Consistent Progress in the Work on the Ego Looks Like - (1938)

Looks Like

A large and scary ego that we decide to work on in the beginning does more or less with us what it wants. We suffer, we feel pain, we do, we say, we remain upset for days until it passes etc.

When we start working on such an ego, things change slowly. That is the key word slowly. That ego won't just disappear because we have decided to work on it. What it may do, is slink away into the deeper levels of our subconscious, where we can no longer detect it. It has not died it is just hiding and will appear a little later on with a lot of intensity.

Slow but Sure Signs: Time, Number and Intensity

After having worked on the ego, and when it next manifests, we notice that we remain upset for a little less time, we say a little less, we do a little less etc. we are progressing. 

As we continue to work, the time that the ego stays in the human machine, the number of thoughts it issues, the number of words and actions it generates, become less and less and our capacity to right ourselves by applying some relevant truths, not adopting the identity of the ego etc. increases.

These are all signs that we are progressing. 

Intensity

Another important factor is intensity. The unworked ego is as strong as the intensity it has been fed and used with.

When we feed an ego less and use it less, it gets weaker, and when it manifests it does not manifest with the intensity that it had before. When we observe that we are not bothered as intensely as before, when we can even for a few seconds look over it, the intensity of the ego is decreasing and progress is being made.

Conclusion

The basic signs to look for and work towards are reducing the: time, number and intensity of  the manifestations of the ego we are working on.

How we get there does not really matter, what method we use, what truths we apply, pray, don't pray, analyse, don't analyse what matters is to start off by checking that what we are doing is working by noticing that the time, number and intensity are beginning to decrease.

End (1938).