Letting Go of the Ego

Cassia Rose Heatley wrote: It has been two months almost since I last posted in this thread, so I feel it is due to give an update. I made peace with the "unappealing partner", once I allowed myself to see in him what it was that I didn't like in myself that came quite easily. He quit around a month ago, but I am happy that I was able to resolve my conflict with him before that happened. My training is harmonious and I have no issues with any aikidoka, I also train frequently with yudansha now (as often as I do with white belts). I would like to thank the commenters above that helped me reach the right conclusion and approach and enabled me to improve myself and my training. I no longer talk of other aikidoka in an unkind manner and try to only say positive or constructive things toward my partners .

Hi Cassia, not to take away from what you and Mary and jun and chris and the others have said...

Aikido isn't for every one

it is an art, in that it takes skill and dedication, but also that little bit of 'magic'

I have already been castrated by the 'big men' and 'women' on this site, for opening my mouth, so i won't be long.

Continue to have faith, because all of out power comes from god. And from love. (Corinthians 1:13 God is love. And of the greatest things, love hope and charity, but the greatest of these is love).

Take what you are taught in class, and apply it outside of class. It will make you the greatest friend/lover/father/mother student of life.

If all you ever seek to do is to excel in class, attend classes, pay attention, and work hard, and you will achieve this goal.

Good luck!

x John.

This brought up an image in me of Fight Club: The only way to get rid of your ego is to shoot yourself in the head.

Lynn Seiser wrote: Like a Zen koan or like looking for a black cat in the dark without a flashlight when there is no cat there ... LOL

that's because the cat is in the box and you can't open the box for the uncertain fear that the cat might eat the dog or not.

Phi Truong wrote: that's because the cat is in the box and you can't open the box for the uncertain fear that the cat might eat the dog or not.

Perhaps there is no box, fear, cat, or dog.
We create the ego through what we identify with.
Controlling/changing/utilizing the ego is to let-go of past attachments/identifications and finding more useful/healthy ones.
This is a normal/natural developmental process.

Letting go of the Ego.. Something so different than in newest martial arts. Imagine MMA without using Ego... Yhmm. Maybe MMA it's not a martial art, but Fighting system....

FWIW, my one of my teacher's would often differentiate between an "I am" self and an ego. In his teaching, the "I am" self was a manifestation of an attachment to some idea of ourselves -

- "I am" a man / woman
- "I am" someone who likes this (uke who are considerate)
- "I am" someone who dislikes that (uke who are jerks)
- "I am" someone who believes such and such (that aikido training should look and feel like ...)

And his teaching of an ego was of something much more natural, a bit like a belligerent teenager - sometimes uncouth and vulgar - but basically harmless and inevitable for anyone on the path to fundamental realization.

Unfortunately, without each of us really digging into this, there will be a natural inclination to conflate the two. (When am I bumping up against someone's "I am" self and when am I bumping up against someone's ego. When am I manifesting an "I am" self and when am I manifesting an ego.) And so, when we speak of ego, we must always ask ourselves: Are we referring to the delusion of a 'free and persistent CEO self' or are we referring to an unrestrained enthusiasm of discovery.