The Big, Bad, Super Cute, Ego

Discover the difference between imagination and truth, and how the ego can impact our human experience. Drawing parallels between the ego and playing a game, Tiger invites you to question the stories we cling to and the illusions we hold onto. Gain insights into the metaphor of the devil and its relation to the ego's desire for significance. Explore the concept of eternity and the depth of suffering, and uncover the journey of releasing illusions and embracing what's real.

Transcript

The big bad super cute ego.

I find this concept interesting for a couple reasons one is because there's a popularity around it a popularity around the concept of ego Whether it's in psychological circles or spiritual circles There's a lot referenced to that for myself I'm not always such a big fan of What other people might have to say about this that or the other?

Without deeply investigating my own experience and finding What feels profoundly simple and true?

So as a note of caution,

I invite you to do the same That I'm not someone to listen to and just assume that What I'm saying is relevant for you because you could be interpreting what I'm saying in a way that's Entirely off the mark of my intention which happens all the time I guess to begin We should probably clarify terms Like the term of ego What is it in the most simple and direct and practical way?

For my myself what I see is that the ego is simply Who I am thought to be the character in the mind That presents itself when I think about something called me and this is fascinating to explore Because everyone has this everyone has a Character in their mind that they think they are in this character is built on over a lifetime It's a story that continues to unfold and in a direct way.

I could say that it is a Relationship with the ego that is the source of our human struggle That is defined as sufferable That might be a bit of a big statement But I think it's rather obvious the more that we look at it,

Which is what we'll do It's not uncommon for this term ego to be seen as a villain to be seen as Something that's in the way and if only there wasn't an ego Then you could somehow Capture the piece that you're looking for or there's all sorts of invitations to try and destroy the ego to get rid of the ego to kill the ego and Taken literally We really miss the point Which happens quite often especially in spiritual language.

I Could tell a fantastic story or pointing that speaks to Allowing the ego to die But it's not speaking to the reality of that happening It's illustrating a picture that invites something profound to be seen that there isn't really words for Because of course I'm Not suggesting that you Literally kill this something that isn't even alive and that's a great place to start or continue to recognize that this character in the mind Who you are thought to be Which comes with the name comes with the story it comes with anything that is a thought Related to a personal sense of identity That would be ego.

It is a product of the mind and Whatever product of the mind it is also imaginary Meaning that whatever the mind sees is To see its own creation To see its own imagination This is beautiful,

By the way It's not a problem especially when Seen in its appropriate context Let's just recognize that for a second.

Even if it seems simple to discern the difference here That who I am thought to be Does not actually exist in reality meaning the character that I can imagine right now of Tiger That character is not actually here in reality in life the character only exists in the imagination and The function of this character is Required for being a human being it's unavoidable It plays a particular function that helps us go about having this human experience and I would even suggest that it contributes seen in the appropriate context to a playful experience of being a human being in the same way of When you go and watch a movie you see characters in the story and The experience of going to a movie can be enjoyable that movie could not be without characters the experience of Relating couldn't happen in the way that it does without characters in part of the dance of characters in our human expression is It presents an opportunity for learning.

It presents an opportunity for discovery It's deeply integrated into the experience of being human It's part of it.

Where does the challenge arise?

There's an illustration here That comes to mind That I've spoken about many times before but it seems particularly relevant If we were to investigate When does the problem arise with the ego?

Directly said it's when you Mistake the ego for reality when you think it's real and then we try to protect and defend That which is only imaginary thinking it's real in the same way if we're playing a game of Monopoly and You think the money is real?

You're not fun to play with You get serious you get agitated you get scared Because you've mistaken the points for something that's real and you see how innocent that is Again,

Not a problem.

It's just an innocent misunderstanding But you can see how easily that can happen where you get wrapped up in the experience and you think the Game that you're playing Which exists for the sake of play is somehow a serious thing Where you could potentially lose something that's real lose something that isn't merely Imaginary this experience of taking the game as something that's real and subsequently missing the opportunity of play is exactly what happens with the imaginary character that we have or we take it to be real and Then shit gets serious Likewise Just like when you're playing a game you can over time amass a lot of imaginary points a lot of things that you Imagine to mean something about you and yet what it really is is little pieces of paper That have no value but in our experience with the ego living a life repeatedly building on this story and Believing more and more that it's real the last thing we want to see is that it's not real and this also points to the fundamental difficulty in the human experience of a Lack of willingness to see the truth of things.

