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by Frank M. Wanderer
December 25, 2015
from
PowerOfConsciousness Website
Spanish version
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From the book
'The
Biggest Obstacle to Enlightenment: How to Escape from
the Prison of Mind Games?'
by Frank M.
Wanderer
Frank M. Wanderer Ph.D is a professor of psychology, a
consciousness researcher and writer. Frank is the author
of the books "The Revolution of Consciousness:
Deconditioning the Programmed Mind ", and several books on consciousness.
With a lifelong
interest in the mystery of human existence, Frank’s work
is to help others wake up from identification with our
personal history and the illusory world of the forms and
shapes, and to find our identity in what he calls "the
Miracle", the mystery of the Consciousness. |
The question could emerge in many of us, whether the spiritual Ego
is a supporter or an obstructer of the spiritual development.
Can it meddle in the process of
spiritual development, and if yes, then how does it do it? According
to us, the spiritual Ego can interfere with innumerable tricks in
the life of the spiritual seeker. These spiritual tricks are
manifested in various spiritual mind games.
Some of the most important ones are
discussed below.
The
Self-Developing Mind Game
The Ego-dominated mind says:
"Look for truth! Develop your
personality to make it the most sophisticated possible! Be
spiritual!"
The Ego-dominated mind keeps coming up
with new and new programs:
"Do this! Do that! Then all your
problems will be solved."
You try to obey, but in the meanwhile
you are wasting your entire life.
Personality development is one of the most dangerous traps on our
Journey along the road. The more energy we invest into, for
instance, the decoration of our spiritual mask, the more powerfully
we will identify with it, and insist on it so desperately that we
will be eventually unable to abandon it!
In this way, self-development only polishes
the Ego shinier and more
impressive.
In reality, it is the Ego that
instigates the individual’s start a spiritual Journey on the road.
It is a defensive mechanism of the mind! It diverts our attention
from the possibility of a real internal change by adding an
attractive new mask to our collection!
Be aware that Truth is already there in you, here and now in the
present moment!
Search will only take truth farther away
from you, as it either keeps seeking in the future, or presents old
obsolete truths of the past to you.
The "I Want to
Reach Enlightenment" - Mind Game
Nowadays we often hear about enlightenment, so the desire to reach
arises in many.
We must, though, ask ourselves the
question:
who is it that wants to reach
enlightenment?
It is, obviously, the Ego!
The Ego, that has so far longed for
power and money, now fell in love with an another idea:
Enlightenment.
It wants to be enlightened, intends to
extend its power in that direction.
The desire to be enlightened arises in it, but that desire and want
are exactly what take it away from enlightenment.
It is only possible to desire for something that is outside the Self
of the individual, we therefore seek enlightenment outside
ourselves, but we shall never find it there. Enlightenment is the
innermost core of our Self, we are originally enlightened!
As the inner Self is already perfect, there is nothing to be added
to it! What can we do then? As Egos, we must forget about
enlightenment, as we are not enlightened as Egos!
We must deal with what we are: the Ego.
In the course our Journey we must understand the Ego, one layer
after the other. It is only possible if we, as mature Egos, do not
identify with ourselves, we give up ourselves.
As a result of our observations, we always find new and new layers
of the Ego, we become more and more conscious of it, and we are able
to shed the layers that have been identified. In this way we realize
that desire is just one layer of the Ego. After we reveal the entire
Ego, the moment will come when there is nothing left of it.
That is the moment of enlightenment!
Enlightening means that we are in
harmony with the Existence, so also with the the present moment.
The "I Want
Peace and Tranquility" - Mind Game
It is the Ego-dominated mind that longs for peace and tranquility.
It wants to be peaceful and powerful so that its inner quiet can
open a gate for the Formless.
The mind nurtures the unconscious hope that in the Formless it will
be able to continue to exist somehow.
That is why so many seekers seek
spiritual experience during their Journey.
In reality, however, inner quiet and Ego, unity and Ego are
incompatible with each other. Where one is present, the other cannot
exist.
The Ego-dominated mind is capable of creating some inner quiet and
tranquility, a dead emptiness and, with the effort of the willpower,
it is possible to sustain it for a while. But it is not the quiet of
the pulsating alive internal silence, peace and tranquility
saturated with the joy of Existence.
Only a mere image of that kind of peace,
created and attempted to be implemented by the mind.
We are only able to recognize the quiet of the union, already
present in human beings (as this is their real Self), if we are able
to give up the expectations, desires, hopes etc. of our
Ego-dominated mind.
Eliminating
Mind Games
Consciousness is an indispensable condition for us to recognize the
Ego and reach Awakening on our Journey.
Otherwise it is not possible to observe
ourselves.
The witnessing, observing Presence
should always be there.
The mind will never understand anything that reaches beyond it. But
it tries. In this way, though, it will explain everything from the
separate aspect that it currently occupies in the time-space
continuity.
When one is able to reach beyond that separate focus point and
identification with the mind, that the person will also recognize
this conditioned state and will also be able to reach beyond that,
too.
In that case, the individual will not
identify with the mind, but increasingly with the Consciousness
(Witnessing Presence).
The Presence will gain dominance over
the mind to an increasing extent, and will be expressed through the
mind.
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