“The habitual and reactive “no” strengthens the ego. “Yes” weakens it. Your form identity, the ego, cannot survive surrender.”
Source: Stillness Speaks (2003), Ch 6
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Eckhart Tolle 251
German writer 1948Related quotes
Be As You Are, The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (1985) http://www.sadgurus-saints-sages.com/books/RamakrishnaParamahamsa/beasyouare.pdf
“Do not kill your ego and do not let your ego to kill you. Control your ego and rule over it.”
Flow of Divine Guidance (vol.1)
“A weak ego cannot be dissolved.”
My Way: The Way of the White Clouds (1995)
Context: Only a ripe fruit falls to the ground. Ripeness is all. An unripe ego cannot be thrown, cannot be destroyed. And if you struggle with an unripe ego to destroy and dissolve it, the whole effort is going to be a failure. Rather than destroying it, you will find it more strengthened in new subtle ways. This is something basic to be understood: the ego must come to a peak, it must be strong, it must have attained an integrity — only then can you dissolve it. A weak ego cannot be dissolved.
“Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself.”
Buddhism : The Religion of No-Religion
Context: Ego is a social institution with no physical reality. The ego is simply your symbol of yourself. Just as the word "water" is a noise that symbolizes a certain liquid without being it, so too the idea of ego symbolizes the role you play, who you are, but it is not the same as your living organism.
Variant: You should never be so involved with your position/job that when the position is gone your entire self image is gone with it.
Session 283, Page 18
The Early Sessions: Sessions 1-42, 1997, The Early Sessions: Book 7
Session 242, Page 22
The Early Sessions: Sessions 1-42, 1997, The Early Sessions: Book 6