We don't want to see the truth of things Because it threatens the illusions that we're holding on to in the same way of playing a game you can tell a beautiful story about all these points that you have and You don't want someone coming along and saying hey,

Did you know that those points aren't real?

Which is why I wouldn't be surprised if this show was never popular Because at first glance It's not Inviting to have your illusions Destroyed and again,

It's a way of speaking because illusions are imaginary.

They can't actually be destroyed It's a way of speaking This is wise to recognize and to see how fundamental this is That as human beings there's something in us That doesn't want to see the truth of things doesn't want to Acknowledge a reality Where who we think we are is only imaginary Partly because we're not in touch with the reality of what we are and to not be in touch with the reality of what you are and then to have The potential of seeing the ego doesn't exist Can be really scary Which of course is why there's usually a huge defensiveness Which is why the ego?

Can become violent,

In fact,

We could even go so far as to say that Anytime the ego starts acting crazy becoming violent it's because it's Approaching the discovery of seeing its own imaginary nature and it doesn't want to see that What I can promise you though is that The reality of what you actually are Beyond this character is not concerned about the egos disappearance Isn't scared so part of the invitation here always and forever as I speak is to pull the curtain back little by little or a lot by lot and Open the eyes of your heart and see what's true about you and To have a willingness to surrender That character and when I say surrender that character what I mean is to acknowledge its imaginary nature Acknowledge that the points are imaginary acknowledge that no matter How many?

Imaginary points you gather they're still going to be imaginary which is really really interesting One thing to pay attention to as it relates to the big bad super cute ego is to recognize that it's on this quest of Capturing more points and avoiding the loss of the points it thinks it has captured and This is something that you can just observe in your own human experience without any judgment Just be fascinated by it Because it's happening all the time Which again can be part of the play This is also why I refer to the ego as super cute because again the ego exists in a world of imagination This might be a leap to see But see if you can go with me there The ego exists in a world of imagination Meaning that everything it does does inside of a world of imagination It doesn't actually affect reality Now the ego can have a big argument with that one Because it can certainly look like it affects reality but in the same way The monopoly money can look real but behind all of the stories behind all the projections The money is nothing and So no matter what story you tell about the money the points It doesn't affect the reality of those points,

Which means nothing This points a little bit to how lost we can get in those stories it's almost as if it's just layers upon layers and so often we can Theoretically escape one layer just to find ourselves in another layer Thinking we got out of the layers,

But we're still fully emerged in the layers It's wise to approach this with a beginner's mind to not assume that you have discovered the thing But more so just be open and curious to how deep this goes because it goes really really deep The ego exists in a world of imagination In the same way that when you go to a movie What you see happening in the movie Does not come out of the movie You see why reality isn't concerned about the ego It would be like me watching a movie concerned about the characters in the movie Now if you identify with the characters in the movie Which is in a way to put yourself in the movie then you'll have concern about what happens in the movie in the imagination but when you can sit back and observe and discern the difference between a reality and imagination It's very clear that whatever is happening in the movie stays in the movie which invites a beautiful recognition That there's nothing to be afraid of in reality which I spoke to a little bit in the first broadcast today Okay,

So if there's the ego That is determined to Be real Which is what happens when it's believed to be real.

So it's not necessarily that the ego is Doing this on its own.

It's it's actually being fueled It's being fueled by an Assumption a misunderstanding which makes perfect sense What exists beyond the ego?

Who are you if you're not the ego?

Now remember I talked about the difference between imagination and reality What I invite us to recognize in this moment is that all of the words that I'm using to communicate are products of the imagination in a direct way It's and it's impossible To speak the truth about these things Because I'm using words which are in the realm of imagination and So,

How do you use the imagination?

To discover that which is not imaginary This is a caution in believing Anything that I'm saying I don't want anyone to believe what I'm saying because I know what I'm saying isn't true I'm seeing what's true and I'm playfully using words as an attempt to point to what's true But if you stay in the realm of imagination Which is effectively to cling to my words to believe or not believe my words.

It misses the point entirely and as I speak Some people will go.

