneously, we may do well to pause and consider why it arises in the first place. Why has nature seen fit to create diverse loci of consciousness, diverse sentient beings, each striving to preserve, reinforce, and express itself? Or, in our limited case study, why is there me as the writer, and you as the reader?
Nature is far too consistent, determined, and creative in its self-making to write this off as a mere error. And we ourselves are far too fruitful in the endless variety of perspectives we bring to life.
We may wonder whether nature has not overdone things by separating itself into various identities, as we are destroying the world (and ourselves) over what belongs to whom and which self is more important than the other. But maybe the suffering that springs from egoism is the wake-up call we need to develop a more holistic understanding of reality. We must only remember that the impulse to this waking up, the drive to become free from suffering, can arise only in our selves.
Our individual consciousness is the soil in which nature plants its seeds. How would the insights of the Buddha, for example, have entered the world had the Buddha not awakened to them? How would this text have been written if I had not grabbed the pen, and how would it have become known if you, my reader, “mon semblable, mon frère”, had not arrived here to read it? Perhaps our selves are all so many masks nature puts on to catch a glimmer of its ever-elusive face?
May we wake to and beyond ourselves,
Simeon
But “egoless” does not mean “less than personal”; it means “more than personal.” Not personal minus, but personal plus — all the normal personal qualities, plus some transpersonal ones.
—Ken Wilber
Suggested Reading
The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Teilhard de Chardin presents a sweeping vision of evolution not merely as biological change but as the unfolding of consciousness within the cosmos. From matter to life to reflective mind, the universe becomes increasingly aware of itself through countless individual centers of experience. Human consciousness, in this view, is not an accident but a pivotal moment in the story of the world.
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What really resonated with me was the part about suffering. Its lessons help us integrate the self, especially as this passage shows how our egos obscure and reveal nature. I'm curious about the significance of the 'ever-elusive face' you describe.
"But maybe the suffering that springs from egoism is the wake-up call we need to develop a more holistic understanding of reality."
I love this Simeon, and it hits me right where I am. It's certainly the best answer to why is there so much greed, violence, and corruption in our world (and specifically my country) today.
Such that when someone says, "don't we need to call it all out, to protest, to challenge, and even to do battle against it?", my first inclination would be to concur. But that would not uproot the problem, and in fact, just continue the cycle.
As so many sages have said, in many different ways, we must recognize our true nature to understand the root causes of our predicament, to really help change course. In the end, it becomes the ultimate motivating force for any of us to wish to awaken from this dream of an ego-centric existence of separate, competing, selves. It well could doom the planet and our very existence; cause another planetary reset, if you will.
Or enough of us could awaken to the reality that our ego-identity is but the small self, and that we are (also) truly all one Consciousness, or Being, or Divine love itself, if that's your language. And that we can awaken to that Truth, and live from that Reality.
Thank you for the work you do Simeon, and for sharing it with the world, to help remind us who we really are, and how we might find the path to our collective awakening. And since I know you interview luminaries from various fields, I just thought I would mention Daniel Schmidt, the avatar behind the AwakentheWorld movies. I think that could be a really enlightening discussion.