All Structures are Unstable

Big Frank has an excerpt from Eckhart Tolle for your contemplation. This comes from the chapter entitled "The Power of the Ego" in his book A New Earth. In it he writes of the egoic mind that most people identify falsely with self. This is an unstable and ultimately unhappy way to live.

"Whatever form it takes, the unconscious drive behind ego is to strengthen the image of who I think I am, the phantom self that came into existence when thought - great blessing as well as a great curse -- began to take over and obscured the simple yet profound joy of connectedness with Being, the Source, God. Whatever behavior the ego manifests, the hidden motivating force is always the same: the need to stand out, be special, be in control; the need for power, for attention, for more. And ,of course, the need to feel a sense of separation, that is to say, the need for opposition, enemies.

The ego always wants something from other people or situations. There is always a hidden agenda, always a sense of "not enought yet," of insufficiency and lack that needs to be filled. It uses people and situations to get what it wants, and even when it succeeds, it is never satisfied for long. Often it is thwarted in its aims, and for the most part the gap between "I want" and "what is" becomes a constant source of upset and anguish. The famous and now classic pop song, "(I Can't get No) Satisfaction," is the song of the ego. The underlying emotion that governs all the activity of the ego is fear. The fear of being nobody, the fear of nonexistence, the fear of death. All its activities are ultimately designed to eliminate this fear, but the most the ego can ever do is to cover it up temporarily with an intimate relationship, a new possession, or winning at this or that. Illusion will never satisfy you. Only the turth of who you are, if realized, will set you free."

And on that note, we will end this with a another quotation from the ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides: "It is necessary to speak and to think what is; for being is, but nothing is not. "