Chapter 7

A tree is much more than just a label, and a human is much more too. It's very easy to label people according to their religion, race, country, and even their size, intelligence, skinniness, and fatness. That's because the ego is usually in control. When the ego is in control it is much easier to judge things and put labels on them. The label doesn't give you any more of an idea about the object than if you were to take a picture of it. Labels and pictures simply remind you of what they look like. Even if you understand all of the ecological and biological attributes of a tree, that understanding still won't give you that awe-inspiring wonderment that it would if you were to look at it with pure awareness. Your eyes won't open and your ego won't be transcended until you are able to approach the world as a young child. Young children don't have concepts about the world. To them there are no labels or names, no good or bad. It is as if everything is brand new because, for them, they are experiencing it for the first time. It isn't until they are taught the names of things that they develop a sense of identity and a feeling of being separate from other people and objects. Once they understand that they have a name and that they are separate from others, they then begin to develop an ego. They begin to have a sense of "I."

While talking to someone or writing a letter to someone, reflect on what you are saying. How many times do you use the words "I", "me" or "my"; and when you do, is it for the purpose of making yourself look better than someone else? And when you speak about other people, do you have a tendency to make them look better or worse than yourself? This is what is meant by observing the ego.