Even after many realizations and insights into what's going on, selfhood will continue to manifest on subtler levels. The idea arises that one has made progress until one thinks, "Hmmmm, who is it that thinks s/he is making progress?"
Trungpa's "Spiritual Materialism" is the first book I remember reading that explained how the mind deceptively coopts the search for truth. After reading that book, I remember thinking, "Well, crap; how in the world can I get around this sneaky ego when it puts on its spiritual disguise?" Ha ha. This is why I get such a laugh out of the idea of "suppressing ego." Who would the suppressor be?
It is that same kind of crazy insight that plunged Tolle into the void. He realized that he wasn't two people, so when he had the thought, "I cannot live with myself any longer," he saw the strangeness of the statement and wondered which of the two selves implicated in that statement was real. That question stopped his mind, and whoosh! He was sucked out of his conventional perspective and plunged into the unknown.
Trungpa's "Spiritual Materialism" is the first book I remember reading that explained how the mind deceptively coopts the search for truth. After reading that book, I remember thinking, "Well, crap; how in the world can I get around this sneaky ego when it puts on its spiritual disguise?" Ha ha. This is why I get such a laugh out of the idea of "suppressing ego." Who would the suppressor be?
It is that same kind of crazy insight that plunged Tolle into the void. He realized that he wasn't two people, so when he had the thought, "I cannot live with myself any longer," he saw the strangeness of the statement and wondered which of the two selves implicated in that statement was real. That question stopped his mind, and whoosh! He was sucked out of his conventional perspective and plunged into the unknown.
