TheAbeList message #917

Message: 917 From: JEEWHIZ@xxx.xxx Received: Thu Aug 05, 1999 3:00 AM
Subject: Why ego is valuable, wonderful, EVERYthing

<< Somebody today asked me why ACIM says ego is bad, and Abe said ego is
good. >>

What does "ACIM" stand for?

<< But ego can learn to be integrated with God within, and trained to
perceive the million data bits in every moment that feed back love, light,
beauty and joy, and identify itself as the very valuable filter that shows
you God in all things.

What do you think about ego? >>


Here's my take on why ego is valuable, wonderful and EVERYthing and why
Abe has is positive about ego. It has to do with perspective. Our unique
perspective and perception of our experience comes through the "lens" of our
individual personhood, and to me our individual personhood is tied in with
our "ego". Can we have different perspectives, different perceptions,
without egos? Can we be individual persons without individual egos?

Each of us is a unique "lens" or "focal point" because each of us was
born in unique circumstances, has lived a unique chain of experiences in a
unique series of places with a unique series of people, with different
"results" and "reactions", resulting in different "beliefs". It's because of
our uniqueness that each of us has a original and "creative" new ideas, new
thoughts, new ways of looking at things. And we all know the value of new
thoughts!!

On a recent tape of the month (Albuquerque, 5/9/99) I heard Abe explain
that (not a direct quote) when we create we are not sending vibrations out
into the universe, as many of us imagine. Instead we are attracting energy
IN, each of us attracting *** a unique synthesis which comes from our unique
perspective. *** To me this means that there is great value in our
individuality, our unique personhood (which again, I relate to the concept of
"ego").

Abe said when we have a "new" idea, we are drawing energy in, creating
a thought bank which is then accessible to others with similar perspectives
and focus. They gave the common example of a scientist having an original
theory, researching it long and hard, only to have another scientist on the
other side of the world "tap into it", do much less work on it (grasp the
concepts more easily) and announce his "discovery" at the same time!!

I'm still looking for clarity about these "thought banks", and this tape
brought questions to my mind! Are our thought banks "close to" the earth,
related only to the physical experience? Do we draw in energy on a topic,
"closer to" the earth from "out there" somewhere in the Universe, making it
more accessible to our fellow physical human beings? Is anyone clear on this?

Jane (ME)