Trying to silence your ego is like running into the middle of the street and standing in oncoming traffic.
The outer world is the moving traffic. It’s constantly changing and there’s always some movement going on, even if it’s unnoticeable.
Sometimes traffic seems like it’s not going anywhere at all and things aren’t changing, and then BAM!, a second later and you’re moving full speed again.
The outer world is like that. The ego depends and thrives off of the outer world.
Without the traffic, the movement, the chaos, it would get bored. It needs something to talk about, something to complain about, something to resist.
But what would happen if it didn’t resist the traffic?
What if it just stood there, calmly, not trying to dodge all the cars around it. Not being scared of what’s to come, and what might happen next.
Will there be impact? Injuries? Death? Your ego just can’t help itself. The scenarios it creates could go on and on.
Maybe it’s thrilled by the action and instead starts playing a game with the traffic. It could be cunning and excited, getting the emotions fired up.
But how long can the ego stay excited standing in the traffic? Eventually that excitement will wane off into boredom, resentment, or the need for danger to create an even more intense excitement than the last.
It’s like a drug that loses potency the more you take it. Eventually you need more and more and more. And that’s definitely the ego.
After a few hours or even less of standing there, maybe it starts jumping on the cars or lies down in the middle of the road. Either way, the ego just can’t stay still, neither physically nor emotionally.
It’s always on the hunt for something to hold on to.
The inner self on the other hand is still there, calm.
But it’s hard to hear the silence over the noise.
The inner self knows the secret to this whole traffic thing.
So maybe, it gets tired of watching the ego run around like a chicken with its head cut off, or the ego causes an accident with all of its interference in the traffic.
So the inner voice gives the ego a hint one day. In the middle of the commotion, the inner voice whispers: “It will persist if you resist”.
“What will persist?” The ego asked.
Confused, it wanted to know more, so it asked again louder. “What will persist?”
But the inner self had already gone back to its state of stillness and silence.
Still confused, the ego repeated what it heard: “It will persist if you resist”.
So what could it be?
Well what the ego had to realize before it could attempt to tackle the next part, it had to be honest about something. This whole traffic thing was nuts. One minute it’s fun, the next it’s miserable. The ego was tired. And unhappy.
That’s it!
Unhappiness.
“Maybe the unhappiness will persist if I resist?”, it thought.
“So what do I do?” asked the ego.
Remember what the inner voice said “…if you resist”. Stop resisting.
For a second the ego tried it out. For a second, well 5 seconds precisely, the ego stopped resisting.
And what happened?
Nothing.
The ego stood there in the middle of the traffic, just observing. It was still and fought every desire to make a comment or do something crazy.
The ego just watched the cars moving so swiftly on either side and all over.
All of a sudden, what just seconds before looked like extreme and utter chaos, had turned into a smooth symphony of machinery.
What was going on? The ego didn’t recognize itself anymore.
The calmness, the stillness, the peaceful cohesion of life?
“Blehh.”
“This is boring.”
Back to the complaining and car jumping.
The ego has no use for stillness or serenity. It needs action. It needs adventure. It doesn’t care that it’s unhappy, because without the drama, it’s just not the ego anymore.
Calm, happiness, peace. The ego does not need any of that.
But do you?
If the ego let go and stopped resisting, took a deep breath and just stood there with silence, it would notice something.
It would notice that calmness feels very different than boredom. There’s an ease to it. A feeling that takes over and oddly makes the body come alive.
It would become connected to the inner voice and they could have conversations without ever saying a word.
It would realize the insanity of its actions prior.
“How could I think I could control all of those cars? Each individual one in their own world.”
Someone is blasting the radio. Someone is doing a whole set of make up while eating a bagel.
Someone is drunk, angry, sad, tired, lost, confused, and the list goes on and on.
Some might have an expensive car and others a tin can.
But when you’re stuck in traffic, does it really matter?
Every one is dealing with their own issues inside the car and dealing with the reality of the traffic around them as well. After all, they’re all surrounded too.
This isn’t about standing in traffic, and hopefully that’s not the message being sent.
Please DO NOT stand in oncoming traffic.
The scenario represents life.
And the cars are the separation that exists between us. But that’s a different article.
Life will happen whether you resist or you don’t.
I guess the choice is: what’s more valuable?
Peace or excitement?