Oh,

I see that and it's not something that you see in the imagination you You see it in your experience Before the mind even comments on it It's like it's self-evident It's self-evident and you can't even describe it for example if you Were out walking in the evening time and then you get captured by a sunset Right beforehand you were off thinking in your mind This that and the other and then you look up at reality and you see this sunset and you're just like,

Oh You get snapped back to reality and you can tell somebody.

Yeah,

I'm seeing a sunset and it's beautiful But does that statement really?

Describe the experience Does that touch upon the reality of what you're actually seeing?

No,

You can't actually communicate it You can tell a story you can paint a picture,

But no matter what is created from the mind It'll only be a representation of something that is a million times more magnificent Than what you say about it Which is the beauty of discovering what you really are you won't be able to Say But you'll see it's like and this has been referred to throughout time spiritually one way that it's pointing to in my opinion is to give sight to a blind man Like someone is touched by the truth and they were blind,

But now they see For me that is a story That attempts to point to something profound Right whether it's true or not is irrelevant to me.

It's absolutely irrelevant Because that's not the real miracle that Physicality of Being blind and then being able to see as cool as it might be it pales in comparison to seeing the truth of life You could be blind and still see the truth of life and have your mind blown and heart open in ways you didn't know were possible the doorway into seeing The truth of what you are beyond the ego this doorway has been painted a Thousand different ways throughout time and us silly humans take these doorways literally for example There's a I think this is a Bible thing.

It could be a Buddhist thing.

No,

It was a Jesus Bible thing where some somebody came up to Jesus and said I want to follow you dude and Jesus says okay Go sell everything you own and then come follow me and the guy hesitates right,

So you see that pointer and Then to take it literally it says oh if I'm gonna discover the truth of life I have to go sell everything I own Right.

That pointer is speaking to a doorway in that doorway being To investigate what it is that you put before this discovery What's more important than this discovery?

Imposing that Invitation to sell everything you own kind of invites you To see what you think is more important because the opportunity of this discovery is the greatest gift to be seen in the human experience however,

There's 10,

000 illusions product of imagination That we think are more important than this gift and isn't it true that throughout your journey of life You gently release all of those illusions right because at one point you thought XYZ was important and Then you thought ABC was important and we exhausted ourselves Chasing these things trying to hold on to these things and then over time.

We just started to realize wow,

That's just not important It's not what I thought it was right,

You see these illusions crumble over time and As they crumble we become more available on the inside of what we are To see what's true.

We have less things that we're carrying we have less things that we're holding on to and The more that we release the unreal The more available we are to experience what's real part of the opportunity to Release the burden of ego is Simply through observation and awareness Again,

It's not to go and kill it It's to be aware of what's going on to watch your human experience Not to judge it not to try and change it to just bring your awareness to it because The lack of awareness is what creates the whole dilemma Right the shenanigans of the ego that takes things personally that tries to defend its imaginary character That holds on to silly ideas of identity All of this is happening because there's a lack of awareness of what's actually real and true It's like we're just going along with the narrative without ever questioning it Luckily,

There's this thing called suffering which is a sort of alarm That attempts to wake you up because when there is suffering there is definitely an attachment To this character and this character is holding on to the unreal to the extent That it is suffocating itself in the message of suffering in so many words is Let go surrender the burden the big bad super cute ego in the pre-broadcast reflections I added a little bit moji of myself in a devil costume which I think is Right on point as it relates to the ego now,

I want to say some things here which I which I feel bring a lot of clarity to the nature of ego and how it operates if we can explore this without clinging to any dogma Put it that way and I Know that's an impossible invitation because that's what we tend to do as human beings for some who are listening throughout religious traditions the speakers of these pointers in Their attempt to communicate something that can't actually be spoken tell stories That invite you to see beyond the story Right.

It's like how do I tell you about something?

That can't actually be touched by words right,

Like if you don't have a Sense of taste Right imagine you were born without a sense of taste and you ask me What vanilla tastes like I can't even tell you so what I can do is use words and stories to illustrate What it might be like or if you were colorblind what is green?

What is purple?

What is what is orange?

