In Buddhist cosmology, the realm of hungry ghosts is one of the Six Realms of Desire, being the second after the Hells.
These realms are metaphorical destinations where people are reborn due to the "evil" passions of strong emotions (anger, hate, fear, lust, jealousy, happiness, attachment, desire, etc).
What is so evil about strong emotions? That one may err and harm self or others or worse, both self and others. We have heard of crimes of passion where a murder is justified due to strong emotions clouding the judgment of the murderer who killed her lover due to jealousy.
Could even a child of two who hits his one-year old brother on the head with a hoe be due to evil passions? Yes, especially when the young lad runs like hell to the neighbor's property to escape justice at the hands of his mother!
Addiction is akin to being in the realm of hungry ghosts. In this way, reincarnation may be used as a metaphor to explain daily living.
Ever wonder why some practicing Buddhists could be so stoic? They have practiced meditation to calm the mind and maintain control over the biggest addiction of all: the passions.
For a Buddhist, passions (strong emotions) are evil in the sense that they almost lead one to the Hells when regularly experienced.
Such an addiction to emotions is an evil because a person could lose sight of the goal of Buddhism: to cease rebirth by putting out the flames of evil passion, and thus enter Nirvana.
How might one enter Nirvana? In this lifetime? Or, the next? Before answering the first question, the answer to the second and the third is, it depends on your past actions, your present actions and your future action. As well, the karma of your past may prevent Nirvana in this life. It might even prevent Nirvana in the next.
Below I give a rough guide to Samatha-vipassana meditation. Samatha is the meditation of stillness, while Vipassana may combine both sitting and walking meditation. If I have erred here, please correct me and I'll credit you and correct the text.
By sitting on his ass in contemplation of bliss, the Buddha practiced the meditation of stillness.
If this isn't your style, then the second method is useful as a guide
By walking while in silent meditation on a koan the Buddhist may find it possible to go beyond peace of mind.
Even though the strict Zen practitioners decry reading a sutra or even writing down one's thoughts, due to the risk of stirring up evil passion, the first meditation in stillness shows that even passions will dissipate when carefully observed.
What good then is the walking meditation?
It makes it possible to realize the meaning of this koan:
"What is your face before you were born?"
Answer: The face before I was born is not the face I was born with. For karma dictates that a practitioner may never know the face before being born. Yet he can be assured that it is not the face he was born with.
Nor will it be the face of my next birth, which brings us to a koan of my own: "What is your face after you die?" The answer is, "It's not the face I was born with nor the face before I was born."
Yet this is not reincarnation, but the transmigration of karma.
However, meditation when practiced with a true Buddha buddy beats sitting still alone.
Hungry Ghosts: http://taiyu.hubpages.com/hub/Hungry-Ghosts
Showing posts with label ego addiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ego addiction. Show all posts
20130212
Ignorant Craving (poem)
Ignorant craving is like being blinded
By staring too long at the sun,
Except you're addicted to worldliness.
Enlightenment is like being able
To run naked in a field with everyone.
Now that you know the difference,
Why would you still want to stay blind?
By staring too long at the sun,
Except you're addicted to worldliness.
Enlightenment is like being able
To run naked in a field with everyone.
Now that you know the difference,
Why would you still want to stay blind?
20110106
The Solution to Ego Addiction
Dialectic Behavior Therapy requires a trusted facilitator with a psychotherapy background to help the client realize that the root of his problems is ego addiction.
A brief definition of ego addiction is the unhealthy exercise of a person's ego which results in negative feelings of abandonment, grief, guilt, psychic pain, and remorse out of proportion with any given situation.
Furthermore, ego addiction may be harder to recover from, because the afflicted have only a vague concept of ego and how it arises; yet they cling to it strongly.
Easterners have a stronger concept of ego and its originations. This is why they reject psychiatry and the DSM. It also explains their belief in karma.
In the East, it isn't the ego that leads to mental illness.
Rather, it is clinging to the idea that the ego is a permanent entity to the point where one fears nonexistence, and strongly believes the self-as-neutral-observer to be a permanent soul.
For certain Easterners who have carefully studied esoteric Buddhism, the five senses and their organs are the five consciousnesses, the mind is the sixth, and the ego and that "soul" are the seventh and eighth consciousnesses.
