289. filled with doubt
One of our ego’s favorite paths of resistance is to fill us with doubt. It stems from issues with self-esteem, and a fear of not having an ability to succeed with our endeavors. Instead of helping us rise to the occasion, it says “You don’t need this challenge, you are perfect as you are. It’s not you who needs to change, but everyone else.”
Said aloud, this sounds rather ridiculous, but believe it or not, this is how most people’s subconscious mind works in day-to-day life. Our biggest problem, as Ram Dass put’s it, is that we’re “too busy holding onto our unworthiness.”
In other words, our ego keeps us stuck in the safest possible place. One that never challenges, but always confirms. It is resistant to change because change means the death of a certain identity — a.k.a. our ego. But for any of us to build a life we want, we’re going to have to face the fears that our ego set in place — one’s of not being good enough to succeed — so that we can eventually learn what it takes to be good enough, at which point the ego that held us back will cease to exist.
127. egotistical utilitarianism
We all talk about how the world is headed in the wrong direction, and that someone needs to do something about it. Yet, we never seem to elect ourselves to right the ship. None of us do much of anything unless it becomes personal. Intellectually, we talk about doing this or that because it makes sense, but realistically we don’t take action until it trespasses our walls and begins to affect us, our family, or those who we hold closest. Some might say that is a selfish approach to solving the world’s problems, but what if that action we hold off on taking, the one we have a personal investment in, no matter how selfish it may seem, is the right choice each of us can make to create a better world, today?
Instead of complaining about the rising tide, why not learn to swim. The seemingly selfish effort put into developing an individual skill, can just as easily be seen as selfless when we use it to help those caught in the current.