Not only are “you" an ego-self, but your ego-self needs “me” to be one too.
You wanna know how you can tell if you’ve really awakened to truth?
While blissfully dwelling in the belief you have finally transcended the ego-self, take a look outside your eyeballs and if you perceive an ego in me (and everyone else) then...
….you might have experienced a euphoric state of expanded consciousness…
..but NO truth (and ego-self is alive and kickin’).
The ego-self conforms to the experience of lack, scarcity and loss. The ego, or self, is nothing more than an experience of needs, seeking to be fulfilled. It seeks to fulfill its needs, or 'self-actualize,' from what the world offers, but because the world is full of egos, the entire world also subscribes to the basic experience of lack, scarcity and loss.
Therefore, egocentric individuals seeking to self-actualize (literally to believe one is 'actual' or real) in a world of scarcity, lack and loss must compete with other egos to increase, or actualize, their self-construct. Obviously there are levels to this competition. Most won't seek to compete for wealth with Donald Trump, however, we may seek to enhance our wealth in comparison to our neighbor. We certainly don't expect the fame of a Madonna, but we do wish to appear more important than our coworkers. We may not seek to attain the so-called “enlightenment” of a self-proclaimed “enlightened master,” but we may seek to convince those around us that we are consciously and spiritually ‘advanced.’
This is so deeply ingrained in the mind as to be on a subconscious level and the rules of the game are readily apparent for all who wish to see.
We teach our children NOT to achieve the greatest experience of life by deeply and fully engaging with others. Rather, because we love them, we teach that they must subordinate this experience to competitive values of self-actualization through the world's games. We want them to "succeed" IN the world and ON the world's terms. Therefore, we insure our children are well-fitted to compete in order to achieve "happiness." This is what we have inherited and passed onto them and they in turn will pass it onto their children. Is it any wonder we have become fixated on experiences of ‘individual’ enlightenment. The individual paradigm fits like a glove.
Jed Mckenna provides good training for stripping the self of its layers of social conditioning. Unfortunately, his approach fails to transcend our fear of one another, which is the most delusional fear of all and the fear that obstructs the progress of ALL individual seekers of “enlightenment.”
Jed McKenna epitomizes the "Christian Soldier" battling its nemesis the evil ego-self. This paradigm is as old as time itself, but it seems McKenna's "enlightenment" is stuck in time.
The ego-self believes it lives in competition with other egos. The ego is an experience of needs seeking fulfillment and it channels all need fulfillment from what the world offers. Therefore, to transcend the ego and its needs, all other egos must transcend as well. The “outside” merely reflects the “inside” and if you experience an ego IN me, make no mistake, it is IN you.
But note how your ego struggles and rebels against this idea, in wanting “enlightenment” for itself.
Jed Mckenna rages against egos. He sees them everywhere and is literally surrounded by them to the point of suffocation. In his self-proclaimed egoless “enlightened” state, he has disengaged from the egocentric world the rest of us inhabit. He even proclaims California as “ego Mecca” and dislikes the entire state all the more because of this. He is fully engaged in nothing but observing, and complaining about, egocentricity in all its manifestations and this is his rationale for completely disengaging from the illusion (and authoring 3 best sellers).
But why would an egoless mind perceive egos? Does ego transcendence still demand attachment to illusion? Why would a mind that has transcended the ego-self still fear egos?
Each chapter of McKenna’s 3 books describes his revulsion of human egocentricity. From middle class lifestyles to new age ideas, McKenna scoffs, so much so, that he appears misanthropic. Indeed, what McKenna sees is exactly that which he fears most…other people... and he avoids them like the plague (except when he is in complete control of the interaction).
Ironically, McKenna's various approaches are excellent for overcoming the seemingly infinite layers of social conditioning and he may have come quite close to an intrinsic center. Unfortunately, his fear of ‘people’ can only obstruct further progress, causing Jed to remaun stuck. As long as he can control the relationship, he’s quite comfortable. However, without that control, McKenna’s fear picks him up and he runs (like when speaking to a group of Gita devotees, requiring he make a hasty retreat out the nearest exit).
That’s called egocentric self-preservation.
McKenna's “enlightenment” is merely an excuse to disengage from the silly human race, but such disengagement is historically accurate in relation to other so-called “ego-transcended” teachers. McKenna does nothing more than carry on the inherited ideology of the past.
Nevertheless, I highly recommend McKenna’s 3 books as guides toward the shedding of social conditioning. His concept of “Human Adulthood” is admirable and should be used as model for an integrated egoic state. However, the truth seems absent from this process.
Mr. McKenna certainly sees that we are separated egos, but why does he negate relationship as the means of integrating?
Be forewarned, Jed McKenna’s “enlightenment” despises human engagement (he even negates his own capacity to engage in “human relationships”) and teaches the conventional paradigm of the “hero’s journey” of detachment. Unfortunately, the world is weary of individualism and beginning to show the effects of universal alienation and estrangement and not the cooperative shared engagement of an integrated consciousness.
Make no mistake, any awakening to truth that still perceives egos in an a world of egocentricity has awakened to nothing more than individual egocentric grandiosity.
Back to the drawing board, Jed, you’ve got more work ahead of you.
But that’s okay, because we all do….
(and by the way, Jed, stop hiding under a pseudonym. Come on out and fully and deeply engage your world).
Artwork by Chris Mars - "The Nullifier"
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