For advanced meditators, relief from mental unrest is found by visualizing oneself as the deity (usually Amitabha Buddha) and where one is meditating as the mandala palace (the Pure Land). In Vajrayana Buddhism, it may be White Tara and her Pure Land.
Amida Buddha and his Pure Land of Bliss is actually the symbol for peace of mind.
Thus the solution to the mental unrest caused by ego addiction begins by first stilling the mind through meditation in a social setting conducive to it.
Then, as a result of dialog and practice with a trusted master (therapist), the practitioner behaves in a peaceful and non-violent manner.
20101108
The Social Fabrication of the Ego
In Buddhism, human suffering is explained by the Buddhist concept of dependent arising, which consists of twelve parts which work together in an orderly manner. First and foremost, ignorance is the first of those twelve parts. Next comes fabrications.
Indeed, Buddhist thought confirms that the ego is a social fabrication. Likewise does social psychology.
According to Greenwald, Ego, or self-will, is an organization of knowledge, characterized by cognitive biases strikingly analogous to totalitarian information-control strategies.
These totalitarian-ego biases function to preserve organization in cognitive structures.
Ego's cognitive biases are egocentricity (self as the focus of knowledge), "benevolence" (perception of responsibility for desired, but not undesired, outcomes), and cognitive conservatism (resistance to cognitive change).
In addition to being pervasively evident in recent studies of normal human cognition, these three biases are found in actively functioning, higher level organizations of knowledge, perhaps best exemplified by theoretical paradigms in science.
The thesis that egocentricity, benevolence, and conservatism act to preserve knowledge organizations leads to the proposal of an intra-psychic analog of genetic evolution, which in turn provides an alternative to prevalent motivational and informational interpretations of cognitive biases.
See Anthony G. Greenwald's article "The Totalitarian Ego Fabrication and Revision of Personal History" (1980).
Commentary:
"Benevolence" is my interpretation of Greenwald's term "beneffectance" (beneficence and effectance), which is a term he coined to describe the perception of oneself as responsible for desired outcomes but not responsible for undesired ones. This involves forgetting failures more easily than successes, and remembering one's contribution to a group effort to have been better than average due to superiority bias.
Beneficence is defined as doing good and feeling beneficent, and specifically describes the quality of being kind, helpful or generous.
"Effectance" itself is not defined in any dictionary, but is probably related to effectiveness and its synonyms, power and especially powerfulness, which means possession of controlling influence.
Cognitive conservatism, being defined as resistance to cognitive change — changing what one knows based on current experience — suggests an unwillingness to adapt to present circumstances.
Adaptability is a useful psycho-social trait in which the individual adapts readily to the current environment, especially during times of political change and upheaval. It is also useful within the context of social rehabilitation related to addiction, mental health and associated issues.
Thus cognitive conservatism as defined by Greenwald does not imply adaptability at all.
Overall, egocentricity, beneffectance, and cognitive conservatism are not effective means of dealing with human suffering. The reason that they are not is that the ego tends to blame others for human suffering, so as to reduce its ultimate role in one's own suffering.
Indeed, the ego will come up with seemingly good excuses to avoid or deny responsibility. Yet a healthy view of personal responsibility allows for each of us to share responsibility for relief of the suffering of others.
Therefore, Greenwald's article suggests that totalitarianism might be the externalization of egocentricity taken to political extremes.
Egocentricity taken to extreme on the individual might also explain addiction and other dysfunctional behavior, especially within the context of beneffectance and cognitive conservatism.
Indeed, beneffectance in itself could be used to deny and excuse responsibility for undesirable outcome, while cognitive conservatism, the inability to change.
Overall, Greenwald's analogy that the cognitive biases of the ego are similar to totalitarian information-control strategies confirms the ego only exists as a social fabrication.
References:
Social psychology notes on Greenwald's article: http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/greenwald_tot_ego.html
Totalitarian ego: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537228/Totalitarian-Ego
Greenwald's references on beneffectance: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/Beneffectance
Mistakes were made but not by me: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537204/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-not-by-me
Indeed, Buddhist thought confirms that the ego is a social fabrication. Likewise does social psychology.
According to Greenwald, Ego, or self-will, is an organization of knowledge, characterized by cognitive biases strikingly analogous to totalitarian information-control strategies.
These totalitarian-ego biases function to preserve organization in cognitive structures.
