We start making every child ambitious, and ambition means you cannot love; ambition is anti-love. Ambition needs fight, ambition needs struggle, ambition needs you to use others as a means.
RajneeshRead
Where does the ego get its energy? The ego feeds off your desire to be something else. You are poor and you want to be rich - the ego is absorbing energy, its life-breath. You are ignorant and you want to become a wise one - the ego is absorbing energy. You are a wretched nobody and you want to become powerful - the ego is absorbing energy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The ego thrives on our desires for change and superiority, feeding off our dissatisfaction with ourselves.
In this quote, Rajneesh explores the concept of the ego, illustrating how it draws sustenance from our aspirations and desires to become something we currently are not. He points out that the ego is strengthened by our feelings of inadequacy—whether it be financial status, wisdom, or power—indicating that much of our drive to improve ourselves is entwined with the ego's need for validation and recognition.
Themes
EgoDesireSelf-ImprovementRecognitionPowerWisdomSatisfaction
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
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Love is not a relationship, love is a state of being; it has nothing to do with anybody else. One is not "in love", one is love. And of course when one is love, one is in love – but that is an outcome, a by-product, that is not the source. The source is that one is love.
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