Читать книгу FEED YOUR SOUL, STARVE YOUR EGO - bayu purnomo - Страница 5

Passion will become poison if not fulfilled. However, before attempting to fulfill that passion we must determine the origin of the passion. Passion can arise from two places within us; our soul, which emits true passion, or our ego that emits false passion.

Our soul is not something created, it’s not something that has a beginning and an end, a creation and demise; it simply is and always will be. It’s the piece of us that connects us to this world, which makes us a part of it. Atoms are the physical component, the common factor between us and everything else in our universe because atoms are the building blocks of all things in our universe. Our soul is the driving force organizing the atoms that make up our physical being. It’s a piece of the power, the hand that created everything. It’s the intangible common factor between us and the universe.

It is not my intention to prove or disprove the existence of God, or a god, but I see it difficult to not acknowledge that something has set things in motion and has seen to it that there is order in the world as opposed to chaos. Weather patterns, seasons, migration routes, all are cyclical and exist without our control or influence. An animal dies in the wild and scavengers feed, fruit falls from a tree, some spawning a new generation of trees others providing nourishment to animals. Point being, there is reason and order in this world even with the absence of humans intervening, so there must be some other guiding force. Even within us there are examples of a power beyond our control, influence and knowledge. One example being stems cells. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with the potential to become a specialized cell such as a skin, muscle or bone cell. But who or what is giving the orders? Telling each stem cell where to go and what to be? It must be the force behind the rest of the universe, the same force that we each carry a piece of inside us. Our soul is ultimately the one in charge (or should be in charge), drawing up the blue prints (DNA) and seeing that they are adhered to. The soul has no beginning and therefore has no end; it just is.

In contrast we also have a similar entity or force within us; our ego. However our ego does have a beginning and therefore also has an end. Our ego is a creation of our brain, our central nervous system. Its creation is associated with the development of our brain; as we become more self aware as a child and begin to form a self-image. Our self-image as a child is similar to a tadpole that is gradually developing into a frog. As our ego develops it begins to encompass greater fields beyond how we see ourselves. It begins to form opinions and ideas on what we will be, what we deserve, and where we stand in relation to others; “I’m going to be a doctor”, “I should have one of those”, “I’m better than them”, “they’re better than me”,

The state of our ego is dependent upon our circumstances. If we’ve just experienced success then it is bold and confident, willing to take a chance. If we just suffered a loss, or failed to obtain something we felt we deserved or wanted badly it is fearful and reluctant to take a chance; to reach outside its comfort zone. In the midst of success our ego has an insatiable appetite no material item, no relationship, no success is enough; it must always have more. In the midst of hardships, it has little or no appetite; it seeks to withdraw, to hide from others, from the world, to avoid chance and risk. To meet someone new is a risk, for they may disappoint, to buy something new and expensive is a risk, for we may lose our job tomorrow or the opposite may be employed “we may not have this money tomorrow so we should use it now”, to call a friend is a risk, for they may not answer or they may not understand, all actions are seen as a risk and therefore no action is taken.

Depression is a condition that grows from the ego; our ego may be in a state of joy living the life it feels it deserves, be it a high paying job, a great husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend whatever it may be. And then that job, that relationship, or both is gone; the company goes under, or downsizes to prevent going under, the significant other has a change of heart, and takes off down a new path in life that doesn’t include us, and our ego is crushed. It begins to question if we deserved what we had in the first place, is this new place where we belong? Will we always end up in this place of sadness and disappointment? No matter how hard we try to escape it?

Depression cannot exist in the soul, because the soul has no beginning, and no end, it will always be. The ego knows it will not last forever; it attempts to exist under this shadow, this truth (to the ego) that the end is coming and as a result fears everything it perceives as bad. The ego thinks, “I don’t want to die single, unattached, or alone”, “I don’t want to die poor”, “I don’t want to die unhappy”. These worries don’t exist within the soul. Death or the end isn’t a concern for the soul because there isn’t any; time is unlimited. As a result the soul can direct our body and mind towards great things if we have the courage to follow it. Courage is to see the danger, to see the risk but to move in its direction anyways, to conquer fear. The soul has no fear so courage is irrelevant to it, however our ego (our mind), fears much. So we must acknowledge our fears, but not let them hinder us from following the guidance of our soul.

The soul will always strive for growth, the ego will cling to what is known be it good or bad, pleasing or displeasing. The soul wishes to expand, to merge with other souls and achieve harmony with the universe. The ego wishes to stay within, inside its walls, safe from failure, away from the unknown. The soul is strong, rigid at times, flexible in others. The ego is weak, fragile and self serving. The soul will provide hope and courage when one reaches crossroads in life. The ego will provide doubt and fear. The soul is not harmed by failure; it remains the same in success and in failure. The ego is what changes, bold after success, fearful after failure. Success is in our perception; follow the lead of the soul and we will dissolve opposites, such as success and failure, good and bad. We will simply be, we will experience all that is good, and all that is bad on the path but will not be changed emotionally by it. Follow the perception of our ego and we will sit idle out of fear of what the path may lead to. We must recognize when we feel fear, this is our ego fearing the unknown. We must recognize a desire for change as our soul pushing for growth; a need to expand. We must feed our soul and follow its lead, starve our ego and conquer its fears.