Ego's cognitive biases are egocentricity (self as the focus of knowledge), "benevolence" (perception of responsibility for desired, but not undesired, outcomes), and cognitive conservatism (resistance to cognitive change).
In addition to being pervasively evident in recent studies of normal human cognition, these three biases are found in actively functioning, higher level organizations of knowledge, perhaps best exemplified by theoretical paradigms in science.
The thesis that egocentricity, benevolence, and conservatism act to preserve knowledge organizations leads to the proposal of an intra-psychic analog of genetic evolution, which in turn provides an alternative to prevalent motivational and informational interpretations of cognitive biases.
See Anthony G. Greenwald's article "The Totalitarian Ego Fabrication and Revision of Personal History" (1980).
Commentary:
"Benevolence" is my interpretation of Greenwald's term "beneffectance" (beneficence and effectance), which is a term he coined to describe the perception of oneself as responsible for desired outcomes but not responsible for undesired ones. This involves forgetting failures more easily than successes, and remembering one's contribution to a group effort to have been better than average due to superiority bias.
Beneficence is defined as doing good and feeling beneficent, and specifically describes the quality of being kind, helpful or generous.
"Effectance" itself is not defined in any dictionary, but is probably related to effectiveness and its synonyms, power and especially powerfulness, which means possession of controlling influence.
Cognitive conservatism, being defined as resistance to cognitive change — changing what one knows based on current experience — suggests an unwillingness to adapt to present circumstances.
Adaptability is a useful psycho-social trait in which the individual adapts readily to the current environment, especially during times of political change and upheaval. It is also useful within the context of social rehabilitation related to addiction, mental health and associated issues.
Thus cognitive conservatism as defined by Greenwald does not imply adaptability at all.
Overall, egocentricity, beneffectance, and cognitive conservatism are not effective means of dealing with human suffering. The reason that they are not is that the ego tends to blame others for human suffering, so as to reduce its ultimate role in one's own suffering.
Indeed, the ego will come up with seemingly good excuses to avoid or deny responsibility. Yet a healthy view of personal responsibility allows for each of us to share responsibility for relief of the suffering of others.
Therefore, Greenwald's article suggests that totalitarianism might be the externalization of egocentricity taken to political extremes.
Egocentricity taken to extreme on the individual might also explain addiction and other dysfunctional behavior, especially within the context of beneffectance and cognitive conservatism.
Indeed, beneffectance in itself could be used to deny and excuse responsibility for undesirable outcome, while cognitive conservatism, the inability to change.
Overall, Greenwald's analogy that the cognitive biases of the ego are similar to totalitarian information-control strategies confirms the ego only exists as a social fabrication.
References:
Social psychology notes on Greenwald's article: http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/greenwald_tot_ego.html
Totalitarian ego: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537228/Totalitarian-Ego
Greenwald's references on beneffectance: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/Beneffectance
Mistakes were made but not by me: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537204/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-not-by-me
20101029
The Healthy Ego Revolves Around a Higher Power
Ideally, a truly healthy ego revolves around a Higher Power. For some of us, this is God as we know Him; others rely on the Buddha or Allah or even their most trusted friends.
Egocentricity however operates under the delusion that the world revolves around me. It tries ot get us to believe that we don't need help to recover from addiction.
Yet, where is this "me" when the chips are down? When self-will (ego) tells us we can do fine on our own, relapse might occur.
Out of ignorance, we create fabrications rather than simply face the simple truth that the biggest social fabrication is the ego.
For the ego does not exist, except in the mind.
Of the mind, let us be mindful of the folly of egocentricity. For what is "I", "me", and "mine" but social conventions?
Let go and let God...
Egocentricity however operates under the delusion that the world revolves around me. It tries ot get us to believe that we don't need help to recover from addiction.
Yet, where is this "me" when the chips are down? When self-will (ego) tells us we can do fine on our own, relapse might occur.
Out of ignorance, we create fabrications rather than simply face the simple truth that the biggest social fabrication is the ego.
For the ego does not exist, except in the mind.
Of the mind, let us be mindful of the folly of egocentricity. For what is "I", "me", and "mine" but social conventions?
Let go and let God...
20101027
Ego as Social Fabrication
The ego is not part of the true nature of human beings, but is a social fabrication, inculcated from birth.
Ignorance about our true nature results in us believing the ego is real until we find ourselves alone and socially isolated due to excess caused by our desires and passions.
