During a group discussion this week, my friend shared a very useful analogy for describing the ego thought system. For you musicians out there, this may be especially poignant. Bob compared the ego thought system to the feedback loop that is created when an electric guitar is brought in front of an amplifier. You non-musicians can likely recall your favorite rock star’s dissonant sounds as he/she holds their guitar up to the speaker, shakes it a little (the guitar), and produces a siren like tone.
Imagine for a minute that you are the musician, all decked out in your tight pants and complicated shoes (or whatever your favorite rocker wears). You are the musician, but you are convinced that your life is the feedback loop. You’ll move around a bit, change the angle of the guitar, even shake it a bit trying to find a pleasing tone, but these seem to be the limits of your options. Paralyzed by fear, you stand there, not knowing what to do, but believing that your life depends on keeping this dissonant noise going.
Welcome to the ego thought system. Our fear keeps us beholden to the prison of a feedback loop that we believe is our life. It is clear when you look upon the musician from the outside that neither the effort expensed nor the tones of his “life” suit him, yet here we stand – holding the guitar, manipulating the screams, and blind to the choice.
The alternative, of course, is to remove the power from the loop. If the musician had any inkling that his life didn’t depend on the feedback loop, he could merely pull the plug, walk away, and return to playing the Melody of his True Identity.
We have the same choice with the ego thought system. We give it the only power that it has. It is nothing, but it is a nothing that we believe is us.
Unplug today from the judgment that is the ego’s feedback loop. Walk away from the guilt that keeps you prisoner to the ego’s dissonance and raucous screams.
You are the Musician. You are not the loop. Share your Song and remember your Self today.
T.29.IX.8:4-5 And in these dreams a melody is heard that everyone remembers, though he has not heard it since before all time began. Forgiveness, once complete, brings timelessness so close the song of Heaven can be heard…
Thanks for being our teacher, Bob.
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Great analogy! Yes, we feed the ego it's power and we have the ability to unplug the ego. First we must become aware of the difference between ego and authentic self. I think this is where so many struggle.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing it (the struggle) doesn't kill us, huh?
ReplyDeleteWas that a loaded question, Jackie? :)
ReplyDeleteIf not, remember that the central symbol of the ego thought system is death. Indeed, death – the ego’s symbol of the fear of God – has become “life’s” symbol. Death makes the seeming effects of the ego thought system life to us. It does “kill” us, so to speak. Of course, this has no basis in Reality, but just like the insane musician, we think the feedback loop is our reality – is our life.
Yeah, I'm feeling pretty stuck in a feedback loop myself right now D. Thanks, as always, for your wonderful gift of saying the exact right thing to me.
ReplyDelete:)