Transcription
Uh, even though the E ego is illusionary, why is it essential to the process of self-recognition?
That's a a beautifully formulated question. So I know you know this, but just by way of um, background, uh, I want to describe the difference between something that is an illusion and something that is not real. So, something that is an illusion is real, but it is not what it appears to be. The Mirage in the desert is an illusion as water, but it is real as a play of light. Relatively speaking, the landscape in a movie is an illusion as a landscape. There's no real landscape there, but it's real as the screen. So all Illusions have a reality to them.
Something that is not real is something that has no existence, even as an illusion. For instance, a square circle. Can any of you imagine even the illusion of a square circle? No. So an a square circle is not an illusion. It is simply non-existent, unreal. Whereas a mirage in a desert is not really a pool of water, but it is a play of light. So there is no value in investigating a square circle. It won't give us any knowledge about reality. However, there is a value to investigating the pool of water in the desert, because if you deeply investigate the pool of water, you'll come to the play of light. If you investigate the illusion, you find its reality. If you investigate what the landscape in the movie really is, that investigation won't lead you to a landscape, but it will lead you to the screen. So if one makes a deep investigation of an illusion, it leads to its reality.
One more anal. The rope that seems to be a snake. The traditional metaphor. The snake is not unreal. Something is there. It's not non-existent, but it is an illusion. The reality of the snake is the Rope. But if all you know is the snake, then you have to investigate what you consider to be a snake. You can't investigate the Rope because you don't know it's a Rope. You think it's a the snake. So we, if we make a deep investigation of the snake, that is the illusion, it will lead to the recognition of its reality, the Rope.
Well, the ego is not non-existent. There is something. Everybody now has the feeling of "I" or the feeling of being myself. Not just all of us, but eight, all eight billion of us have the feeling of "I" or being myself. Now, most people don't know what that "I" truly is. They think that "I" is a temporary, finite self. That temporary, finite self is an illusion, but it's not unreal. There is something there. There is something to the separate self. In other words, that there is a reality to the illusory self. But most people don't know the reality of the illusory self, but they do know the illusory self. They do know the ego. So they are told, "Okay, invest, investigate your ego. Investigate the feeling of Separation. Investigate the separate self that you seem to be." If you go deeply into that, if you investigate the snake, if you you you you you cannot help but find the Rope. It's the same. The ego, the sense of separation, is what most people feel and believe themselves to be. Then investigate it. If you go deeply into it, you will find its reality: the true and only self of infinite awareness.
One more analogy. If King Lear investigates who he considers himself to be. King Lear thinks he is King Lear. Okay, King Lear, that's what you think. Explore it. It's no good talking to King Lear about John Smith. Got no idea who John Smith is. But he does believe and feel, "I am King Lear." Okay, you start where you are. Explore who King Lear really is. King Lear starts to explore who King Lear really is. Who King Lear really is. King Lear is an illusion, but John Smith is his reality. And if he investigates, if King Lear investigates who King Lear really is, he won't find King Lear. He'll come to the recognition, "I am John Smith."
That's why when Raman Maharshi was was asked, "Self-inquiry," and I'm paraphrasing him now, when he was asked, "Which self are we inquiring into when we in self-inquiry? Are we inquiring into the illusory self or into the real self?" And he responded, "It doesn't matter. Just just inquire into whatever you think yourself to be. Just investigate it." Because if you go far enough into the investigation of yourself, whatever you believe yourself to be, you will eventually end up with its reality: the true and only self of infinite awareness.