Goals, Ego, Intention, and God

Connections, Overlap, or Distinctions

My continued investigation of goals, ego, intention, and God [Universal Mind]. How may they fit, or are there separations? How much is an illusion?

"In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamens call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link. Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warrior's indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity." – Carlos Castaneda.

Castaneda's perspective on personal power and leadership interests the ego for its function and use. Intent is a force that connects everything in the universe, and it is what makes an ego believe it could be invulnerable and capable of achieving success even when thinking it is defeated. Leadership, as currently practiced, often generates more personal power than people know how to use beneficially, delivering crisis and separation. The intent of the Universal Mind is beyond ego, suggesting Who to follow to Whom to listen. 

Saint Augustine's quote, "There is no possible source of evil except good," challenges the common understanding of good and evil. Evil is not a separate force but a perversion necessary for good to do its work to be seen. Judgment is 99% ego, for our ego's bias and desires cloud the perceptions [another veil of the ego] of good and evil. The Universal Mind operates beyond ego without judgment or discrimination. Ego says otherwise!

Universal Mind versus Goals resembles Universal Mind versus Ego to me. Our struggles and discomforts are side effects of the ego's desire for control and power, which manifest in the pursuit of goals. Recognizing the illusory nature of the ego and its limited control can help us let go of our attachment to goals and instead focus on the present moment and the true nature of existence.

"There is no self! There is no I. There is merely a shifting mosaic of moods and thoughts, changed like a pattern in a kaleidoscope every time circumstances shake the instrument. This ridiculous object has been strutting around saying I this and I that, and all the while, it has no more I than a scarecrow and no more will than a puppet." - Fitz Hugh Ludlow. 

Ludlow saw the illusion of a fixed self, a sense of self constantly shifting and changing through thoughts and circumstances. Our attachment to the ego and its illusions of control and power again separates us from our true nature. The ego makes us crazy. 

"My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up on it.) Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." - Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Wittgenstein suggests that language and thought can only take us so far in Being in the world. We must let go of our need for understanding and accept to rest, to lounge in the mystery of existence.

"The most elevated thought, the greatest knowledge, the best skills...They are nothing without a plan. Being clear about the "what" and the "why" is essential, but if you are not clear about the "how," there is no way to make it happen. Start by writing it down on paper, then take action and follow it." - Oliver Velez.

The importance of a plan is the ego's need for action and control in achieving its goals. Its survival is all that is important to it. Knowledge is useable only after the discovery of Wisdom. Pessimism about probabilities [ego calculations] is wise, and so is optimism [true hope] about possibilities. When asking what's this for, what's the purpose, the more concern, energy, or value I [ego] place on what I [ego] have no say [ego's favorite domain], the less say I [ego] have over anything.  Crazy!

Everything happens through us, not by us, and challenges the ego's sense of control and power. By recognizing the illusory nature of the ego and its imaginary control, we can let go of our attachment to problems and issues out of our control and focus on the present moment.

That is all there is. It is where miracles happen. 

"The more you look in the direction of what’s creating experience and away from the content of that experience, the easier it is to hear the quiet wisdom that can lead to a quantum leap in Consciousness." – Michael Neill.