I'll tell a beautiful story But that doesn't mean you'll see it The story I'm referring to that has been told again in a thousand different ways But from a biblical context,

It's the story of the devil the story of the devil attempts to articulate the nature of the ego it's so fascinating how we can take these things literally and Completely miss the underlying message being pointed to it's just fascinating and then we cling to our stories as if they're real and Then defend those stories to death to the point of suffering Because to find out that the story isn't true,

But as a pointer Somehow destroys the identity we've built up around that story Which makes perfect sense again why we wouldn't want to see beyond the story Why something inside of us almost seems like it?

Refuses to allow us to see beyond the story Especially because something in us can resonate with the story Right the story points to something and there's a resonance.

And so we think there's resonance.

It must mean the story is true Do you recognize that?

Rather than it's the resonance.

What's true?

But the character and the mind can't define the the resonance and So in order to hold on to it in order to capture it it tells a story and then holds on to the story which is a very quick way to Suppress the resonance That's a whole nother video but the story of the devil and I'm not a scholar in these things and so I'm gonna retell this story in my own words and See if you can see the pointing so there's a bunch of angels in heaven with God and all of these angels are Worshiping God celebrating God enjoying heaven and then one of these angels is in this party And everyone's worshiping God and this angel says but what about me?

Why is no one worshiping me?

Why is everyone just worshiping this God?

I want to be God and That's not permitted in heaven in such a way that the reason why heaven works is because there's a certain order to things and this particular angel is threatened by that order because It doesn't validate his imaginary sense of self-importance and so he gets frustrated and essentially banishes himself I Know it might have been spoken that he was banished,

But I would suggest that it's a self banishment He doesn't want to participate He wants to do it his own way He wants to be worshipped.

He wants to be God and So he falls from heaven and In some capacity or another he becomes what is known as the devil which is that that is in opposition to God and In opposition to God because he wants to be God You know what else this is like saying?

He wants to be real right because everyone's worshiping the one God that's real and He wants to be real and so he goes on his journey of trying to be God and Creates hell in the process hell being a space where there is only suffering where there is eternal suffering You know what?

That is is it's deep suffering.

You know what?

It's not Forever Eternal is not a construct of time eternal is a construct that points towards depth and We as human beings in our belief of time have interpreted the word eternal To mean forever and ever in the construct of time.

That's not the case Eternal is a depth of this moment and as a human being I Think it's safe to assume that you've experienced eternal suffering Where it seems like it's never gonna end Where it seems so deep you can't get out of it where it seems like this is now your sentence and from that space of hell life becomes full of Judgment and condemnation Resentment guilt blame and all flavors of the fearful all stemming from what in a manner of speaking trying to be God in Another manner of speaking trying to make the imaginary character real Which also comes with trying to be validated?

Which is being worshipped Prove my existence Prove that I'm real Worship me validate me.

Is this not the mantra that we've been sold?

Is this not what we do as a human species celebrating the separateness in human beings apparently validating some over others Worshipping our ideas of them the unreal putting them up on a pedestal and Again in a manner of speaking Putting them before God and is there not something in you that's trying to be that Do you see this aspect of ourselves in our human?

Misunderstanding which again has been there since the beginning and I'll tell a story about that But there's something in us as human beings that in a manner of speaking is Trying to be God rather than letting God be God Which is like saying?

Trying to make the unreal real Rather than letting the real be the real and why do we not want the real?

Because in the real who you think you are doesn't exist.

And so in the real you die Which makes perfect sense why there is the resistance to the real?

From the unreal And right the unreal is referred to as the dark and the darks trying to take over the light that illustrates the Playful battle.

There's not really a battle God is unconcerned with the shenanigans of the devil in This manner of speaking.

I'm very clear about this manner of speaking Because I'm not trying to validate stories I'm pointing with words So to continue on this theme in bringing clarity to this confusion There's another story in the Bible that I feel Illustrates this nicely of how we found ourselves in this predicament and it doesn't only speak to the origin But it speaks to the origin within the individual and that is the story of Adam and Eve You know what this could actually just be another video Because there's a lot that I'd want to say about it to make it More clear.

So actually I'm gonna hold off on that because I've already gone over my playful allotted time for this program Maybe it's a bit of a cliffhanger to come back again But yeah You guys are feeling it.

Yeah,

It's amazing Isn't it extraordinary?

How we can take these ancient stories and Think it's important if the story is true or not Rather than seeing what the story points to because what the story points to is so much more profound Than if something was or was not thousands of years ago Right.

