..Enlightenment means that formlessness is taking deliberate form in you. It is giving you a profound sense of appreciation for the objects and essences around you. It is radiating out from you into other beings and objects, lifting them, energizing them and sensitizing them. It clarifies the understanding of integrated Life and wholeness among all creatures. This, incidentally, does not guarantee great intellect, but it does bring resourcefulness and vision.
“Can’t intelligence come out of ego as well?”
Indeed, it can and did repeatedly in human culture. Ego can be, and was a huge stimulus to creativity and development of increased awareness. By the way, intelligence is a universal; intellect is a local, human phenomenon. There is a great difference.
Let me take this opportunity to clarify what I’m saying about the ego. Your age was so dominated by it, both collectively and in-dividually, that it is the major feature we remember of your civiliza-tion. Ego conditioned everything you thought, and thought about—your entire identity. In my time, we still have vestigial egos, not unlike the appendix in your body, but it never dominates us or governs our identity. What it does for us is trigger early development, and later it spices up our lives, in small doses. We can see it quite clearly and turn it on or off, as desired.
Any time you live in a duality system, there will be at least rem-nants and semblances of separation from Source. In these letters I will speak of egoless or ego-free qualities, but nothing is absolute on the physical planes. Thinking, acting and speaking are always done in relative terms.
“All right. It’s good to know that. But how can your egos—any separative ego—coexist with holistic awareness?”
In vigilan society, we have a phase of our lives where ego plays a part, longer for some than others. It is in our youth, when we need to differentiate from the oneness to a degree. Even so, it is never dominant over appreciation. During this period, the ego as-sists in the development of individuality, in ways similar to humans. It is useful in giving us a face to the outer world—a personality, if you will. As part of this process, we establish our sense of destiny and desires for engaging Life. In youth we explore our passions more overtly and actively, as we explore our newly manifesting life form. A small amount of ego is very helpful in this…
Copyright © 2009 by Robert Potter
Letters From 500 