The gifts keep on coming!...diminishment of ego...whaaaattt?!!!

Eckhart Tolle, p214, New Earth - link here::

A dialogue between a page and myself....:

The piece is titled: "Allow the diminishment of ego" ...

ET: The ego is always on guard against any kind of perceived diminishment.
     JB:...had not noticed...hmmm.

ET: Automatic ego repair mechanisms come into effect to restore the mental form of "me". When someone blames me or criticizes me...
     JB:...I start burning real quick!

ET:...critizes me, that to the ego is a diminishment of self, and it will immediately attempt to repair its diminished sense of self through self-justification, defense or blaming.
     JB:...Careful, there's a reprimand in here, somewhere...

ET:...blaming. Whether the other person is right or wrong is irrelevant to the ego. It is much more interested in self-preservation...
     JB:...no! interested AND expect consideration, respect, and additionally these bubble up..."don't you see that I know about this stuff?", "who do you think you are?"...[burn temps get hotter increasingly...]

https://www.eckharttolle.com/

ET:.. in self-preservation than in the truth. This is the preservation of the psychological form of "me".
    
     JB:...Note to the reader: As regards a background on "form", ET previously, on p. 208, talks about "form" as..."When [one] reacts against the form that Life takes at this moment, when one treats the Now as a means, as an obstacle or an enemy, one strengthens one's form of identity, the ego. Hence the ego's reactivity. What is reactivity? Becoming addicted to reaction. The more reactive...the more entangled one becomes with form. the more identified with form, the stronger the ego. Our Being then does not shine through form anymore - or only barely...."

ET: Even such a normal thing as shouting something back when another driver calls you "idiot" is an automatic and unconscious ego-repair mechanism. One of the most common ego-repair mechanisms is anger, which causes a temporary but huge ego inflation.
     JB:...hmmm. This is getting close to home...Isn't that my right, to defend myself upon a lack of respect, an aggression like that?...

ET: All repair mechanisms make perfect sense to the ego but are actually dysfunctional. Those that are more extreme in their dysfunction are physical violence and self-delusion in the form of grandiose fantasies.

     JB: ET then puts on the pressure, I mean, provides the getaway:

ET: A powerful spiritual practice is consciously to allow the diminishment of ego when it happens without attempting to restore it. I recommend that you experiment with this from time to time. For example, when someone criticizes you, blames you, or calls you names, instead of immediately retaliating or defending yourself - do nothing. Allow the self-image to remain diminished and become alert to what that feels like deep inside you. For a few seconds, it may feel uncomfortable, as if you had shrunk in size. Then you may sense an inner spaciousness that feels intensely alive. You haven't been diminished at all. In fact, you have expanded.   ...thru becoming less (in the ego's perception) you in fact undergo an expansion and make room for Being to come forward. True power, who you are beyond form, can then shine through the apparently weakened form. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Deny yourself", or "Turn the other cheek". 

 Back on p. 208, ET writes:

ET: Through non-resistance to form, that in you which is beyond form emerges as an all-encompassing Presence, a silent power far greater than your short-lived form identity, the person. It is more deeply who you are than anything in the world of form...Nonresistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe. Through it, consciousness (spirit) is freed from its imprisonment in form. Inner resistance to form - whatever is or happens - is a denial of the absolute reality of form.

.....JB: Hmmm. I have lots to go still...