Ego vs Truth

It might have been the naked photos that caught my eye, but this week I picked up Blair’s latest Vanity Fair and read the article on ‘the’ Kate Moss. Apparently she has a rare ability to let the media craft stories about her as a heroine addict and anorexia, without attempting to publicly correct it. She simply focuses on doing her work, and doing it well.

Our ego (the lowest part of our mental construct) loves to create stories and biases about others. In an effort to distract us from uncomfortable emotional states, we pick apart others to simmer our own toxicity. But whenever we serve the ego, we directly contribute to suffering in the world.

“Oh she’s an ego-maniac, didn’t you know?” a friend once said about a woman. We are constantly stating our opinions as truth. While her opinion of this woman may be true for her, someone else might have a very different perspective. So what is truth?
 
The following is a story about a Zen master who was able to rise above the drama of the mind and live in the raw truth of the moment.
 
One day, as the master was preparing for his morning meditation, a woman came running up the mountain accusing him of impregnating her. This news quickly became the talk of the town. The monk’s only response was “Ahh, and so it is.”

When the baby was born, she returned to his mountain hut, handing him the baby and disappearing down the mountain path again. The monk’s response was “Ahh, and so it is” and he began caring for the baby.
 
Years passed and one day, the village woman appeared at the master’s hut once again, admitting that she had wrongly accused him of being the father of her child. She informed him that the true father had come forth and was now willing to take responsibility.
 
As the woman took the child from the master, his only response was “Ahh, and so it is.”

The master accepted the job that was given to him, without engaging in the drama.

Imagine being that steadfastly centered?

Jenny