I = IGNORANCE
How did 'I' become Ignorant?
We human beings think that we are the smartest species on the planet. Even as children in school, if we don't come first in class, we tend to think that it is our teachers who are to be blamed! We are convinced that we should be selected in the school sports team, not rejected. It is the ego that is inflated with ignorance.
What is the ignorance that we are talking about? The first question that we have not answered is 'Who am I?' Am I the body? Am I the mind? What will happen to me after I die? What is my purpose on earth? We don't have answers to any of these questions. We just live in ignorance till we die. Let us delve further.
When we look at a group picture of our school or college, what do we say? 'That is me!' We identify ourselves as the one in the picture – the body. But which body are we? Are we the body that was 3 feet tall in school or are we the body that grew up in college? We are ignorant about our real birthday because that was the day we were delivered on earth. Am I the one who was born on that day or was I alive even earlier? My mother says I was kicking in her stomach long before I was delivered. When did I come into existence? It was not my birthday, was it? Nine months prior to that date, I was conceived as a tiny cell, a zygote. Am I that tiny cell?
Finally, one day I will grow old and I will die. And when people ask my loved ones where I am, they will say, 'He passed away. He departed.' Are they lying? No. Because the body is right there on the floor. That was the same body in the picture which I excitedly called 'me'. Is the ego not ignorant, not knowing who 'I' truly am?
Oh, yes! I am the mind. I worry, I fear. 'That's me,' the ego thinks. But where is the mind? Thoughts pop in our head like corn pops in a popcorn machine. There is a thought practically every second. But if I try to find my mind, 'Where is the mind?' I cannot find! But the ego still considers the mind to be me.
Throughout life, it is our ego that makes us live in ignorance. We seem to know beyond doubt that we are this body-mind complex. The ego is very clear – 'I am 'I', you are not 'me'.' But this is ignorance because the Ego doesn't know who we truly are. When we do a pedicure, we scrub what we call dead cells. But it is not only these cells in us that die. Every cell in the body is regenerated every 7 to 10 years. Therefore, if we are 50 years old, we are possibly living in the sixth body. Every organ, every limb is said to be replaced through the regeneration of cells. But the ego will not accept this. It will call the baby, 'I,' just as it calls the old person we have become, 'me.' This is because the ego is immersed in ignorance. Not only does the ego remain blissfully ignorant of who we truly are, it lives and dies without realizing the truth of why we are here on planet earth. The ego doesn't go on a quest to find why we are given this human birth.
Are we meant just to live and to die? Why were we born on a particular day, to specific parents, in a particular country, city, town or village? Why were we born healthy or unhealthy, black, brown or white, rich or poor? What was the reason of our birth in all these pre-determined circumstances? The ego remains ignorant as it believes in the myth.
Throughout life, the ego is taught to believe in several lies.
We are taught that success is happiness. And throughout life, it is the ego that says, 'I want to be happy' or 'I want to be rich and successful.' It is this very philosophy that makes us suffer as we live as ME - the Mind and Ego.
Most of us are lucky, we can see the beauty of this world. We can see the clouds in the sky and the birds that fly. We can see fruits on a tree and dolphins jumping in the sea. We count our blessings when we see somebody who is blind. 1% of the world is visually blind, but what we don't realize is that the rest 99% are spiritually blind. Due to ignorance, we just cannot see the truth. All we know is - What I want. What is mine. What belongs to me. And how I take care of my people and my things!'
So, what is the problem? Because the ego is so blinded, we are unable to let go of the ego. We live and die in ignorance and the biggest problem is that we are ignorant about our ignorance. Because we are convinced beyond doubt that this is 'me' and 'I' know what I want to be, we are unable to find the truth about God. Unless we let go of the ego, we will never find God. Where do we start? We need to ask the question, 'Who am I?' We must not just believe what we have been taught all along. We must go on a quest and ask and investigate until we realize the truth.