At the center of his book, Everything Belongs, Richard Rohr addresses the distinction between “soul” and “ego.”
“The soul doesn’t know itself by comparison and differentiation. The soul just is. The soul knows itself through what is now and everything that is…. Everything belongs…. To my ego, my wealth, my intelligence, my moral goodness, and my social class are that they are only in contrast to the person next to me. But the still center, my true self, does not need to oppose, differentiate, or compare itself…. To the extent our soul is alive, we are satisfied with the “enoughness” of the present moment and are in touch with reality…. As soul we don’t really act. We just are. A ego, we cope with the world. We change it. We rearrange and constantly try to improve it.”
The soul “just is” — “everything belongs.” The ego exists only by opposition, differentiation, and comparison. Put that way, the choice seems easy. Still….
It occurs to me... 