Ego force, Brain Momentum and Emotional

Accumulation
Posted in Wisdom in Daily Life on September 8, 2012 by Sen.

The journey towards finding your inner wholeness involves freedom from three forms of resistance
– the ego force, brain momentum and emotional accumulation. All these three factors, in
combination, contribute to an imbalanced “mind” momentum (or momentum of negativity), the
mind being just a pointer to the space of thoughts in a being. The ego-force contributes to
negativity, a brain in an over-drive contributes to negativity and a high emotional accumulation
contributes to negativity – a combination of all the three spells out the condition of strong inner
imbalance. Negativity is a term I use to indicate a disconnection from a state of
balance/wholeness. Identifying each of these resistances, in you, is the first step towards
understanding the root cause of negativity; without a conscious identification of these core causes
you cannot really work towards releasing them. The second step is to allow a release of their
momentum by consciously letting go of being identified with that particular force in you. The step
of identifying the resistance requires a capacity for “awareness”, and the step of letting go requires
a capacity for staying in a state of conscious/aware allowing without identification.

Understanding and observation causes an increase in “awareness”. However, it does take a certain
amount of courage to let go of identifying with the pull of these “forces”, without trying to
suppress them (which is what a state of conscious allowing is), to allow a release of their
momentum until they are no longer powerful enough to influence your being, thus bringing you to
a place of inner wholeness. Of course, awareness is the key, without being aware, of a certain
force of resistance/imbalance/delusion in you, it’s not possible to release your identification with it.
The state of unconscious living is when a person is lost to the pull of these forces to the extent of
being a prisoner to their influence – this is what it means to lose your inner freedom. If the state
of unconsciousness is continued, sooner or later, these forces gain enough momentum to become
a source of constant psychological suffering, around this time is usually when a person realizes the
extent to which he/she is trapped to their influence. This realization is usually the “waking point”
towards seeking conscious freedom.

Bringing awareness to the ego-force

In your true essence you exist as a non-physical “being”, which I also call a “stream of
consciousness” or soul, and when you are focused in your physical body you are working in
tandem with the brain and the heart, which are two primary intelligences present in a body. You
have an ego as a being/soul (the sense of “I”), the brain has an ego because it’s self-aware, the
heart has an ego in the sense that it has preferences (the heart, as an organ, is not unconditional
in its love, it has preferences towards what it connects with). Ego is not a problem, it’s a nature in
life-energy, the problem is when it becomes a “force” that resists your connection with your
natural wholeness, which inherently means that you are disconnected from wisdom and are lost to
an egoic perspective.

In the physical realm, as a being, you become identified with the body, and take it to be your only
identity, forgetting your connection with the body of life which you essentially are. Your focus can
narrow down so sharply around your physicality that you end up becoming disconnected with the
inner wisdom coming from your life-space. I just use terms like life-space, body of life, intelligence
of your life-stream, intelligence of totality, the space of being, the space of life etc to refer to the
“one” space in which everything is happening, which is all there is. I like the analogy of how
different water bodies (like rivers) emerge from the ocean but are inherently connected to the
ocean, and are just different expressions of it – a river cannot survive in disconnection with the
ocean. As a being, you are like a river, but you can become so totally identified with your form as
a river that you forget your connection with the ocean, this what it means to have a strong ego-
force, which disconnects you from wholeness. You, of course, have your individual existence (just
like the river has an individual presence), but you are not independent of the wholeness of life,
and if you move purely from an egoic perspective you lose connection with the wisdom of
wholeness.
As being you can become totally identified with the brain (along with its ego) and be a prisoner to
its influence. You can also become lost to your heart, and be a prisoner to it. It’s one thing to
understand your brain, and your heart, and allow a harmonious expression, but it’s a totally
different thing to be a prisoner to their influence to the point where you feel helplessly pulled
around by them. The brain, and the heart, on their own, lack wisdom – there are totally moved by
their impulses and can go into imbalances when over-indulged. Balance requires that you bring the
wisdom of wholeness to your brain, and your heart, while understanding their preferences. For
example, consider the dimension of sexuality in your brain/body, if you are totally lost towards
your brain’s impulses you become a prisoner to this dimension and live from a constant place of
depravity – a dimension which can be enjoyed in a state of balance can become a source of
psychological suffering when one is lost to its influence without any sense of inner wisdom.

