Ego Is the Activity of Resistance

All our suffering can be formulated in the statement, 'I don't want what is happening; I want what is not happening'. There are two approaches to the problem of suffering. One, we investigate the nature of the ‘I’, or the self, on whose behalf this resistance and seeking takes place. Two, we turn towards the current situation with complete openness. Circumstance itself never announces itself as unpleasant. It is we, through the activity of resisting and seeking, who impose unpleasantness on the situation. The separate self is that activity of seeking and resisting, which arises within us because we have forgotten the oneness of reality.

All our suffering can be formulated in the statement, 'I don't want what is happening; I want what is not happening'. There are two approaches to the problem of suffering. One, we investigate the nature of the ‘I’, or the self, on whose behalf this resistance and seeking takes place. Two, we turn towards the current situation with complete openness. Circumstance itself never announces itself as unpleasant. It is we, through the activity of resisting and seeking, who impose unpleasantness on the situation. The separate self is that activity of seeking and resisting, which arises within us because we have forgotten the oneness of reality.