After finishing the chapters on the five Yamas from John McAfee’s book, “The Secret of the Yamas,” the above link is a continuation of my readings. Getting to the core of this self-discipline Yama practice that Shri Patanjali layed out for us so long ago begins with McAfee’s summation. A quote from this chapter:
“…It is an illusion to believe that fundamental change requires time, that we must work diligently toward a goal and gradually become better, wiser, happier, and more spiritual. Such an approach uses the present moment as a tool to obtain future fulfillment; the present is used for planning, dreaming, working toward a result. Consequently, our lives are lived in the future and we are in constant relationship to the past; and the field of life – the present moment – is missed entirely…”
Namaste
omlinkblog 
Finding the root “of arrogance” towards one person helps you find the root towards all. I have personally experienced this kind of thinking. It is possible to find the root towards all when you can solve one, especially if that one person is yourself. You have a root of connection and understanding of where everything came from through your own experience which helps others find out what their triggers/ roots are. From experience I used to be angry at a lot of things and never really understood why but once I got to the root of it, I understood why things planned out the way they did. And now I am more aware and forgiving of others because they haven’t figured it out yet.
I agree that we are in constant relationship with the past, using it as a guide for what not to do or to continue with for the future. We don’t let moments within the present to last or are we able to notige them. There’s constant planning throughout our day to day life. Even if it’s just thinking about what dinner will be the next day. And I think with that mentality we miss out on a lot. Its one reason why children are imaginative and precious, they don’t have to worry about the next day because their too busy living in the moment and enjoying themselves.
I feel that because we are already born into these ideas, it’s hard for some people to see anything other than what they were taught. This can be related to multiple situations (different religion, racism, toxic relationships.. etc). Many think what they were taught growing up is the way things are supposed to be and every other opinion won’t make a change. And it’s those kind of people that are the hardest to get to when discussing something foreign to them. I see this a lot within the black community where there are a lot of toxic traits that are passed down that we have tried to normalize but when someone speaks up about it they are deemed as crazy or non intelligent because “it’s the way things have been” and they like to keep it that way because they “turned out fine”. It really takes one to step out of their bubble and start questioning their surroundings to start and try to find answers.
This chapter goes into depth about the importance of ignorance and how being mindful of it opens us up to possibilities of our mind and perspective. What stood out to me most in this particular post was the concept of relationships and how our actions are only re-actions. In the past I’ve ad actions or thoughts that have been made I guess I would say blindly. After taking Yoga I noticed I am more of a calm and collected individual and I tend to think about my actions more before I do them. As stated though these actions that I would normally think of are actually reactions and this is a very interesting way to look at it. Our egos play a huge part in decision making throughout our day-to-day lives. Either it be in an argument that you don’t want to admit you’re wrong or on a deeper level when you may need help, but refuse to ask for it. We need to check our egos at the door and to help us with that McAfee states that no one person is unique because we are born of our societies and our ideas are also. This statement I feel almost brings everyone down to the same level.
This chapter seems to deal with many of the same ideas that continue to surface throughout McAfee’s book. There is a lot of discussion surrounding confrontation of one’s issues, and letting go of attachments to live in the present. The ego is where arrogance stems from, and to find the ways in which we can combat our own arrogance, we have to look within to the universal ego within us all.
He claims that we each act on our memories, essentially projecting our own experiences onto every person and situation that we encounter. This speaks to McAfee’s emphasis on living in the present. He sees the way we act based off of our past experiences as a way in which we hold onto our pasts, and do not accept the present. For McAfee, a key to bettering oneself is to approach every situation without the arrogance of projecting your own experiences onto it.
I agree with this greatly. I find that people that I have known for a long time, like family, demonstrate this best. It is easy to fall into old patterns with family, because we constantly project past situations, issues, and insecurities with those family members onto them in the present, and it causes a stagnancy in those relationships. McAfee’s views on arrogance are incredibly smart in my opinion, because of how true his words are, in how they apply to maintaining relationships with others.
-Josh Sandler, Monday 6:30 Class.