It's like we want it to be true a thousand years ago because it gives us something to hold on to What are you holding on to a story what are you holding on to the imagination One of the reasons it's irrelevant for me is it's impossible to know right,

Even if somebody Presented a thousand page document of evidence that said this is what happened.

It's like,

Okay cool.

I don't know though.

I Don't need to know It's not relevant in Reality in here and now in such a way that here and now is already complete It doesn't need to be completed by some story of the past Glad you guys enjoy that.

I love talking about these things in religious context because I Feel there's so much innocent misunderstanding that clings to story and Misses the real beauty of the message And for me a greater Practicality about the message and There can be such a playful destruction in Clinging to the stories and then defending those stories and then judging other people who don't believe the same stories that you believe Which again is all an attempt to make your character real,

Right?

The the stories my character believes in are more real than the stories your character believes in and If your character stories are proved to be true Then it disproves my character stories,

Which means my character isn't real So I am going to go to war in Order to protect my story.

It's an issue of life and death for the ego Even though the ego will never be alive,

But the ego doesn't see that when there's a belief energizing the potential for the egos existence All right.

Let's wrap up with a guided meditation Man,

There's so much to explore.

This is so much fun.

I really enjoy this show and I Playfully made a decision a couple hours ago That instead of four live broadcasts a week I was gonna do two because Doing four is a lot of work but it's only a lot of work in the context of the post-production and Delivering this content Maybe I don't need to deliver all the content and I can just show up live and then put the recordings in the community Which is totally possible I tend to over complicate these things and that could definitely be happening Maybe I'll continue to do four.

Maybe I'll do two.

Maybe I'll do one.

I don't know,

But we'll just follow the flow and That's what happens But there are other projects that I'm involved in other than doing live videos that I like to give my time and attention to Yeah,

Jane,

What is sin Oh goodness Another beautiful innocent misunderstanding.

That's actually Something that's beautiful to recognize.

Yeah,

It'll be another video or a video series all right,

I Guess before we do this meditation get out of here.

I will just invite you to explore the opportunity of Coming on retreat and I guess if you're watching the recording you might have to get updated if that's still happening,

But it seems to be fairly consistent Doing two retreats a year one at the end of March and Then one at the end of September or early October Seems to be happening in Portugal where I live now Naturally that could all change But I do have a retreat scheduled March 24th through the 31st it's for 12 people and You can get on in like connect comm to find out more about that.

It's super casual it's just open-hearted human beings coming together hanging out for a week and we dive into these things and have our minds blown and our hearts open and We discover a profound love for all that is Bringing a healing to how you see yourself how you see others and how you see all the life and if that's not for you,

Then get signed up for the free community at in like connect comm and participate there If you dig these things if not,

Then it's definitely not the space for you All right,

Let us do a guided meditation There can be so much noise in the mind Yet to come back to reality There's no noise at all There is only a stillness where all the appearance of things and go Let's connect with that stillness Let us melt into the space That allows for all things to be Let us be open to see life with brand new eyes May we surrender?

The fantasy May we surrender?

The illusions Allowing them to be what they are an expression of play,

But they do not hold the prize You're looking for they do not hold reality They do not hold What is true?

Even if it's just for right now We can lay those things down and come home to the real we're gonna end with three deep breaths and Allow the totality of what we are to embrace the reality of this moment and on the exhale We will release all that is not here Right now,

Let's breathe My friend You've already been given The only gift there is the truth of life contains everything You could possibly crave Because what you really crave Is a craving for what is real?

What you really crave is the truth of life and that gift Has already been given may we open the eyes of our heart and Discover a profound willingness to truly see life Thanks for meditating with me today

Reviews

Well, I'm super stoked to rename my ego 'super cute' and your view/perspective about the devil 👿 and it being a pointer...love, love, love! Resonates deeply. All. Of. It! Deep bow my friend 🙏🏼💖

Wow! This is exactly what I needed in dealing with old wounds which were playing on repeat. Thank you, Tiger.✨🙏✨

thanks Tiger, it took me a little while into the talk to understand, but i got there. I especially liked the analogy of the monopoly money. fyi a third of God’s angels left with Satan. and i liked the way you said or explained that Satan tried to be , or wanted to be God. and how often I can do that too by being in self will. thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