Part 2: Turn toward the Unknown and Lessen Ego

The unknown is always present, vast and powerful. It is who we are at our core. However, when one is focused on ego with its myriad preoccupations, then it is hard to perceive it at all. Some spend their entire lives oblivious to this profound presence that is the source of true peace and sustenance.

I turn toward the unknown whenever I lie down to sleep or rest. It’s a habit that I’ve intentionally cultivated over the past handful of years. Those familiar with resting in awareness will know the exquisite relief of giving way to indescribable sounds, energy movements, sensations and visions of that which is not ego. Experiencing the unknown can be absolutely terrifying too. When I feel overwhelmed by its power, I turn toward unconditional love to soften and make bearable its immensity.

My lessons center now around turning toward the unknown in the midst of daily life with all its attendant busyness. The unknown typically asserts itself in a moment of stillness that breaks through the trance of consensus reality. Many do not realize the tight grip that our minds and conditioned reality hold on us. For some, this “prison” is all that they have known. Glimpses of true freedom are isolated events, if they occur at all. Many pursue replacement thrills as shadowy substitutes for the real thing.

Turning toward the unknown can be as simple as expanding awareness to perceive the whole of what is occurring. It may take the form of a quiet dropping of the ego’s agenda. Frequently, it is a moment of stillness that penetrates through a crack in reality. So then the task is simply to recognize a crack and linger there momentarily.

Lessening ego is always an act of kindness and love. Treating the ego as an adversary and trying to get rid of it, typically strengthens it. The ego always seems to win. But sometimes a simple recognition that I am acting from ego allows it to briefly drop away.

Turning toward the unknown and lessening ego are not two separate actions but one contiguous whole. When I turn toward the unknown, ego lessens or temporarily disappears. When ego weakens, that which is not ego grows strong and the sense of separation may fall away. The strengthening of that which is not ego, that which is unknowable, is good. It indicates a surrender to God, or whatever else you may choose to call the great mystery of that which we are and exist within.