Within the context of Buddhism, passions are considered a necessary evil. They are evil because when the ego holds sway over a person, the passions would eat us out of house and home.
Merely satisfying our material needs for clothing, food and shelter is not enough.
Without strong adherence to a moral code and the resultant ethical response of right and wrong, we could eat until we become obese, have more clothes than we could possibly wear, and never leave our homes.
Thus, the prudent and wise of us have learned to develop their spiritual yearning to the point where they have incorporated it into their lives, whether it is religious worship or a wholesome hobby.
For me, my hobbies consist of computers and writing: I use my computer to write in my journal, to create electronic music, and to learn about the world and myself.
As for religious worship, I try to spend at least every other day meditating, and reading Buddhist sutras to gain an understanding of the human mind and its essential nature.
Additionally I also read the Bible with an open mind, so as to round out my thirst for the living water of spiritually inspired works.
Ignorance about our true nature results in us believing the ego is real until we find ourselves alone and socially isolated due to excess caused by our desires and passions.
Within the context of Buddhism, passions are considered a necessary evil. They are evil because when the ego holds sway over a person, the passions would eat us out of house and home.
Merely satisfying our material needs for clothing, food and shelter is not enough.
Without strong adherence to a moral code and the resultant ethical response of right and wrong, we could eat until we become obese, have more clothes than we could possibly wear, and never leave our homes.
Thus, the prudent and wise of us have learned to develop their spiritual yearning to the point where they have incorporated it into their lives, whether it is religious worship or a wholesome hobby.
For me, my hobbies consist of computers and writing: I use my computer to write in my journal, to create electronic music, and to learn about the world and myself.
As for religious worship, I try to spend at least every other day meditating, and reading Buddhist sutras to gain an understanding of the human mind and its essential nature.
Additionally I also read the Bible with an open mind, so as to round out my thirst for the living water of spiritually inspired works.
20100824
Meditation on Self Justification
He who always justifies his actions lacks inner conviction. In lacking inner conviction, egoistic desire may motivate him to justify himself in order to regain control over his life.
Instead, stop justifying your actions. Be silent and listen with your heart-mind to the wise counsel of a good friend.
Always the battle is not with a thousand enemies, but with our greatest enemy: the ego-self. Each of us has no enemy stronger, for each of us has had doubts about the self. Indeed, there are no enemies, only potential friends.
In context of this meditation, "ego-self" refers to belief that the ego exists as an independent self as a permanent thing. With respect to that definition, "healthy ego" refers to the self that is aware of interdependence on others yet is self reliant.
"Interdependence" refers to the true nature of relationships. Even though there may be a causal relationship between myself and another person A, it also affects that person's causal relationship with yet another person B. Even though I do not know person B, and person B does not know me, my relationship with person A cannot help but affect person B indirectly.
Thus it makes sense to be of harm to no one.
Originally posted on May 26, 2005 9:25 PM
Edited August 24, 2010 at 11:54 PM
Edited January 29, 2013 at 19:35 PM
Instead, stop justifying your actions. Be silent and listen with your heart-mind to the wise counsel of a good friend.
Always the battle is not with a thousand enemies, but with our greatest enemy: the ego-self. Each of us has no enemy stronger, for each of us has had doubts about the self. Indeed, there are no enemies, only potential friends.
In context of this meditation, "ego-self" refers to belief that the ego exists as an independent self as a permanent thing. With respect to that definition, "healthy ego" refers to the self that is aware of interdependence on others yet is self reliant.
"Interdependence" refers to the true nature of relationships. Even though there may be a causal relationship between myself and another person A, it also affects that person's causal relationship with yet another person B. Even though I do not know person B, and person B does not know me, my relationship with person A cannot help but affect person B indirectly.
Thus it makes sense to be of harm to no one.
Originally posted on May 26, 2005 9:25 PM
Edited August 24, 2010 at 11:54 PM
Edited January 29, 2013 at 19:35 PM
Remember the Buddha (poem)
Like monkeys swinging from tree to tree through
the jungle is the untamed mind, the ego-self.
Lost in the world of the six senses of hearing,
sight, smell, taste, touch, and thought, it passes
from desire to conflict to idea as though endlessly.
When you realize the ego-self to be the cause
of your suffering, it may hide itself from you,
causing much unrest in your life at first.
