Is ego the enemy?
Ryan Holiday says ego is the enemy.
But is he right?
David Hawkins would have said no.
He said...
"We can't get rid of the ego by demonising it, denying it, by making it our enemy, but by owning it and beginning to see and appreciate it for what it is. A wonderful mechanism by which without it life wouldn't survive".
A different approach is required then.
He recommended giving your ego a name.
Michael Singer famously calls his ego Mickey.
I call mine Joey.
Joey is the automatic voice inside my head telling me what I like, what I don't like, what I should be afraid of, how I should deal with 'fixing' those fears, dislikes, etc.
Joey is not my enemy.
When you stop seeing your ego as an enemy, you stop seeing others as evil. You stop getting caught in the animalistic way of thinking. And then you begin to rise above it.
I'm at the beginning of the process. By no means perfect. But recent changes in me are profound.
More to come in future emails.