I think my favorite sentence of this passage was that we are never really living in the now. This is something I’ve just started to be consciously aware of and its something i try to explain to my friends and family. This is seen almost everywhere. A month ago I was at a concert and everyone around me had their phone recording it instead of just taking it in themselves. They were thinking about the future while recording it, so later or tomorrow they could replay the concert on their phones. The same can be said when worrying about exams or homework due. Instead of living in the now, for example doing the hw or studying for the exams, you spend your time worrying about it actually doesn’t accomplish anything. You will miss out on life, miss out on moments that can bring you happiness or ease your stress which can then lead to having an easier time doing the hw or studying. Life in my opinion is about living in it, not in the future and most definitely not in the past but in the moment. appreciating each moment while its there and letting it go as soon as its over.
Boris Yanez
According to “Some Tips” this audio file was about the chapter called Secret. This is apart of the eight limbs of yoga, and one of them just happens to be the root of arrogance. Our present moments in life are normally missed because we tend to live in the past or future. We think ahead instead of moving forward. Throughout, our lives we go through a series of relationships that clarifies that when we live in the moment we’re living our true authenitic selves, and the best we can be.
Sometimes, within living our best potentials we can come across our egos. Egos are what tends to get in the way of our true selves sometimes, and it explains all of our trails that we face. All of this means that it’s a sense of I. This sense of I means the concept of mind, and how we can believe our mind is unique or even seperate from the world too. But, what’s driven with this is our fears and our fears create desires that we seek to either do good or bad for each other. All in All, this is what had struck me to be very curious of what’s next to come in life, and to not let me ego or fears to get the best of my fulfillment.
Therefore, this particular subject/topic relates to the Oprah Magazine. Her magazines are normally fill of tips for womanhood, and how we can all strive to be better or do better as people. Plus her slogan is “Living your best life, is the most important journey in life”. This quote implies that you should always life your life to the fullest and vision your life the very best you see fit, and don’t let your ego or fears to stop you from doing so.
Namaste
Finding “The Root of Arrogance” is a concept I really identify with. I often find that in my own life if I disagree with someone intensely or believe myself to be irrevocably correct, the choices I make as a result of such an emotional response to a diametric view do not reflect who I feel I am. Suffice to say, whenever I find myself becoming upset, anxious, or even haughty in regards to other people I have to stop myself and try to calm down. Even if the other person is relying on these emotions as well, they deserve the same reason I’d hope to expect from anyone else. If you can separate yourself from personal attachments, it becomes easier to put oneself in another’s shoes. Arrogance is something that I not only have to be aware of in others but even more so in myself.
The Ego is a constant reminder that every one of us has the capacity to become ignorant. If I want to be a more open person, I have to be aware of my own ability to be closed off. There are ties between our past selves and who we are now, but you can not become who you were once you become who you are now. If I acknowledge my awareness of my biases and remember that my perceived reality is not the perception of others, I can continue to grow to balance my ego against itself.
For instance, whenever I visit family I am haunted by anxieties I held as a child. It has nothing to do with my relationship with my family or even any particular childhood event. I just know whenever I travel for the holidays, the closer I get to my hometown the more filled with dread I become. As a result, I can be irritable and snappy at my parents, who have done nothing in my life if not support me and hide away in my room like I was in middle school again. These are patterns I have to be aware of when I return home in order to self-correct. I love seeing my family and I have no intention of making the experience unpleasant for them. As a result, it is up to me to change how I behave by separating myself from these old ties and enjoy what I have.
What a powerful revelation you have stated here about your historical anxieties and wanting to move forward with your current feelings and forgiveness, this is the first step in making this happen, best wishes Namaste
It is true that much of our actions are influenced by our egos. As children, we want to make our parents proud. We engage in competition to achieve recognition and superiority. Here in school, we strive for good grade so that we can be honored as graduates. John McAfee decide, once again, to put a negative spin on this exploration of the Yamas. Can’t two things co-exists concurrently in our lives? Can our drive to make our parents proud ALSO mean our love and appreciation of their love and sacrifice? Could we look at our endeavor in competition to be raising the standards in trying to do something better. Is it always wrong to be recognized for the hard work we put into our studies? Perhaps the love of knowledge is what drives us, and the elusive ego is the power source to this drive?