The ego-force is simply the force generated by total identification with a sense of “me” without the
balance of connecting with the wisdom of your life-space. Higher the ego-force stronger is the
imbalance i your being, and there is some form of an evident crash that happens, eventually, as a
manifestation of this disconnection. In a state of balance the ego is not a problem, as it’s working
in conjunction with the wisdom of wholeness, and is not a singular force that runs your being. It’s
very important to understand that the ego is not a problem by itself, it’s the imbalanced ego-force
which is the problem – I reiterate this several times just to ensure there is no misunderstanding;
the last thing you want is to try to reach some state of being “egoless”, which just becomes a
deluded, endless, pursuit. It’s about balance, it’s not about moving from one extreme to another.

If you are wondering how to identify the ego in you, consider the below pointers

- Your ego is what feels insulted or hurt

- Your ego is what feels needy

- Your ego is what feels joy/excited on a personal achievement

- Your ego is what feels jealous of others’ achievement

- Your ego is what falls in love or feels attracted to that “special” person (heart’s ego in
conjunction with your being)

- Your ego is what’s “trying” to be all loving

- Your ego is what spews anger, and it’s also what feels guilty about anger

- Your ego is what’s anxious in a social situation

- Your ego is what’s afraid of being alone, and it’s also what seeks refuge in being alone out of fear
of the outside

Basically, the ego is the sense of “I” that operates in your life. When it’s in imbalance it’s a source
of psychological suffering, however, when it’s not a strong force in you (and thus allows you to
have connection with your space of being) it allows for a “healthy” expression. It’s easy to
determine if your ego-force has a high momentum in you, just check out if you lose yourself to
your ego the moment you are hurt, anxious, angered or over-excited, see how strongly you hold
on to these feelings/thoughts – the stronger your hold, the stronger your ego-force.

The resistance of brain momentum

The brain, as an organ, can go on an overdrive when it’s imbued with too much attention from you
(as the being). Your attention/focus has the power to “fuel” anything that it rests on, this is the
principle of creation – this is the potential/power you have as life-energy. Knowing this power, in
your being, is a big step towards living a conscious life of not creating an unconscious imbalance
through an over-dose of focus on anything. Also, the brain, by itself, can keep re-fueling its
momentum when it’s constantly “active”, and hence is in a state of “feeding itself” through its
focus. For example, people who are given to watching TV, for long periods of time, are keeping
their brain focused inordinately and it keeps gathering momentum. The same is true for people
who are lost to a work that requires mental focus (even some creative work like writing a novel),
or just lost to the habit of “thinking” inordinately, thus keeping their brain active all the time with
no space of conscious rest. Such an unconscious movement causes the brain to keep building a
momentum to the point where starts feeling “out of control”, where you can’t relax your thinking
even if you desire to, that’s when realize that you’ve become a prisoner to your own brain.

OCD, in all its minor and major forms, is one of the symptoms of a brain that has a high
momentum (though it can also be caused by a high emotional accumulation). However, it’s not the
brain that’s to blame, of its own, it’s your unconscious identification with the brain, and patterns of
unconscious living, that contributed to this hike in momentum. The brain can also have a strong
momentum of ego-force going for itself, when it develops a strongly self-obsessed pattern of
thinking – this is basically a consequence of having no understanding of the oneness of life, and
thus moving totally from egoic perspectives. This ego-force, in the brain, takes the shape of strong
neural pathways that take time to dissolve even after you’ve become “conscious” and are letting
go of being identified with these self-obsessed patterns of thought. Even if your being is
“enlightened” in terms of seeing through the influence of ego-force, it still takes time for the brain
to let go of the momentum of ego-force present in it (as the neural pathways are “physical
constructs” which take time to dissolve).

Imbalance created by emotional accumulation

“Sensitivity” is a nature in life-energy. Sensitivity simply means the capacity to “feel”. Sensory
feelings (like the sense of touch) and emotional feelings are the two ways in which we experience
sensitivity as a human being. Emotional feelings are created through our “perception”, basically
they are created by what we feel about a thought, about a sensation or about an experience. In a
simplistic sense, our feelings can be categorized as love, fear, joy, hatred, boredom and sexuality-
based. Feelings are also “energy”, and they can get stored/accumulated when one is overly
identified with them, or when one is trying to suppress them. Your identification, and suppression,
are both forms of “focus” which cause the amplification of the energy of the feeling and causes the
excess to get stored up as it does not find a release – this is what an emotional accumulation is all
about. As a being/soul, you can have an emotional accumulation over several life-times depending
on your level of unconsciousness.

