Pride Is Vicious

Pride is vicious. Pride is the most vicious enemy for those who claim they want to be Enlightened in this birth. If you want to be Enlightened in this birth then give pride the highest priority for your attention, because pride is one of the most difficult obstacles to Enlightenment. Equate pride with whatever you imagine ego to be. Pride and ego are the same thing. Pride is the enemy if you want to be Free because it is pride that causes you to betray your deepest longing for Liberation. Pride has avery ugly face. Pride is based on the idea that you know something. When you think you know something you feel special, and when you feel special you are separate. Ideas of specialness or superiority will separate you from what you claim to want the most. As long as there are any ideas, gross or subtle, of specialness that are being cherished, you are sowing the very same seeds of violence and aggression that the whole human race is lost in. Even for those who are Enlightened pride is a difficult obstacle to perfection. 2 4 7 You Will Be Testec You Will Be Tested ARare Human Being You Have to Be Willing to Fight for It Be Like aStrong Tree That Can't Be Moved It Is Possible to Be Tempted It Is Difficult for Most People to Sustain That Perfect Condition How Can IFind the Courage to Live Fully What IHave Realized? How Can INot Get Lost Again? Stay Always Where Your Deepest Understanding Is 2 4 9 You Will Be Tested We are all tested. Anybody who is so bold as to accept Enlightenment here and now in this life will be tested even more. The Enlightened person threatens the status quo. The way they think and the way they speak is very threatening to the corrupt world we live in. The living fact of Enlightenment makes people uneasy, frightened and angry. Anyone who is so bold as to accept Enlightenment in this life will be very severely tested. They will have to face all kinds of trouble. 2 5 0 ARare Human Being Q: If someone is fully Enlightened, would it still be possible for them to avoid facing difficult and unpleasant aspects of their own personality? Would it still be possi¬ ble for them to avoid facing difficult situations outside themselves that need to be faced?

A: One definition of fully Enlightened is that the capacity to avoid is gone. If someone is fully Enlightened, they no longer possess the ability to deceive themselves the way most people do. Everything is faced choicelessly pleasant or unpleasant. Most people are very resistant to the possi¬ bility of facing everything in this way. Q: It seems that denial or avoidance is actually what creates aseparate identity.

A: Yes, precisely. That's all aseparate identity is. When there is no longer any denial or avoidance, you will be aLiberated human being. Only arare human being has the capacity to face everything as it is without hesitation, without fear, without preconditions and without worry. 2 5 1