I also think we cannot move forward unless we know have a clear understanding of our past. It is important to live in the present, but we as people, are a culmination of our past experiences. The past is where we learn from our mistakes and take queue to approach our future. I do believe that “fundamental change requires time, that we must work diligently toward a goal and gradually become wiser, happier and more spiritual” if those are the goals you set for yourself.
Ultimately, what is ignorance? It is the lack of knowledge or information. But we must caution not to fill our heads with just any information. Sometimes, looking for the root of true knowledge is just as important as recognizing your own ignorance.
Your perspective is valid OM
In this audio clip, the themes of ego and arrogance is addressed. In our humanity, we are in relationship to people, things, places, and ideas; there is a relational aspect in our day to day lives and it is imporatnt to stay at balance with these relationships. The ego and arrogance is when we place ourselves at the fore front of everyone of these relationships. ” It is an illusion to believe that fundamental change requires times..” this was quote from the audio clips and book, which resonates with the idea of holding the concept of change with longevity, instead of changing happening in the moment, with spontaneity. The idea that is being presented with many of these audio clips, is about human desires and emotions and directing it to a moment to moment timing. It is taking things that may seem oblivious from our daily lives, and realizing them and taking them inout our hands and letting it be. The idea of extreme self- awareness is something to be practiced when wanting to achieve a level of balance with the mind, soul, and body.
Namaste
Many people always judge before knowing the real truth behind it. Everyone evolves in many different ways. I really don’t understand this chapter but one thing I picked up on was that sometimes people get in a bad mood for no reason and treat others poorly with no type of respect. Everyone is human and sometimes we have to watch what we say.
Wed 8:30am
Again not adequately stated
In this audio clips, the themes of ones ego is again explored and identified as a human trait that is detrimental to our self-growth. This audio clip also emphasizes on the present moment living. We are conditioned in our society, that planning for future goals like dreams, careers moves, financial stability are all good but when it takes away from our present moment living, it can do us harm in our selfhood. It was also important to understand the connectivity that happens within all of us; and when we isolate ourselves because we think we are better, smarter, more religious, or anything that may case the ego rise in superiority, it disconnects us from the relational dynamics we are made to have with one another.
This audio clip goes on to talk about how our past memories and experiences effect our present moment living. Since we project our past experiences in our relationships and our daily encounters, it also gives us the opportunity to live in the moment. I agree with this, and this can be seen in my own encounters with my family, friends, school, and my art, and each time I have a confrontation with them presents an opportunity of change and alternative reactions. Being mindful of this and aware of this creates a balance in our minds and soul.
Namaste
In this excerpt the author discusses something that I’ve realized recently, it talks about how you need to find the root of your arrogance to all people. I’ve never been a confrontational person so I almost never got into arguments. When I got to high school, somehow more and more I would be involved in a conflict and I only knew how to completely ignore it, which made things worse. My version of confrontation was either no emotion or aggressive denial, which usually resulted in the ending of friendships.
This way of approaching conflict is very problematic because if you don’t consider the other person’s perspective it can never end well. Even if they decide to forgive you, that would just be manipulative on your part. It is important to have empathy and an open in relationships and when dealing with people in general. You need to be able to express yourself and communicate your feelings in order to grow better and stronger.
When coming to any type of altercation with another person, you have to be kind and consider what they have been through. Many people have been through traumatic experiences that make them the way they are, and the quality of their character depends on how willing they are to learn and grow and improve themselves. Similarly, this excerpt then focuses on the importance of not letting past experiences steer your perspective of the future.
Namaste
This chapter of John McAfee’s The Secret of the Yamas address putting the Yamas together to form the whole behavioral guide to oneness with the universe. He discusses that the smallest fragments of our lives can be broken down, examined, and once understood, able to stand as a basis for understanding ourselves and how we act. For example, if we are jealous of someone, it is best to consider what he/she/they has/have that we do not. Once we address this envy, we become aware of what we feel we are lacking, and how to move forward with other people we may encounter that have the same possessions or traits we do not–could be anything from a high-paying job to a good sense of humor. In this way, we have broken down a specific incident and can apply it universally to better react to future situations. Our present becomes seemingly non existent as we try to pull knowledge from prior experiences and project them into our future. If we are connected with ourselves and tendencies, we can focus on the present better and greet each moment anew.