The emotional accumulation becomes a problem for three reasons

1. Your emotional accumulation becomes a fuel for instigating your brain’s thinking

2. Your emotional accumulation creates resistance in your being towards inner wholeness/wisdom
and causes you to move purely from the place of seeking relief from its pressure

3. A high, past, emotional accumulation (of a certain emotion like fear) causes you to feel
“intolerant” towards that feeling (in your present), as it becomes too painful to handle. It’s like
when the ballon is filled up with air, every ounce of air you add brings it to a point of bursting.

Letting go of your past emotional accumulation requires you to go through a phase of consciously
allowing these stored-up “energies” to come up and be released – it feels unpleasant to sense
these accumulated feelings come up in your consciousness, but without this conscious release the
momentum just keeps regenerating itself.

All the three forces (ego-force, brain momentum and emotional momentum) get released, and you
find a space of inner wholeness in your being, as you consciously allow their momentum to ebb
away. It involves growing in awareness of their presence in you and then releasing their
momentum in a state of allowing by letting go of your identification.

(You can read the post – the state total allowing and FAQ on the state of allowing for a better
understanding of what I mean by conscious allowing)
 32 Comments
1. PoornimaSeptember 8, 2012 at 11:29 pm

To all

Hello. I came across this blog in February this year. I hope this comment gives help to anyone who
reads.

Back in February I was not completely strict about the following part, to be honest now it was
interesting stuff to be practiced at leisure. I understood, but it was nothing urgent yet. Then in mid
June, I faced an undesirable personal situation and then I knew I had to take things more
seriously and give my 100% if things were to get better.

It was quite depressing at first because of the situation, but since August, things changed, which I
can see now, but at that time it couldn’t. It only looked as if I had no idea what to do with my life,
what I was, a complete identity crisis (I’m 23, and just out of university after post-graduation),
with constant parental pressure to go along with their wishes – to get married soon and get into
some job (because ‘the longer you sit idle, the lesser your opportunities become’). Well, it is still
the same with them, though they’re not on my back anymore.

Most importantly I wanted to share what has happened with me so far regarding – Ego force, Brain
Momentum and Emotional Accumulation. And my personal report is:

Brain Momentum – There is nothing right now. I don’t get influenced or anxious, thoughts don”t
bother me like they once did. It was quite torturous before, that I took in everything the mind
said, because then I understood it as a part of me, so how can it lie? Now I don’t get carried away
(unless I choose to, and that happens sometimes :/ This is what Sen talks about in his post A
Question of Attitude)
Tip – What really does it for me is the understanding that all thoughts that make us feel bad are
essentially not true, they don’t agree with our non-physical part/nature, so -obviously- the bad
feeling thought is just a lie which the mind has come up with. So why am I paying attention to it,
believing it? Seems masochistic. And this stops me from believing and identifying.

Emotional Accumulation – I dont feel the effect of thoughts in the body (i.e. emotions), like if I”m
sad, I dont feel this tug in my solar plexus as I used to etc. This has happened because I just
became open to anything that arose in me, any feeling. About a month after the crisis was I
relaxed enough to be in this position of letting go. I won’t talk about how long it took me, because
that is irrelevant, but you can be completely free of feeling these thoughts in your body. This is a
good thing for me, because I was empathic. Now it’s not a problem anymore, now I know I’m
sad/angry/depressed, but I don’t feel it. Most often I go back and try to understand calmly what
put me off.

Ego Force – This is still there, I guess, because I dont feel whole yet o.o And the answer is
allowing, so I’ll have to finally get into that. I didn’t before because I didn’t seem to connect, so it
wasn’t ‘interesting’, I suppose, to my mind. Can anyone share their experiences about this? About
how they connect, get guided/inspired?

Any thoughts or suggestions, Sen?

