You are your brothers keeper, turn the other cheek.

An aspect of the ego that I personally have difficulty with is accepting the IS of life. We so easily get caught in the ego trap of time causing us to continually evaluate our world visa-vis what we perceive is needed. Sally did this or Billy did that is almost always expressed in the negative. For example an event happens, in an instance the event is sorted as good or bad relative to our ego's personal desires. If bad the ego or "monkey mind" affirms the assessment of said event by running through the evaluation until the mind stills or moves to another moment of judgement. This process occurs in every aspect of our life. It occurs whether or not we validate our concerns with others or in our own mind. Notice how the ego only needs to validate assessments which may be considered unfavorable. If the event was good the ego is more than happy to say cool that was fun and move on, looking for the next bad. Notice also how the amount of processing needed by the ego is congruent with greatness of the affront. By example johnny steps on our toe, the ego does not like this, in an instance the ego will say bad Johnny. Johnny is such an idiot why doesn't he watch where he is going? Jerk! The process of validation will consume at best a minute of our attention. Now Johnny shoots us in the leg. We are sure to think rather terrible things of Johnny for a very long time before we are prepared to move on, if we ever do. The ego would run the entire episode over and over hundreds of time before being satisfied. We would tell friends, family and mount an all out assault on Johnny before all is done. If we would only embrace the truth that Johnny is us, we are Johnny then nothing Johnny could do would harm us. We then could understand how his action caused us pain, but instead of directing hate, we could use understanding to view the event from a prospective of love. In conclusion I believe the ego needs to run severe episodes through the monkey filter with more care and over a longer period of time (rinse cycles) because the ego is keeping you from what you know to be the truth. Stepping on your toe will need a few rinse cycles but as the offence becomes greater so does the number of rinse cycles need for effective ego processing. Next time an event is being sorted by your brain see if my hypothesis is right. Practice for a better life would have us remain alert to our reality, understanding that all events are needed for us to expand our consciousness. We learn that the greatest moments of pain are only the guide posts to our salvation. So maybe if Johnny steps on our toe we should offer him the gun, with love of course. Accept the IS of life, turn the other cheek, do not curse your brother for the darkness in his heart, his presence allows your candle to burn brighter.