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AN INTERROGATION OF THE "REAL" IN ALL ITS GUISES



Hamm: What's happening?
Clov: Something is taking its course.
Beckett




Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Ego and Entitlement

I saw a woman today at the local coffee shop. She had a very large diamond ring on her finger and drove an expensive car. I held the door for her. She seemed nice. While we waited for our order she asked the employee if she could have hers faster because she had an appointment to get to. There were perhaps 5 of us waiting. The employee agreed to finish the woman's order first. When the drink was handed to her, she turned and stormed out saying, "It's not even a fucking grande like I asked, you fucking bitch." Then she stood in the parking lot on her phone for some time before driving away.

It is possible to have compassion for such a woman, without relinquishing the sense of injustice we all feel when hearing the story. Justice and compassion are not incompatible. 

I suspect that if she could practice even a little Being meditation her perspective might change, or at least her anger be tempered.

Many times such anger is habitual, having been reinforced by an unchecked expression of it many times before. 

Perhaps her ego felt entitled. Do all our egos not feel entitled?

Through Being meditation our ego slowly (but sometimes in a flash) realizes its place in the cosmos. What destruction will we cause until then? 

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