The Ego, A Maladaptive Solution To A Non-existent Problem

The phrase in the title is from Ken Wapnick, and it is one of my favorites from his repertoire.

You could go one step further and say that the ego creates the problem and offers solutions which ensure the continuity of the problem. Namely, at an abstract level, to follow the basic metaphysics of A Course In Miracles, all the ego is, is the thought of separation, the thought that I could be separate from my source in God. The Course calls that the "tiny, mad idea." Our only problem is that we think it is real, because we have identified ourselves with the thought, and dreamed up a life full of problems, all of which attest to the fact that I'm real, my problems are real, and there really is a world out there, with a past, present, and future, and in which I'm rooted in fear, because I think I've sinned in the past (after all I think I exist, so I offed God), so I feel guilty in the present (about my sin), and I'm afraid of the future - really because I'm now afraid of God.

Reading this little book by Jeff Foster, has been great, simply because he's coming in from a very different direction, and yet, the way he phrases himself is very recognizable for anyone who seriously studies the Course. Everyone's path is different, and that's fine, but it does help sometimes to see how things can reinforce one another. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Jeff Foster got a lot of inspiration from Krishnamurti, Sri Ramana Maharshi, en Sri Nisirgadatta Maharaj. Certainly the first two were very important pre-cursors to the Course. For one thing Helen and Bill were very fond of the work of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Helen also was fond of the work of Sri Ramakrishna. This little book is so clear, it could really help a lot of people cut through the clutter of the endless shelves of pretend spiritual literature of today. It's all much simpler than anybody thinks, and in the end it all boils down to the insight that the solutions we come up with merely make real the problem we think we see, so it becomes a chicken and egg situation, and the only way out is to realize that the whole thing is a joke. A Course in Miracles may be a way out for some people, at least it seems to be, but nothing works for everybody. Many people are finding a lot of help with Eckhart Tolle at the moment. It all does not matter, whatever works for you is fine.

In terms of the Thomas Gospel there are numerous statements which chime in with the notion that we'll be happier if we stop trying to solve the nonexistent problems, which merely perpetuate the problem. We cannot choose the solution because that reaffirms the problem. And so the path in one form or another is one of undoing, since we are already there. Logion 1, right away implies the possibility of a pretty disruptive perception shift, so does Logion 2, and this theme really plays throughout all the sayings. Clearly Jesus looks at things a bit different than we are wont to do, and he's trying to get us to see it his way. Logion 3 introduces the very clear notion that the Kingdom is within, and not a far away travel destination. Then it introduces the clarification that it revolves around knowing yourself, and that when we truly know who we are (spirit!) we will know that we are one. In recent posts I have been discussing several other Logia where the notion of the immediacy of the Kingdom, such as Logion 51, comes up.

Again, Jeff Foster writes about similar notions without any particular reference to the Course, but it may be interesting to some students as a conceptual parallel, and in a very condensed form, yet very simple, straightforward, and accessible. In short, this little book comes highly recommended.