I especially liked the part about the Ego, and how there is a fierce human desire to to be different–we consider ourselves creative, worthy of self-expression, etc. but where does this individuality go when we devote ourselves to predetermined religions with strict moral codes that can often be exclusive? If we were always willing to stick with this individuality and dedicate time to understanding ourselves, we could generate our own moral codes based on ourselves and guided by the yamas.
I am interested in the relationship we have to ourselves and our world (microcosm) and how this affects how we interact with the world (macrocosm.) Looking at ourselves on a small scale and appreciating the quirks that make us different are certainly important, but this should be closely linked with suspending that attachment to live as one with the universe. This is an in depth article about that! https://www.himalayaninstitute.org/amrit-blog/tantra/chakras-link-macrocosm-microcosm
Well stated OM
This chapter discusses how one can aim to become more balanced by following the yamas. Instead of attempting to gradually work towards a goal, one needs to remember to live in the present moment. The root of the most basic problems that plague society, (greed, violence, jealousy, etc,) is ignorance. It is only when we understand our own ignorance that we become free. Furthermore, the root of ignorance is our ego. We inherently become individualized in a society based on the things that separate us. Our ego is the embodiment of such individualization.
I strongly identify with the belief that our egos are at the root of our other internal conflicts. We base so much of our lives on ourselves, our own problems, feelings, and emotions, and many of those things wouldn’t exist if we didn’t have an ego. However, I also believe that the things and aspects of someone that makes them unique are equally as important. I believe that creative individuals CAN, in fact, create something original, and are capable of such creation even if it has been shaped by their experiences and feelings. Believing that we are all the same could lead to the resolution of many of our problems as humans. But we are only on this planet for a short amount of time, and I think people should express themselves how they feel, and everyone’s individual lens of the world is what makes up culture and society. I also believe that slowly and gradually working towards a goal, whether that be to succeed in school, in the workplace, to eat better, to be more active, or other self-betterment, can be really helpful. Looking to the future in order to plan and set yourself up for success is not something that should be avoided. However, living in the future or the past is not a healthy habit either.
Well stated OM
This audio clip is about arrogance and ego. The quote that is on the post “our lives are lived in the future and we are in constant relationship to the past..and the field of life – the present moment – is missed entirely” couldn’t have been truer. We are constantly wanting more and more that we are always concentrating on our future and how we can make more money and become successful in life. We are also comparing ourselves to our past and how we either miss our old life or try hard to get out of a bad situation. We are constantly thinking about all these things that we completely miss our present moment. When you are constantly comparing yourself to what others have and what you do not have – is something we all need to work on. Social media created that constant battle of wanting to be prettier, more fit, successful, have more money, travel the world more or just have more followers than your friends which makes your ego get to you.
I have a really good friend that is obsessed with Instagram and her goal is to have a lot of followers and she takes pictures everywhere we go. We can’t even have a plate of food until she has the perfect picture for her profile. I get really annoyed with her because us grabbing dinner is our time to catch up and not publicize our night. I can definitely feel the disconnect among my friends and sadly with my family because even my mom can get caught up on FaceBook or Instagram.
Monday 630pm
Namaste
I found the quote included in the post intensely moving. The quote speaks to how oftentimes we are lead to believe that we must build and build, that results come in time, that we are reaching for something but do not have it in this current moment. That what we want will come in time, but we can not access it now. This way of thinking makes it so that we are always on the path to something that can not be attained where we stand currently when really many of the things we want are just within our grasp. It is more a matter of evaluating ones immediate surroundings, bodily, mindfully, spiritually. If we can connect to these things, we can have clarity in the moment and act accordingly so that we are consciously making choices rather than flowing down the river without thought.
I do frequently find myself being very jealous of others, envious of qualities I lack that others have. It is important to be mindful of things you want, aware that you are lacking in certain things, you cant be everything and you can go easy on yourself. This song, in my opinion, relates to this idea of being yourself, being open, and being free.
Thanks for the link, I wasn’t able to open it, but glad you could make a connection.
Kache’ Mumford
Wed. 8:30-11:50
Yoga Journal
Aug 16, 2012 “Some Tips”
The passage was from “the secret of yamas” entitled the secret. This passage talks about finding the root of things. If you seek out the root of hate, fear and ignorance on one event or thing then you will find the root to all fear, hate and ignorance. There is power in awareness. Understanding one’s self and how we separate ourselves is an important form of awareness that forms our ego and that can help us get to the root.