Once you tame this monkey by abandoning the delusion
of the ego-self, your mind will then be at peace.
Just center yourself in meditation,
observe your defiled mind carefully,
and let it become still through mindful practice.
Then, forget the ego-self, remember the Buddha,
and attain true and real happiness.
20100616
Desire (poem)
Were I to suppress my desire,
I would sleep my life away,
lost in a dream.
For it is desire
which leads me to practice
mindfulness & awaken to
relief from my mind's unrest.
Without desire,
I would be lost to endless craving,
subject to addiction
with this crazy world.
Everyday I am driven
to practice mindfulness,
until ego is appeased.
Indeed, it is desire
which leads me to practice
mindfulness & awaken to
relief from my mind's unrest.
I would sleep my life away,
lost in a dream.
For it is desire
which leads me to practice
mindfulness & awaken to
relief from my mind's unrest.
Without desire,
I would be lost to endless craving,
subject to addiction
with this crazy world.
Everyday I am driven
to practice mindfulness,
until ego is appeased.
Indeed, it is desire
which leads me to practice
mindfulness & awaken to
relief from my mind's unrest.
No-self (Non-self) as the Root of Nirvana
Egotism is a spiritual disease in which one thinks his ego is permanent, and others should worship it by treating him with respect.
However, ego does not exit and nor does soul.
All that transmigrates is the mind only in the form of consciousness.
Indeed, careful study of sunyata (emptiness) shows us that a mind empty of ego is free of rebirth and ripe for nirvana.
This spiritual truth may be validated by experience.
When you are full of yourself, please declare to the world that you are.
If people treat you with more respect, then they have respect for the ego.
If they do not treat you well, then they have no respect for ego.
If they ignore you, then this validates what the Buddha said about such folly.
For no-self is the root of nirvana, because the First Truth declares that all life is filled with unrest.
Indeed, the Second Truth tells us that it is endless craving, not desire, that causes such unrest.
In the Third Truth we learn that spiritual may be cured by satisfying such unrest through skillful means.
Finally the Fourth Truth presents the Eightfold Path as such means.
Through the Eightfold Path is the root of nirvana realized by helping us to see that no-self aids in bringing rest to the mind, and ultimately peace.
However, ego does not exit and nor does soul.
All that transmigrates is the mind only in the form of consciousness.
Indeed, careful study of sunyata (emptiness) shows us that a mind empty of ego is free of rebirth and ripe for nirvana.
This spiritual truth may be validated by experience.
When you are full of yourself, please declare to the world that you are.
If people treat you with more respect, then they have respect for the ego.
If they do not treat you well, then they have no respect for ego.
If they ignore you, then this validates what the Buddha said about such folly.
For no-self is the root of nirvana, because the First Truth declares that all life is filled with unrest.
Indeed, the Second Truth tells us that it is endless craving, not desire, that causes such unrest.
In the Third Truth we learn that spiritual may be cured by satisfying such unrest through skillful means.
Finally the Fourth Truth presents the Eightfold Path as such means.
Through the Eightfold Path is the root of nirvana realized by helping us to see that no-self aids in bringing rest to the mind, and ultimately peace.
20090904
Just One More: The Nature of the Mind
'"Just one more" is the binding factor in the circle of suffering,' said the Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche.
Yet this is the root of addiction and of obsession. It begets suffering.
Such a thing arises in the mind. Listen to what Sakyong Mipham writes about this:
'The mind is where we live. It is how we experience things. Through the practice of meditation, we see past the superficial waves of discursiveness and discover the noble qualities that are the true nature of mind.'
For the true nature of mind lies beneath its surface.
Without meditation we cannot discover it; with meditation, we know intimately its true nature.
Reference:
It's All in Your Mind. - http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2996&Itemid=247
Yet this is the root of addiction and of obsession. It begets suffering.
Such a thing arises in the mind. Listen to what Sakyong Mipham writes about this:
'The mind is where we live. It is how we experience things. Through the practice of meditation, we see past the superficial waves of discursiveness and discover the noble qualities that are the true nature of mind.'
For the true nature of mind lies beneath its surface.
Without meditation we cannot discover it; with meditation, we know intimately its true nature.
Reference:
It's All in Your Mind. - http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2996&Itemid=247
20080310
Ego Addiction
I have an addiction.
It's called 'ego addiction.'
