Many paths lead up the imaginary mountain

 Many paths lead from

the foot of the mountain,

but at the peak

we all gaze at the

single bright moon.

Ikkyu (1394-1481)

 

When I started writing about spirituality, I was influenced by the New Age concept of ego, this part of our self that “edges-God-out”. Often it is not hard to see when ego rules our behavior, and once we become aware of what we are doing, we can play little games like doing exactly the opposite and see what happens.

 

These days I am more influenced by advaita, the feat of being aware of Oneness and the ability to look through self’s presence altogether. The power of the here and now is that our self identification melts in the magnificence of the moment. Thought stops altogether and within there is a feeling of serenity, abundance and love.

 

It’s not wrong to contemplate the presence of ego within and in all of our interactions. In fact, the mindfulness of ego presence is also a form of self inquiry. While we have to be careful to mind the decision maker as he often is a self-appointed thief as police-chief, our heart and our environment will be glad to disrobe him if we are honest enough to listen.

 

Christianity’s love, the Torah’s golden rule of doing unto others as we want them to do unto us, the general practice of meditation and mindfulness, the zen approach of seeing life as it is, ego contemplation, self inquiry, you name it. Eventually all practices lead us up the imaginary mountain as long as we are serious practitioners; sooner or later we spot the self at work.