The Ego

Our Procrustean Bed

The ego is a self-made Procrustean bed of little comfort

Procrustes was a not-at-all-well-meaning Greek smith-giant. This from our friends at Wikipedia:

In Greek mythology, Procrustes [“the stretcher”], was a rogue smith and bandit from Attica who attacked people by stretching them or cutting off their legs, so as to force them to fit the size of an iron bed.

The word “Procrustean” is thus used to describe situations where an arbitrary standard is used to measure success, while completely disregarding obvious harm that results from the effort.

Procrustes had a stronghold on way between Athens and Eleusis. There he had a bed, in which he invited every passer-by to spend the night, and where he set to work on them with his smith’s hammer, to stretch them to fit.

In later tellings, if the guest proved too tall, Procrustes would amputate the excess length. Needless to say, nobody ever fitted the bed exactly.

Procrustes continued his reign of terror until he was captured by Theseus, traveling to Athens along the sacred way, who “fitted” Procrustes to his own bed.

(Talk about Karma — my view)

Spending twenty-odd years in the ups and downs of corporate America, you cannot help but come across a few Procrusteses, bosses (and even customers at times) who according to some private agenda set the criteria for success or failure as some unreasonable so-and-so set in concrete. There is no arguing with Procrustes, what he says goes, end of story. It’s my way or the highway says Procrustes.

After leaving the corporate game (which, fortunately, accumulated sufficient Social Security credits for me to survive — if frugal — on my monthly allotments) and leaving all those Procrusteses behind, during meditation I have encountered an even worse version of this Greek nutcase: The Ego.

The Ego, so subtly, though assiduously, nursed and developed (and finally hardened) over the years has some pretty set-in-concrete ideas about who you are and how your should behave — and Ego, as very much a rule, does not take no for an answer: it’s the Ego way or the Highway (High, in this case, though, can also be read as Transcendent — which I like).

We all have what the psychologist likes to call a self-image, and the more set in concrete it is the more Procrustean this particular bed. We sometimes hear ourselves say, or observe ourselves do things that had we but taken a deep breath and counted to ten would never have said and done.

That’s Ego doing or talking.

It’s like Ambrose Bierce once put it, “Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret.” That’s the Ego speaking, with all its, by now, built-in reactions and well-oiled circuitry. That’s Procrustes speaking.

The Buddha, along with Shankara and other saintly men, advise us to let go of the Ego — thoroughly and once and for all.

How?

I have found that meditation seems to do the trick.

Yes, but is this letting go of “me”?

It is letting go of the artificial “me”. The real me, the Atman, is un-let-go-of-able: unconditioned, eternal, and not a Procrustean bed in sight.

© Wolfstuff