One idea that I found very interesting in the passage was that its an illusion to believe that fundamental change requires time. The idea of being so focused on the past or future can stop you from being present its something that I am interested in. It’s also something I can relate to. I am often focused on the future and am called a planner. My mother always tell me that I should focus on the now and to enjoy my life now. I am trying but it’s still something I struggle with.
The passage read on august 17th on the secret of the yamas directly related with this one. In it the author discusses more about the ego. It describes the ego as the chooser. The ego is the thing that separate ourselves from others in our mind. It also speaks deeper into the spiritual definition of ego.
Well stated OM
The audio taught me a life lesson, which is there are two qualities of evil that can’t be avoided. Ignorance, and ego are just a few to name. Jealously comes from ignorance and all negative feelings. It turns into a stream down impact from there on. Ignorance can’t instructed; rather it is self-developed towards someone else. Every single minute, ignorance is going on some place. Lets say if a person is open to new things then she will feel truly free, making her progress into being more joyful, spiritual and wiser.
Egoistic people have a tendency to of not being able to forgive or forget, making it hard for them to let go of their pride. Mcafree points out that we as human beings should be living in the present and not focusing on the past. Definitely agree with Mcafree when he says that the environment around us shapes our beliefs system and who we are as a person. I also believe that the people around us also have an influence on that as well.
Namaste
August 16, 2012
I personally found this chapter was essential for my own growth. It talks about the important of ignorance and how being mindful of it opens us up to possibilities of our mind and perspective. Being able to live in the moment and realizing whether things that used to be important are as crucial now is an essential part of growing into the person you are meant to become. It took me a while to conquer and adapt to this concept that things change, with time pain goes away. I used to waste a lot of my time overthinking about relationships and friendships that didn’t give me a purpose or benefit in my personal growth, and now that I have drawn out all negativity from my life, I can gladly say I’ve conquered a huge step in my life. My healthy lifestyle and the mindset that I have adapting throughout the last couple of years is what has motivated me to continue being positive.
Kathy Mathews
Wednesday 8:30 am Yoga Class
Namaste
This reading discusses the downfall of ignorance. It also discusses how being aware of ignorance is what can open our minds to new experiences and ways of thinking. I think that this concept goes very well with our school’s motto, “Think Wide Open.” This school has definitely challenged me in many ways to keep an open mind. It has made me realize that I am capable of many things that I never knew I could be because I always kept a closed mind about everything before attending this school.
The quote, “ Consequently, our lives are lived in the future and we are in constant relationship to the past; and the field of life – the present moment – is missed entirely.” (John McAfee, “The Secret of the Yamas”) works as a reminder to myself that constantly looking toward the future is detrimental because I am failing to live in the present. This also made me realize that by constantly looking toward the future, I am also being ignorant to what could happen or is happening now. It is important to realize and understand that it is not all about ourselves and that keeping an open mind about life is how we evolve as individuals in a positive way.
OM
Jordan Reynolds
In the smallest fragment exists the whole. If we find out our root of arrogance towards one person, then we have found the root of arrogance towards all people. Attachments all stem from the same root, ignorance. We must dig to find understanding with ignorance in order to rid ourselves of attachment. All of life is relationship, and when we realize our relationship with the things around us we may achieve a better understanding of life. The ego separates us from the rest of the world.
There was a lot in this audio clip that resonated with me. I think that it is very true to say that the ego separates us from the world. We begin to seek things in the best interest of ourselves and neglect everyone else. When we can better understand our relationship with the world we can affect it in a more positive way.
In this article ( https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/philosophy/aparigraha-practising-non-attachment ) the author talks about action. I believe that ego can make us do certain things that might make us look better, but nonattachment is about focussing on the action and less about the results of the action. I took this as doing things in good faith will result in a more enjoyable experience. The article says that it is about the journey and not the destination, which I am slowly coming to realize that this idea is the correct way to go about doing things.
Namaste
Majlinda Novaj
11/02/19
Honors Yoga Journal #7
Some tips about the Secret.
