The Delusion of "Self-Esteem"

The world is awash in self-development practices. These numerous techniques and practices seek to increase egoic "self-esteem," but inadvertently reinforce the ego's fear of another part of mind, which it senses, but can never know. This part holds out the ultimate reward of a complete absence of ALL fear and thus, complete Awakening.

Birth was necessary in order to assert an egoic beginning and so, from an egoic perspective, you most certainly were born. This is because separate from an ego you are timeless and there is a part of your mind that attests to this. However, the ego is bound to time and therefore, it was necessary to assert a beginning for it to exist. There must be a physical birth or a beginning, since we obviously would not assert that an ego existed before time because the ego has no idea of timelessness.

This accounts for the "creation" myth as propagated through various cultural civilizations. Egoic creationism involves the origination of time (and 'space,' thrown in for good measure) through the Christian symbolism of eating the "fruit of the tree of knowledge." This myth emphasizes the origin of 'knowledge' bounded and limited by "time," which of course is not knowledge whatsoever. This is because it is a 'knowing' that is not infinite and thus, cannot (and still fails to) save or free humanity (as One) from its horrendous conditions which actually originated from this knowledge. It is useless knowledge and you need simply look around you at the world to see its failure.

This poses a distinct problem for ego-mind, in that the ego recognizes that there is a part of the mind that exists but was NEVER BORN. Therefore, the ego recognizes that there is another part of 'you' that is superior to itself, because no matter how much the ego denies this fact, it does recognize that time restricts its ability to carry out its various plans and projects, which seeks only to ASSERT itself as real.

Thus, no matter what the ego does to uphold and reinforce itself as real, amidst a belief in other egos, it still recognizes that there is another part of your mind that is superior to it and NOT limited in anyway by time. And for the ego, no matter how it attempts to spin this fact, that REALLY SUCKS!

SELF-ESTEEM

No matter what you do to assert the constantly changing properties of your egoic mind; no matter what manner of self-esteem projects and goals you perform to enhance you ego, self-esteem must always elude you simply because ego recognizes that there is another part of mind that is limitless in power and strength and therefore, it is knowledge free from all limitation.

Self-esteem, in egoic terms, is simply an egoic-mind that can better conform actions and behaviors of the body to what the "world" dictates as superior functioning. The best you can do in your efforts to improve or increase "self-esteem" is to mold and shape your ego to be less antagonistic to what it defines as 'reality.' Yet, by doing so, you only deny that there is part of your mind that is unconcerned with reality but wholly concerned with Truth. But because reality, as perceived, changes consistently, self-esteem is as elusive as the wind. On the other hand, Deep Spirit is not bound by the whimsical properties found in reality, because it has no knowledge of what you define as your "reality" and acknowledges only what is 'outside' time.

Examine all the self-development websites and you will see that generally they tend to coincide with advances in the science of psychology. However, if you look deeply at the purpose of psychology, as defined through "psychotherapeutic models," that purpose is merely to improve "functioning" in the world, based on the conditions as dictated by the world(norms, laws, rules, restrictions, mores, etc.).

This is your prison and psychology will assist in full adjustment and adaptation, simply by teaching you how to become less antagonistic to the walls and get along better with the other inmates. Those who exhibit good behavior will be deemed as appropriate models of "self-esteem."

Psychology does not, and in fact, cannot, acknowledge that there is a part of your mind that supersedes the egoic-self and therefore, should be the ultimate goal of any model of achieving increased "self-esteem." This is because to do so would completely annihilate the science of psychology which is based solely on knowledge that conforms exclusively to 'time.' Deep Spirit conforms to no such conditions and so, self-esteem, in ego terms, has absolutely no meaning whatsoever, and is a useless endeavor destined to fail in providing that which the world proclaims will save you.

True self-esteem is perfect equality...

...which would be timeless since there can be no distinctive levels available outside the bounds of time. Time demands levels and degrees and this is why egoic mind looks for comparisons to uphold its belief in good "self-esteem." Egoic self-esteem demands that you compare yourself, measurably, through acknowledging levels of superiority as demonstrated or exhibited by other egoic minds, based on agreement as to the best functioning one could attain against the conditions the world teaches are REAL. Yet, if all egoic minds are doing the same comparisons, this is like the blind leading the blind.

Now we have the issue of the ego's sensing that there is another, more superior, part of mind that has essentially REJECTED THE EGO (no wonder we're all primarily depressed!) However, this Deep Spirit part of mind does not attack or reject the ego, simply because it does not recognize that the ego even exists.

This is because, from Deep Spirit, which is timeless, there can be no part of mind that is in time. This is why there is no need to denigrate and attack the ego, as many spiritual ideologies attempt to do through transcendent practices, because it's simply not there and all your attacking can do is assert the NON-REAL as real.

Essentially, although Deep Spirit does not correspond with Ego, nor ego with Deep Spirit, the ego recognizes something higher than or above it that it knows it cannot hope to attain or even compare to (and this is why it sticks to comparing itself with other egos). However, the mind is split and recognizes the two parts cannot be converged and essentially one must be let go of as the other is turned to with ever greater frequency.

This is the path to Deep Spirit. It does not rely on transcendence but transformation. A mind seeking transformation from ego to Deep Spirit does not attack ego through fear, resulting in egoic symptoms such as anger, anxiety, depression, guilt, etc, etc. This is because the mind realizes this only gives credence to ego or that which does not exist. Fear is completely absent from Deep Spirit and this path employs the recognition of the increasing absence of egoic fear as guidepost to an ever greater correspondence with Deep Spirit.

The only effective "self-development" strategies are those which seek to break with what the world teaches as "self-development." Not violently, but through ever greater recognition of the part of mind that is free of limitations and boundaries. There are no austere and esoteric practices, just a radical and uncompromising change in what part of the mind you get your facts from!

I would suggest you start actually talking with that part of the mind that knows no fear.

Even though people call me crazy... I do it all the time.