A New Earth - Chapter 3

So far - this is my best chapter yet. My biggest A-HA moment came when they spoke of the reasons people overeat - WOW. What I got from the class Monday night on Chapter 3:

• Who are you? Many people may answer mother, father, doctor, etc but it is much deeper than this and there is no conceptual answer to this question.
• Ego = thinking
• What you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself
• when you react to something that someone else does, realize that this is something you have to look at in yourself
  
• Ego is identifying with thought
• Once you label something, you desensitize yourself with that person or thing
• Complaining is one of the ego's favourite ways of strengthening itself
• The ego is the identifying with the negative thoughts
  
• Become aware of that complaining voice in your head
• Egoic complaining is when no change is to take place by the complaint, when there is no purpose to the complaint, when they are resenting complaints
• When ego tries to make someone wrong, the complaint is personalized
  
• Rather than complaining - state the facts
• When you complain - there are hard feelings, hurt feelings. The hurt feelings come from the ego - accept and recognize the hurt feelings
• No grievance has justification
• When you call someone a name - instead of sensing the aliveness of another human being - you've labelled them
• ex. when we label ourselves as 'good people' - we identify THAT as who we are. Then when someone says you're 'no good' (or calls you names or criticizes you), many people get angry or the ego wants to defend itself - then the ego will go into self-repair mode - and get angry back.
• Get in touch with your deeper level that does not get hurt
• When you feel hurt - often it turns into anger
• Ask yourself - what grievances to we carry? Remember - no grievance has justification through grievances the ego stays alive.
  
• Worrying is mental noise, get out of the mind and into the presence - you can only help yourself
• Worry is unconscious mind movement into the future when the outcomes are negative - it pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose
• What ever you fight - you strengthen and what you resist, persists.
• Non-reaction - recognize when another human displays egoic behaviour and allow your ego to be there but not to react. Accept egoic behaviour within other people (ie. rudeness, etc), when you don't react you'll eventually see the other person's behaviour back down.
• The ego in other people is NOT who they really are, then the presence in you gets to relate to the presence in them - this is compassion.
• Your reaction is so automatic that when someone behaves unconsciously (ex. yelling at you), to react in the same way is very automatic (ex. yelling back at them)
• Peace or Drama? Peace is the new egoic mind and Drama is the old egoic mind
• Many people have an addiction to unhappiness (drama) - become aware of it and you can step out of this into the present moment (peace).
• Have a good relationship with the NOW? If you don't, you don't have a good relationship with life because life is NOW.
• The NOW is the exit out of the ego.
• OVEREATING - has alot to do with ego because the ego that lives in a constant state of NOT ENOUGH always seeks something else to fill it (like with food - but any addiction has to do with ego) .... A-HA
  
• Eat consciously - Stop resisting - once you make eat consciously and make a meditation of it, you won't eat 2 bags of chips unconsciously....you will begin to enjoy every single chip and in the enjoyment & pleasure - if you stop when it's no longer pleasurable - it's no longer pleasurable after 3, 4 or 5 - when you're conscious. But the time you eat the whole bag, you don't even taste them anymore.
  
• Make a meditation of it, BE WITH IT, FEEL IT, sense it - allow yourself and your whole body to be with it and when you're done with the pleasure of it LET IT GO...
• Sense your body - you don't become overweight (or even drunk) if you are acting CONSCIOUSLY.
• Obsessive indulgence happens when you are unconscious - addictions are unconscious.
• This book is NOT about believing - it's about what you come to know for yourself (feel for yourself). God, in the essence of all consciousness is NOT something to BELIEVE - God IS.
• God is a 'feeling' experience not a 'believing' experience.
• When you can fully accept that you don't know who you are - you are closer to who you are ...... A-HA
  
• Be in the form (the body) and sense the formlessness (your essential beingness) in the background of your life at all times
• YOU - are the awareness between your thoughts and the awareness of the thoughts

WOW - 2 A-HA moments for me - ANOTHER great chapter (between chapter 2 & 3 - I can't decide what is my favourite chapter so far! Another week, another pleasure!