So that’s that. My thanks to Sen and all those who write their helpful comments

1. CaseySeptember 11, 2012 at 4:43 pm

 Poornima,

Congratulations on your work towards balance. I found Sen in June and have constantly
come back to his teachings of mind momentum reduction/allowing and not identifying with
negative thoughts. His pointer that our brain is a computer that sends waves of thoughts
separate from our being continues to be a help for me. My life was flooded with anxiety in
late April over my father’s death and a my own health scare. Resistance and negativity are
still present but their intensity is way down. Sen reminds me that impatience is resistance
and a form of control. I find when I focus on the amount of time it’s taking to feel balanced
again, feelings of resistance and anxiety return.

My own advice to you is the same for me: Patience. We can’t help but refind balance
through awareness and conscious allowing. My new mantra is “It takes the time it takes”.

BTW, I love your comment that “the thoughts that make us feel bad are essentially not
true”. I’ve felt that way for years but recently have forgotten and allowed myself to be
“carried away in thoughts”. Best of luck in your progression.

2. Sen Post authorSeptember 13, 2012 at 12:15 pm

Poornima, You have a good understanding of this process, and that’s what really helps to
allow one to not get stuck with the usual loops. Releasing the brain and emotional
momentum does take a “conscious” letting go, to allow the release, which you seem to
done quite effectively which is why you were able to see a significant reduction in their
momentum with time. As for the ego-force, it’s mostly created from a “struggle based”,
and deluded, way of thinking. The simple hint is that it’s based in the grounding of lack,
fear and dis-trust in life (which causes it to be rooted in struggle based thinking), so once
you see through this pattern of thinking in you, and you consciously let go of being
identified with this way of thinking, your ego-force will start dissolving in momentum. The
ego (which is basically your mind) is not a problem, and you will always have ego in you,
and it will have dimensions of light and dark nature, the deal is to be free of its “force” or
grip on your being – you should get an inner sense that you are not dominated by your
ego’s thinking, that’s when you know you’ve found your freedom from it. Once you are
free of your ego’s domination, you can use your ego’s perspective in conjunction with the
perspective of inner wisdom to find a harmonious expression in your life.

2. ChowSeptember 9, 2012 at 6:42 pm

Sen,

does inner guidance work even if you are lost in ego negativity? For example, I am releasing my
accumulated negative energy, and it seems overwhelming sometimes, so, on some days I am
completely disfunctional. And I ask myself, will this inner guidance move me when it is time to
move – when I’m lost in negativity? Or is it possible to be sometimes too lost in negativity to miss
some important opportunities? On different places I found this pointer – “relax, your inner guide
will always lead you. When it’s time for you to do something, body will move.”
So, there is guidance only when I relax? When I resist, I’m not guided by life-force, so I’m
somewhere else other than life (I) really want me to be or…? Do I have some wrong perspective
here?

1. ChowSeptember 9, 2012 at 6:48 pm

Also, maybe you can comment on this, it is connected to my previous question…

Question : How did ignorance (avidya] arise at all?

Ramana Maharshi : Ignorance never arose. It has no real being. That which is, is only
vidya [knowledge].
 Question : Why then do I not realize it?
Ramana Maharshi : Because of the samskaras. However, find out who does not realize and
what he does not realize. Then it will be clear that there is no avidya.

What did he mean by “ignorance never arose.” ? I imagine he is saying somewhat like
“supreme intelligence” is operating either you know it or not…

2. Sen Post authorSeptember 13, 2012 at 12:37 pm

Chow, different teachers have different ways of explaining a truth, some are very
“philosophical” while some are more scientific in their approach. it’s just that certain
philosophical explanations can confuse the mind easily – the teacher is well-being, but
may not really understand how a normal mind can misinterpret the words.

For example, when Ramana says “ignorance never arose”, it’s basically an incorrect
statement in a relative sense but he’s just speaking from an absolute perspective. The
relative perspective is that ignorance is very much a reality, and ignorance is a phase that
a being/soul goes through unconsciously until one wakes up to one’s truth consciously. In
a state of ignorance/delusion is how the mind momentum, emotional momentum and ego-
force develop (that’s what Ramana calls Samskaras). So, for a being going through a
phase of unconsciousness, ignorance is a reality. When one releases the hold of these
resistances one becomes aligned with one’s truth (in understanding and in the state of
being(inner wholeness))and lives from this place, and hence no longer is in the hold of
ignorance.