In this dialogue, Ego is spoken of as a quality of something that separates us from the world. We use phrases such as “mine” as an egoistic term. Ego can cause trouble because when we have a big ego we separate and feel that we are better than others by using greed, anger and dishonesty in this process. Another part that was spoken of is Ignorance and how there is a lot of it in a negative ego which creates us to be jealous, angry, etc.
As pointed out in the dialogue, all of our life is focused on relationships. Relationships with people, ideas, beliefs and much more. Sometimes these ideas can be skewed because of Ego and Ignorance. I know in my experience, my sister has a big ego and has skewed our relationship because she uses anger and dishonesty to make herself feel better and hurts my feelings in this process. One thing that I got out of this dialogue it is important to be mindful of things we do, believe and feel as well as realizing what is right/wrong and how we can grow as people.
One example I found is http://mylifeyoga.com/2012/08/11/six-surprising-facts-about-your-ego/ “The Ego will make your life miserable.This oversensitivity to real and perceived insults gets us into unneeded fights. We slowly begin to lose friends and loved ones to unnecessary squabbles. In addition the ego wants to expand its boundary by seeking to dominate those around it. This makes us insensitive and incapable of listening to other people’s problems. Instead we only want others to hear what we have to say. Nobody wants to be in the company of such people and slowly our friends and loved ones begin to distance themselves from us. As a result love dries up from our lives and we end up lonely, isolated, and unhappy.” This is a prime example as to what Ego can do to us. It is important to be able to hide ego and not allow it to overcome us with negative emotions. If we truly want to be happy, we must be able to understand and listen to others and not feel attacked. If we want to grow, we must be able to live in the present and open up our minds and perspectives.
Namaste
This piece was about understanding ignorance and how it affects all of us. To understand where ignorance comes from, we need to uncover the self-deception, jealously, lust and the attachments that we have to other things that exist in our lives. Once we uncover all of this, we can see the root of deception in us. But that would just be the beginning of it. If we stay alert and take the time to notice where it might live in different parts of us, we can really start to work on improving ourselves. In our lives we need to “see our reality as clear as we can see our face in the mirror.”
I always understood that we all carry some kind of ignorance with us in our daily lives. In society today I feel like it is very hard not to find someone who doesn’t. I believe it’s human nature to be ignorant. I understand that ignorance in a large amount can be harmful, but I don’t think that it’s a good thing to not have it at all. It would be one thing if everyone in the world were too get rid of their ignorance then we could all live like that but it’s pretty much impossible to have everyone on the plant decide to no longer be ignorant. I do believe though that we have to work on ignorance that is inside of us all.
Everyone judges something or someone every day. For some people, judgement is an addiction which I believe can also be applied to ignorance. Judgment comes from a lack of understanding a subject and having a lack of empathy according to the article “Judgement; The root of all ignorance.” We judge ourselves and we judge others all of the time. It has become part of our culture. We judge every time we are on social media. We think to ourselves if we want to like a picture someone posted, or we don’t. When scrolling through videos you judge them based off of the title and description and think about if this is actually going to be something, you’re interested in. Judgement and ignorance hand in hand with each other.
Source: https://mariacolgan.com/2018/05/04/judgement-the-root-of-all-ignorance/
-Charlotte Johansen
Namaste
I thought that this chapter was really interesting to listen to and think about. I was especially interested in the idea that we forget the present moment because we are always thinking about the future. I really appreciated that it was put into words, because it’s something a lot of people need to hear. Yes, we should think about the future and keep in mind where we want to be in the future. But it becomes stressful when that becomes an obsession. I find that I think too much about the future and have fear about the past (which is something I cannot change), so I am unable to enjoy where I am now because I am afraid I will not be where I want to be some years from now.
As mentioned by the chapter, fear of the past is part of this as well. No one wants to relive our past mistakes, so sometimes we don’t take the risks we need to, and we miss out on things. Both of these things became apparent to me when I entered college and had to learn how to create social relationships all over again. There is a lot of stress put on us by society on how many people we need to know and for what purposes at certain times in our lives. The truth is, there is no set number of people. You might have ten friends, or just three, but if you are happy spending time with them in the moment, that’s all that matters.