It means that I spend most of my waking hours worrying about whether people like me, agree with me, understand me, care about me, want me, respect me, admire me, listen to me. It means that I am dominated by my ego, possessed by it, controlled by it. It means that my vision, my hearing, my understanding must all pass through the filter of my ego.
Not very flattering.
A friend of mine pointed it out. He suggested that one of the symptoms of my ego addiction is 'attachment.' I had never heard that term before in this context. He explained, 'I heard a speaker once who told the audience before he started, If, during my talk, you find yourself disagreeing with my comments or angry or bored and want to leave, go ahead, I am not attached to my comments.'"
"Attached to my comments." Wow! Those words went off like a bombshell in my mind. It was one of those "aha's" of life. I recognized myself in those comments because that is exactly what I do. I attach myself to my words, to my actions, to my possessions...my children, my job, my faith. If you don't agree with what I say, I take it personally. If you walk out during my talk, it must be something I said. If you miss a Sunday or two at my church, I must have offended you, you don't like me, my theology is not acceptable...
...Mix a good dose of ego addiction with Jesus, and the consequences are frightening. It causes ministers to build huge churches as a monument to their own ego, it causes people to go on television with their "unique ministry," which is another term for "my ministry." It causes people to write books, speak all over the world, abandon their families, their friends, and their neighborhoods so they can respond to the "great need"... which is really the need to be needed....
...How embarrassing it is to come to the third chapter of John. John's popularity was dropping off and Jesus' popularity was growing. Naturally, John's disciples were very upset. John calmed them down and then stunned them by whispering those magnificent words, "He must increase, I must decrease."...
...What if I took those words seriously, detached my ego from Jesus, and started following Him instead? What if I started worrying more about Jesus' reputation and less about my own? Maybe Mike would begin to disappear ... and Jesus would start appearing in my family, in my relationships, in my church ... even in this magazine."
Mike Yaconelli, "Ego Addiction," The Door Magazine, #125, October 1992.
When you put other people first, then the ego does not distort the truth.
Then you can walk on one step at a time with less stumbling.
Although it isn't that simple for most people, what complicates the matter is that it takes a lot of little baby steps before you are able to walk confidently.
It's called 'ego addiction.'
It means that I spend most of my waking hours worrying about whether people like me, agree with me, understand me, care about me, want me, respect me, admire me, listen to me. It means that I am dominated by my ego, possessed by it, controlled by it. It means that my vision, my hearing, my understanding must all pass through the filter of my ego.
Not very flattering.
A friend of mine pointed it out. He suggested that one of the symptoms of my ego addiction is 'attachment.' I had never heard that term before in this context. He explained, 'I heard a speaker once who told the audience before he started, If, during my talk, you find yourself disagreeing with my comments or angry or bored and want to leave, go ahead, I am not attached to my comments.'"
"Attached to my comments." Wow! Those words went off like a bombshell in my mind. It was one of those "aha's" of life. I recognized myself in those comments because that is exactly what I do. I attach myself to my words, to my actions, to my possessions...my children, my job, my faith. If you don't agree with what I say, I take it personally. If you walk out during my talk, it must be something I said. If you miss a Sunday or two at my church, I must have offended you, you don't like me, my theology is not acceptable...
...Mix a good dose of ego addiction with Jesus, and the consequences are frightening. It causes ministers to build huge churches as a monument to their own ego, it causes people to go on television with their "unique ministry," which is another term for "my ministry." It causes people to write books, speak all over the world, abandon their families, their friends, and their neighborhoods so they can respond to the "great need"... which is really the need to be needed....
...How embarrassing it is to come to the third chapter of John. John's popularity was dropping off and Jesus' popularity was growing. Naturally, John's disciples were very upset. John calmed them down and then stunned them by whispering those magnificent words, "He must increase, I must decrease."...
...What if I took those words seriously, detached my ego from Jesus, and started following Him instead? What if I started worrying more about Jesus' reputation and less about my own? Maybe Mike would begin to disappear ... and Jesus would start appearing in my family, in my relationships, in my church ... even in this magazine."
Mike Yaconelli, "Ego Addiction," The Door Magazine, #125, October 1992.
When you put other people first, then the ego does not distort the truth.
Then you can walk on one step at a time with less stumbling.
Although it isn't that simple for most people, what complicates the matter is that it takes a lot of little baby steps before you are able to walk confidently.
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