As one being, why do I feel so divided?
In my dualistic universe, oneness is represented in two aspects: heart and mind. Each aspect understands and perceives life differently than the other. Their interaction produces a certain amount of conflict that I experience as perception and define here as “ego.”
Ego, therefore, is a metaphoric representation of the conflict I experience in the interplay between the two different perspectives: mind and heart. Ego also represents my strategy for resolving the conflict in order to return the system to balance, which balance cannot exist in my dualistic universe – in which mind and heart offer separate perspectives of the same thing, each believing it is THE perspective. Thus, my universe constantly appears to be in a state of conflict seeking resolution – ego, my agent of need.
Metaphorically, ego represents an imaginary border between mind and heart. I say “imaginary” because a 2-dimensional surface divided in half by a 1-dimensional line is still a 2-dimensional surface. 1-D lines can exist in a 2-D world only as imaginary concepts – not as real characteristics. Mathematically, the number of slices do not determine the toppings or size of a pizza.
I experience my ego by way of projection, which appear to me as thoughts, sensations, perceptions of my body, and its environment. I define projection here as a presentation of ego (conflict between heart and mind) onto the 2D (dualistic) surface of my consciousness in order to have an experience of separation from oneness that, though imaginary, seems real.