OM
Jordan Reynolds
This audio track touches on how our lives are lived in the future. At every moment of our lives, the root of ignorance is operating and all of life is relationship. How we deal and relate to others is a reflection of ourselves. The ego is the root of ignorance, and to truly grasp the ego requires more than fundamental knowledge. We are a product of society, and in turn create society. Everything we learn in society has been passed down to us from ancient religions. We are not individuals, but more so a continuation of the past.
I was able to gain a lot from the specific audio track. It talks about how we live in ignorance due to the ego. We separate ourselves from the rest of society because our ego says that we are special and creative. In reality everything under the sun has already been done. We are just living in a society that was handed down to use from centuries of older cultures. We have to learn to understand that we are all apart of a greater whole.
This article, https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-and-the-ego/ , says how the ego is a sense of self. We carry that sense of self with ourselves everywhere we go. If this is true, we also must carry ignorance everywhere with ourselves. We criticize and judge others as a result of our ego. The ego is used to separate us from one another with words like “I” and “my”. This is wrong as we are all one organism moving towards the same goal.
Well written OM
This chapter emphasizes the importance of ignorance and noticing it can change individuals’ perspective. Ignorance is apart of our human’s ego that defines our self growth. We live in a society full of all kinds of people that are talented or advance in one way or the other. By comparing and contrast one and another separate us. One can be rich but not that smart, another can be smart but not financially stabled. We all have our longs and shorts, it cannot be comparable since we have different backgrounds, ethnicity, and class.
In my family, there always competition with me vs neighbors, relatives, and friend’s children. I don’t understand by comparing others to someone else does not make others better. It is unhealthy for the mental health of the person and it is destroying their ego. I think there should be a balance between punishment and rewards which can help the kid’s mental health and increase in healthy relationships between the family and the child.
I am sure you are personally evolving into a balanced progressive person, Namaste 🙏🏽
This chapter goes in specific depth with many more ideologies from McAfee’s book that aren’t talked about to a lot of people in the world. on the importance of ignorance and how we should keep an open mind within our lives. This chapter goes into a specific depth of separate ideologies being compressed into one whole. The concepts deal with attachment to other lives, confrontation of one’s problems in their life, and ignorance as well concerning ego. One mention that stood out to me was when Mcafee requires that we all act upon our memories, really throwing our actions onto every person and situation that we confront.
It’s interesting to see how the brain can remember so much from a memory either meaning the smallest thing to us or the biggest aspect that changed our lives. This meaning gears more towards living in the present. Sometimes we focus more on the future instead of living in the present. I see myself not sometimes living in the moment from wondering where I will be in the future, what I will be doing, or what I will accomplish. But I find myself always coming back to the present and dealing with life as it is.
Another aspect that stood out to me during this chapter is the concept of relationships and how our actions can only be reactions. Our actions in the past can sometimes come back in our futures as either a train of thought or just a repeat in action. Sometimes we can see them coming or they can happen so blindly in our lives. Overall, this chapter went in-depth with many aspects that stood out to me not only for this entry but to look back upon and learn more about.
You have really mulled over theses ideas and I’m glad you are aware these aren’t mainstream notions and I think you can agree they are quite valuable for human thought and development. I’m proud of how well you have done with integrating higher yogic thoughts and yoga mat work, best wishes for your bright future! Namaste 🙏🏽
Brian Halliday
Ignorance is the root to many problems in our lives and perhaps can be the beginning of a catastrophic collapse to many things. If we believe that everything we do is right without being open to change or difference of opinion then we will be sadly mistaken for the rest of our lives. It is important to being open to different ideas wether we believe them or not. The moment we start shutting out any ideas that go beyond our beliefs is the moment society starts to crumble. This is something we see in politics that has been becoming more and more apparent over the past few years. Wether you are democrat or republican, you have to be open to the ideas that the other is saying. You don’t have to believe it yourself and you don’t have to want to put that exact point into action, but you have to respect it and be willing to make it work for both sides. The biggest problem we all face is the shear ignorance of the majority of our political system, where no one wants to work together and rather fight about ideals and get nothing accomplished. This is something that we can all apply on a much smaller scale in our own lives. Something as small as where to go to dinner. If one person wants one thing and the other wants something else, it is important not to totally write the other person’s desires off, compromise is necessary.
Namaste 🙏🏽