Beyond Greed, 'Stuff', and Ego

Sundance Center Op-Ed, Mountville, PA

Tuning In Beyond Ego
by John Hutchinson
 Why are some shocked at the daily exposures of greed and deed that is reported from around the world every minute of every day… acts based upon our ego desires and anxiety …


Survival is a natural instinct and state of all creatures of the earth. Humans have the consciousness to create fear and pain from thought and fantasies that are not real. We embellish and hold onto to past occurrences as if they are still happening… replaying them in our thoughts … plus reinforcing and strengthening the memory traces through continual story-telling to anyone who will pay attention… We can endlessly consider all possible future scenarios to worry about…


Of course we know our physical life on earth is on a lease… and someday the lease will run out… so there is always an underlying real body-fear of extinction… the body knows it’s on a temporary gig…


All of us haven fallen short of the mark of self-less and unconditional love… and we act in ways that expose our fears about not having enough or being enough… our frustrations and anger when we do not get our way or what we think is owed to us… When our expectations are not met we react with behaviors from disappointment and sadness to rage and violence…


We act from our forgetfulness that we are all part of the Oneness of Life… the ego operates as if it - ‘I’ - am god…or the only one that matters… The ego structure is focused on the defense and survival security of the personality… the individual…


The child finds itself in a foreign land and in a place where there is less than total empathic love… To the extent that the caregivers and surrounding family members carry some energies of past pain, regret, and hurt… along with fear, worry, and dread about future fantasies… plus some amount of desire, wants, and expectations… to that extent, the child inherits negative energies that are absorbed from the home environment…


Many times the child must develop less than healthy coping mechanisms that learn to manipulate and get what it needs or wants… thus the survival personality begins its journey of development… In addition to personal predispositions, the trial and error of finding what works continues to add to patterns that develop and even sub-personalities that learn to deal with different circumstance…


The child is split off from its true Self and Life Spirit in the necessity to survive… This results in a sense of separateness and disconnection from Life and it finds some place to connect and get lost in… a social identity… an accepted member of the family, community… a hero or star… or a loser or outcast… some role… or group identity that provides some sense of connection… All of these attempts eventually lead to a dissatisfaction, emptiness, or just a sense that something is missing or “Is this all there is?”


So the natural need to survive gets translated into every conceivable act that we see on a daily basis… Why is it that, what seems to be 98% of the time, we continually broadcast and watch the conflicts, violence, sexual exploits, celebrity addictions, and negative win-lose energies happening across the globe? We continue to strengthen what is wrong rather than focus on inclusive solutions.


Governance, for the most part in the US has degenerated into an addictive sickness that has nothing to do with solving problems for many… it is a game of us and them… as if they are unruly children fighting on the playground at an elementary school…

One commentators insisted we must define and isolate the ‘enemy’ so we can “bomb the hell out of them.”… This is insanity… ego madness... 


What if a family therapist who is working with a family in conflict has the operating theory that …All we need to do is identify the ‘real enemy’ in the family… the trouble maker… the one creating all the destructive energy… and take them out into the back yard and shoot them… Insanity…


Even if people wish to kill us, they are our brothers and sisters… our family… and the family is always an interactive and dynamic system that is also tied to all the other social and relational systems of each of its members. We can defend others who are in some danger and also work to understand and help every family member…


Systems are complex… and unless there are unseen forces at work in transforming a system… most systems will not easily be changed by removing a specific part or person…


Transformation and new integration often begins with some form of dis-integration, disruption, chaos, and confusion…. The new emerges through things coming apart…


When we look at some of the collective and individual behavior in the world, it is no wonder that some think the more ‘advanced’ countries… the more ‘prosperous’ countries share the responsibility for some of the discord on the planet, for the threat to the balance of life on earth, and for the dysfunctional global family dynamics…


The egoic structure…both collective (corporate) and individual… likes nothing more than the idea of ‘free’ will… “Yes,” it celebrates, “I can do whatever I want”… The ego, devoid of a respect for and openness to Life Energy…Spirit… has forgotten the Source of its existence and only wishes to protect its expanding realm, as if the egoic “I” can ever own anything… The ego-maniacs that we have become are often lost in consumerism… in the dung-heap of money and ‘stuff’… even economic theory has been switched to encourage spending and consumerism… using more natural resources to produce more ‘stuff’… mostly lacking respect and love for our Earth home and for our brothers and sisters who are often exploited in the process…

I found these brief “Stuff” videos to be quite educational, enlightening, and entertaining too…
• Info: www.StoryOfStuff.com  from Anne Leonard (18min)

• Humor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac  - ‘Stuff’ video with George Carlin (5 min)


There is a corporate power on the earth that is committed to protect its realm at any cost… to maintain its dominion over the Earth and her inhabitants… These wayward children have power and money… and will say what is needed and do what is needed to maintain their status quo…


While this may seem overwhelming, those of us who are open to the larger Essence of Life must continue to be vigilant… to continue to awaken… to help each other stay awake… to Be… and to Act in ways that Love and Respect Life, our Brothers and Sisters, and Earth-Home… And I am convinced we have help at unseen levels…


Let us continue our consciousness connection, focused attunement, prayers, and healing actions this day and every moment…


Let us daily return to the Present moment…forgiving ourselves and others… and letting go of what was… and what will be… so that WHAT IS – can BE!


Love,
John Hutchinson