|
* * *
"Egocentricity," then, arises within this process as the self sees all else, the non-selves, through itself alone, referring all to itself. An intimation of this, in all self-affirmation to an extent, is when someone says caustically of another, "He thinks he's the center of the world." That is, he is arrogant. Rightly did the early desert dwellers of Christianity speak of their battles with the 'demon' pride.
One could logically ask, "But what of the self that merges with the group? Is that not the self either transcending itself or denying itself as independent, so merging into a larger whole?" No. The self seeks freedom from self-determination, so self-responsibility, in a larger self - the group - that decides for it, even while the self declares itself free. Here, the "I" has merged into a larger "I," as an American might champion patriotism above all or a Christian champion the Church as her or his way to God and eternal life and, in so doing, surrender the self to the Church. Yet, the "I" has not transcended or denied itself, only merged itself into an ego-collective, or been swallowed up by the collective. The self is as present as before, however, even if reduced in dignity and integrity.
Religion and politics can engage the same act of absorbing persons, by rituals, to merge selves into itself. Each will have its systems and language to facilitate this merging, as well as rewards for the self so absorbed into the group. Presently, during the Covid-19 world crisis, we see in the United States a refusal or inability of some politicians and citizens to think and act outside their party or apart from the national leader - this we saw in the impeachment, also. We see citizens who claim to follow Christ cheering disreputable behavior by the national leader. We see persons acting disloyally to the common good, leaders and citizens, parroting the vocabulary of nationalism and human rights for ends not for the common good. The collective, with or without a cultish leader, becomes an excuse for the self to assert itself, hiding within the whole, with its language, rites, and loyalties. The greater danger appears when a cultish leader provides the figure-head for the inspiration of self-absorption in a whole wherein the self is as before, and, so, the self and the whole a denial of unity.
Here, the "I" is as present as before, as said, for merging into a whole to escape freedom is an act of ego-centricity, of cowardice. This is true, though now the self uses the larger-self, the group, to act out its self, without a sense of having to take responsibility. If a cultish leader is present, the leader is adored, partly for he or she can get away with doing things the self would be arrested for or denounced for doing. The self hides behind the persona of the great leader, allowing the leader to do what he or she wants to do, but feels he or she cannot do. Leaders of this sort can become powerful, partly for so many persons are afraid to affirm their inherent freedom with its responsibilities. Also, the power of this felt-need to merge shows persons are not differentiated yet as persons, and a self cannot transcend itself into any larger whole while not having gained a self in the first place.
This is why the Garden of Eden story in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is not a state to be desired, for here one is not even awake to the dignity or sacredness of the self within the whole. Here, the self is absorbed into an unconscious symbiosis with the environment and its god. Here, there is no opposition, not until the self awakens to its capacity for freedom. Yet, is a self possible without being awake to itself? "Adam" and "Eve" are not awake, initially, to themselves, they are asleep to the duality, and, so, must pass through duality to transcend self, which is simply to find self as part of the Whole, not merged into the Whole in an undifferentiated manner. The key, as pertains to our topic today, is a: Harmony is a differentiated, so a united diversity. If we lose one or two, we have lost harmony. Nonduality is not One negating all into One, but one and two and three at peace, so harmonized, the verses of the Song being the Song.
Continued... |
