As people, we are obsessed with equality.
You can see this on an individual level,
and also on a social level.
After all, most human rights movements are about this.
But what if only our ego is what is concerned with equality?
And more than that,
what if equality is complete illusion?
Your ego is essentially nothing more
than self concept.
It is your concept of yourself
as an individualized and defined self.
It is I, me and mine.
Anything you identify with
will become a part of your ego.
The process of socialization teaches us,
that there are certain things,
that are good to be,
and certain things that are bad to be.
And if you are those things that are bad to be,
there are consequences that most of us are not willing
or capable of facing.
And this is where your blind spots come in.
You tend to be unaware of,
or suppress from your conscious mind,
any aspects of self,
that you would see as bad.
Because ego is a differentiation between self and other,
it can only exist in a state of comparison.
We have learned that to be less than others in any way is bad.
We have learned it leads to things that threaten not only our self esteem,
but also our well being and ability to get what we desire.
It makes our self concept negative,
and makes us feel prevented from what we want.
For example, let's say we have a job as a model,
and we want to get a particular show for our particular company.
If we walk in the door
and we see another model,
and we perceive that model to be more attractive than us,
or if the company is giving us the impression
that they perceive that model to be more attractive than us,
than we will instantly feel
a decrease in our self concept.
Not only that,
we will perceive ourselves to be prevented from what we want.
After all, we want the job.
We don't want them to get the job.
It's understandable,
because this dynamic causes such extreme pain,
why then, we begin to fight for equality,
and more than that, superiority.
The human ego cannot STAND
to perceive itself as less than something.
We perceive this to be a threat,
not only to our sense of self,
but also to our capacity to get what it is that we are wanting.
So it begins this very subconscious mission;
to knock anything that we see as:
higher than us, better than us,
off of its pedestal,
and to try to find a higher pedestal that it.
We don't just fight for equality,
we fight for superiority.
The entire multi billion dollar tabloid industry
is built on this dynamic.
It makes us feel equal to or better than the stars
that because of their significance, fame money or looks,
we feel unequal to.
One thing that we have to see,
is that we only care about equality
when we feel less than something.
If we feel superior to something else,
we are not gonna fight for equality.
We don't actually care.
In fact,
you have to identify
with the demographic that is currently being treated as inferior,
in order for you to care
about the equality of that particular demographic.
In other words,
you only care about equality because
you don't want anything to be higher than you,
or anything you identify with.
Besides, I'm gonna call out another human shadow;
so often you see people who are in the superior position,
fighting for the equality of people they believe to be inferior to them,
only because they enjoy the superiority of their morality.
For example, so many people fight for the equality for the poor,
but in actuality the don't see the poor as equal.
after all, they are not the sort of people
who would clean those toilets or clean those floors.
One of the hardest things about being a spiritual teacher
is that we have to teach about the universe.
The universe is multidimensional.
In a multidimensional universe
different truths exist at different dimensions
in this universe.
And often, these truths are contradictory.
At the highest dimensional level of truth
we are all made out of the same energy,
regardless of whether it's a table,
or a person, or a dog, or a tree,
or the bed you slept on last night.
This means that ultimately, because you are made of the same energy
and that is imbued with the same collective consciousness,
at that highest level,
we're all one.
So equality is a bit of an understatement.
But as this consciousness becomes a part of the physical dimension
this consciousness chooses to become separated
and defined and polarized.
Because of this, as much as our ego doesn't like it
the reality of physical life is that we are NOT all equal.
The thing that we're most concerned with when it comes to equality,
is being valued.
We want to be valued equally.
We want to be treated equally,
because we are valued equally.
But here's the thing,
as long as you live in a time space reality
and a dimension
where value is dependent upon needs,
perspectives and preferences,
nothing is ever going to be equal.
For example,
in a time of war,
a Diamond or Rubi has no value whatsoever.
A bottle of alcohol, on the other, has tons of value
because of need.
If a woman wants to be financially taken care of,
that's her need, and therefore what she values.
And a rich man,
and the most emotionally available man in the world
walks through the door,
the woman will value the rich man.
An employee's needs
will not be treated as equal to the needs of a CEO
because quite frankly,
a company can afford to loose and replace a worker,
they cannot afford to loose and replace a CEO.
You want your perspective to matter as much as anyone else's
in any given circumstance,
but it doesn't.
If someone meditated on a mountain for twenty years,
your opinion about meditation would not matter as much as theirs.
It would be inferior.
In my line of work, the best engineer would be absolutely useless.
In an engineering process,
my information would be absolutely useless.
For thousands of years women could not hold property.
What this meant, is that society
valued boys.
And as an extension of society,
parents valued boys.
If your need was to have a successor and an heir,
a girl simply could not fulfill those needs.
