“As Chuang Tzu pointed out long ago, “Is not the desire to get rid of the ego itself a manifestation of the ego?

The ego is not a thing but a subtle effort, and you cannot use effort to get rid of effort—you end up with two efforts instead of one. The ego itself is a perfect manifestation of the Divine, and it is best handled by resting in Freedom, not by trying to get rid of ego, which simply increases the effort of ego itself.

And so, the practice? When you rest in the Witness, or rest in I-I, or rest in emptiness, simply notice the self-contraction. Rest in the Witness, and feel self-contraction. When you feel the self-contraction, you are already free of it—you are already looking at it, instead of identifying with it. You are looking at it from the position of the Witness, which is always already free of the objects in any case.

So rest as the Witness, and feel the self-contraction—just as you can feel the chair under you, and feel the earth, and feel the clouds floating by in the sky. Thoughts float by in the, sensations float by in the body, the self-contraction hovers in awareness—and you effortlessly and spontaneously witness them all, equally and impartially.

…You are already free of it—you are already looking at it, instead of identifying with it.” ~The Simple Feeling Of Being by Ken Wilber

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