Our thinking mind, the intellect, is a gift from the other-than-conscious part of our mind according to the late, Dr. Dave Dobson. The other-than -conscious part of our mind is where all the patterns live – patterns of thinking and behavior that have gotten formed and conditioned over the years. And Dave taught us all that patterns are purposeful – formed for a purpose – usually to get us through a period of our life.

Dave did not like the term “ego.” It was too Freudian for him. Yet, he would describe the ego in other terms – patterns that never grew up.

For example, smoking is a pattern that never grew up. After working with hundreds of thousands of smokers over the years, I can attest, with certainty, that the part of your mind that keeps you smoking is a pattern of behavior that never grew up. To a part of the smoker’s mind they are still “cool,” “one of the gang,” “like my older sister,” “tough guy,” “chic,” “independent,” “rebellious,” “debonair,” etc. You’ll never get a smoker’s intellect to agree with that because the intellect thinks it logically runs the show. The patterns run the show. The intellect is filled with the illusion of willpower and control. The illusion is sent from the patterned ego. The logic that goes along with willpower and control is, if you try hard enough, you can do anything or control anything consciously.

Dave also detested the word “try.” He would ask, “Did you ever see a deer try to stand up?” He said the deer was lying down, standing up, or somewhere along that continuum. He said we ascribed the word “try” to stages of doing something or not doing something. He said “try” is a word we learned to gain absolution. When being toilet trained, a child would learn that if they said, “I tried to make it to the bathroom, mommy,” mom would be a bit more lenient. He said “try” is a made up word that we have conditioned our mind to that has no effort attached to it. He liked the phrase, “make an effort” or the British axiom, “let’s give it a go.” According to Dave, they were grown up words that had activity associated with them. Try is something the intellect learned from the ego.

The intellect is the logician. The ego is the control freak. In tandem, they keep us stuck.

Just like you can’t correctly spell “phonics” phonetically, you cannot process reality intellectually. We just don’t have the equipment. That our senses are limited, is best stated by Lao Tzu in the ancient book, the Tao Te Ching when he says,

“The five colours blind the eye. The five tones deafen the ear. The five flavours dull the taste.”

The Grasshopper says,

“Your intellect will prove what it believes.”

Beliefs are patterns of thought, and the ones that aren’t working for you, never grew up. The intellect will justify your counter-productive patterns because it believes it’s under the control of the ego.

Perhaps a story will help explain how the ego keeps the intellect from being a free thinker. Pretend that you are on safari in a jungle. The guides (ego) want to control your behavior to keep you from roaming at night, so they lie to you and tell you there are ravenous lions in the area. Unbeknown to you they have recorded lion roars on a CD and have those sounds continuously playing on speakers strategically placed outside of the campsite. How likely are you to roam? Your best intellectual information tells you to stay put. It came from illusionary lions.

When Eckhart Tolle instructs us to “die before you die,” he is talking about the death of the ego. When the ego dies, the inspirations from the real you are no longer filtered through this veil of illusion and you get to use your intellect optimally.

Dave was accurate, the intellect is a gift.

The only question you have to ask is, do you want more fruitcakes or do you want something a bit more yummy?

The only decision you need to make is to observe your ego. Observing ego generated thoughts causes them to wither on the vine and drop away, making room for some new growth.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301