So a boy would be valued higher.
The perception of inequality
can and does lead to horrible, horrible things.
Whites saw blacks as unequal
and therefore blacks were kept as slaves and hung from trees.
The figure skater Tonya Harding saw Nancy Karrigan as superior
and therefore initiated an indecent
were Nancy was hit in the leg with a pipe before US nationals.
But it is not equality that we need to be fighting for.
Equality is not a reality in the realm of physicality,
where needs and personal preference exists.
What we need to be fighting for,
is three things;
The first is:
Love.
But what is love?
To love is to take something as part of yourself.
Now if whites could have taken blacks as part of themselves,
they couldn't have hung them from trees,
without feeling the impact of doing so,
within their own body as if it was happening to them.
When we love something,
we do what is best for that thing.
We don't prevent it from what it wants,
we help it get what it wants.
We also have an understanding
of the perspective
of whatever it is that we see as other.
The second thing we need to be fighting for
is awareness.
Question everything.
Look at the perspectives and angles
on everything.
So that what we can do is to arise
at a higher truth.
Doing this means we transcend our ignorance.
Doing this means we transcend
our illusion.
Doing this means we transcend our prejudice.
For example,
women are still payed less than men
by a shocking percentage around the world.
Instead of focusing on this being a matter
of fighting for women to be equal to men,
we need to collectively question why this is the case.
We need to become aware of all the perspectives and angles
so as to arrive to what changes need to take place within our minds
and within society.
#3.
Each individual needs to stop focusing
on where he or she is inferior.
And instead, start to focus on
and express,
the very unique intrinsic values
that make that person
not only equal,
but superior.
If we could do these three things,
the negative manifestations
that arise out of the perception of inequality
would not actually manifest.
They wouldn't occur.
Now, it may seem strange for someone like me
a spiritual teacher,
to come here and say:
"The concept of superiority, inferiority or even equality
is a matter of the ego",
and then tell you
"Focus on your superiority".
Why am I not teaching you simply to dis-identify, Instead?
Here is why I'm doing it:
As much as you may want to,
you can never get rid of your ego.
you will have an ego as long as you hold a perspective
that is differentiated.
If you introduce yourself,
by one name,
you have an ego.
The more intrinsic value you see in yourself
for your own unique superiorities,
the less you will care about your deficiencies.
The less you care about your deficiencies,
the more secure you are in terms of self concept.
The more secure you are in terms of self concept,
the less you will create the incredible manifestations of suffering
that arise from insecurity relative to inequality.
When you are willing to live your life according to your unique intrinsic value
i.e. gifts,
your purpose falls into your lap.
When you can see the intrinsic value in others,
you can lead them to their purpose,
instead of forcing them to try to improve their deficiencies
so as to suit your needs.
We believe that inequality is wrong.
We believe everything and everyone should be equal.
Well, that is, when we're not in the superior position.
~ Laughter ~
But here's the reality:
We aren't equal.
Equality is complete illusion.
Equality is a judgement based on perceptual reality.
In a world of differentiations,
sameness does not exist.
Men do not give birth to children.
If a man was to expect himself to nurse a child,
he would find himself inferior to women.
Therefore, unequal.
Men have profound physical advantages.
If women were to compete against men
In sports where those physical advantages really did make a difference,
women would find themselves to be inferior.
Therefore, unequal.
One person may suck at math,
but be amazing at writing.
One person may have had every advantage in terms of education
and finances in life, but be terrible at forming relationships.
We need to be brave enough to accept
that inequality is the absolute reality of life.
We need to accept that our inequalities
actually point to
our purpose in life.
We need to accept that
any inferiority that we feel
embarrasses us to such an extreme degree,
that we don't even allow our own conscious mind to admit
to when we are feeling inferior.
So we subconsciously carry out
all kinds of things that cause suffering
based on the fact, that we are unwilling to admit
that what's really going on with us
is that we feel inferior in this moment.
We also need to accept
that "superiority"
is considered not ok
in society today.
It's especially not politically correct.
So this means,
that even though you have plenty of areas
in which you feel completely superior to others,
you can't admit it to your conscious mind.
So you can't do anything about it, can you?
Ask yourself and honestly admit to where you feel superior
and where you feel inferior.
Feel how much this topic and episode triggers you.
Ask yourself: why does it trigger you so much?
"If I am inferior to this person or thing,
why would that be so bad?"
Equality is an illusion.
It is something that the ego has created.
It is a figment of your imagination.
And you are not going to be able to make things equal in this world.
Therefore, we need to stop fighting for equality.
What we need to fight for is love,
awareness and intrinsic value instead.
Have a good week.
Subtitles by: Tanya Duarte www.tanyaduarte.com