For many years I have pondered the relationship between ego and soul. It seems like many view that relationship as a struggle or competition.
I love Chip’s take that the ego is our path to the soul. As we mature we become less egocentric and more conscious of our souls.
This is in line with Baha’i teachings that say the human race is experiencing a phase of adolescence. As humankind matures, we will become more in tune with our collective soul.
Largely like my now-late father, I've been a chronic worrier and negative thinker almost my entire life. It would be appropriate to have stated on my grave/urn marker someday that, ‘He spent his life worrying sick about things that never happened.’
I find that this curse essentially prevents me from meeting that special lady. Most notably, I’ll start talking to a woman I find attractive but then mentally freeze up with anticipations of, among other disasters, a potential relationship’s inevitable failure, right up to signing divorce papers a few years later.
I cannot recall much of my half-century-plus life, and almost nothing positive, probably because I spend my ‘present’ anxious about my future and depressed over my past. For me, that includes a fear of how badly I will emotionally deal with the negative or horrible event—which usually doesn’t occur—and especially if I’ll also conclude that I'm at fault. It would therefore be great if there could be some valuable academic or clinical use from it all—to create or extract from it some practical positivity and purpose—so that all of the suffering will not have been in vain.
For many years I have pondered the relationship between ego and soul. It seems like many view that relationship as a struggle or competition.
I love Chip’s take that the ego is our path to the soul. As we mature we become less egocentric and more conscious of our souls.
This is in line with Baha’i teachings that say the human race is experiencing a phase of adolescence. As humankind matures, we will become more in tune with our collective soul.
https://dwightleewolter.substack.com/p/planting-a-rose-garden-during-wartime?r=59bib&utm_medium=ios
Largely like my now-late father, I've been a chronic worrier and negative thinker almost my entire life. It would be appropriate to have stated on my grave/urn marker someday that, ‘He spent his life worrying sick about things that never happened.’
I find that this curse essentially prevents me from meeting that special lady. Most notably, I’ll start talking to a woman I find attractive but then mentally freeze up with anticipations of, among other disasters, a potential relationship’s inevitable failure, right up to signing divorce papers a few years later.
I cannot recall much of my half-century-plus life, and almost nothing positive, probably because I spend my ‘present’ anxious about my future and depressed over my past. For me, that includes a fear of how badly I will emotionally deal with the negative or horrible event—which usually doesn’t occur—and especially if I’ll also conclude that I'm at fault. It would therefore be great if there could be some valuable academic or clinical use from it all—to create or extract from it some practical positivity and purpose—so that all of the suffering will not have been in vain.