3. Sen Post authorSeptember 13, 2012 at 12:21 pm

Chow, the fear of losing inner guidance is a significant fear by itself. Basically, true inner
power is when you don’t feel the “need” for any assurance – when you align with this inner
power is when you can really come to a place of inner freedom. If you give in to fears
thrown up by the mind, saying – “what if I lose inner guidance during the release”, then it
just keeps you a hostage to this fear. Don’t look for “assurances”, develop the power to be
open to what arises, this openness is exactly what’s needed to find your inner freedom.
The moment you fear “losing important opportunities” you’ve already given up your power
to the fears.

Of course, the basic truth is that the lesser your inner resistance there more easily you are
connected with the intelligence of your life-force. In the state of allowing your resistance is
“low”, even if there is an overwhelming release of accumulated negativity, and hence you
are in tune with the intelligence/grace of your life-stream, and in a sense it’s your life-
force that’s orchestrating the release itself by creating certain events that can trigger the
release. However, it’s not really about clinging to these assurances, but about developing
the inner power to have the willingness to ride through anything that arises.

4. AliasOctober 24, 2012 at 6:51 pm

Everything is perceived through the “I”. Ignorance is “to ignore”, consciously or

unconsciously, it does not exist on it’s own. As long as the “I” is, there is division. When
the “I” ceases, there is unity, but it cannot be perceived by the mind and therefore does
not return any experience. It is absolute void – but a void that includes all. Teachers speak
enigmatically sometimes, simply because their awareness includes areas (of space and
time) that do not translate into words. So what is important is to neither ignore them, nor
to give too much thought to what they say. Live your life smoothly and become a teacher
to yourself (which is inevitable if you are serious enough, you’ll see)

3. ChrisSeptember 10, 2012 at 4:11 pm

Hi Sen,
 I’ve read that the subconscious is what controls most actions and how you feel about yourself,if
thats the case does that make most conscious and where you place attention thought kind of
irrelevant?

I’ve managed to change some beliefs I have about myself ,one or two negeative ones persist even
when I give them attention and allow them fully,is this because there is the subconscious and out
of my reach?Or am I mistaken?

Thanks for the wise words.

4. ChrisSeptember 10, 2012 at 4:12 pm

Hi Sen,

I’ve read that the subconscious is what controls most actions and how you feel about yourself,if
thats the case does that make most conscious thought and where you place attention kind of
irrelevant?

I’ve managed to change some beliefs I have about myself ,one or two negeative ones persist even
when I give them attention and allow them fully,is this because there in the subconscious and out
of my reach?Or am I mistaken?

Thanks for the wise words.

5. SunriseSeptember 10, 2012 at 4:33 pm

Sen,

Great post and thanks for everything you do.

During my teen years, I experienced events that allowed me to accumulate lots of fear. The fear
got worse by me obsesively thinking about it and re-living the situation (with the mind) over and
over. Now, as an adult, and after being practicing your teachings, I have been able to conciously
let go of being identified with the obssesive thinking and the momentum has significantly slowed
down. With regards to the fear, whenever I find myself in situations similar to what originally
caused it, I still get the same strong “fear” feelings and emotions. As soon as I move out of the
situation the feelings go away. You mentioned that in order to let go completely of this past
accumulation requires me to got through a phase of consciously allowing these stored-up energies
to come up and be released. My question is, do I need to put myself through such experiences and
situations so I can consciously let go and “deal” with the fears? Thanks in advance for your
response.

1. Sen Post authorSeptember 13, 2012 at 11:42 am

Sunrise, You don’t have to force yourself into any situation, but if you sense that a certain
situations in your life are creating a grip of fear in you, it just points to the fact that fear,
as an emotional energy, still has a prominent momentum in you – the situations don’t
really matter, what matters is the presence of this momentum in you. Though you may
think that only certain situation trigger this fear momentum, the fact is that the
momentum is present nevertheless and it can get triggered that moment some challenge
arises. So you can just use these situations (when they occur) as a pointer to recognize
the momentum of fear present in you, and if you are in the middle of such a situation just
allow this fear to arise fully without distancing yourself from it. Life can help you release
these fears, by creating a “harmless” situation (which does not harm your well-being in
any real sense, like a false alarm) that causes your fears to get triggered (part of grace) –
when they do get triggered, don’t try to fight the situation, rather just focus on allowing
this fear energy/momentum to arise in you in a state of allowing, and thus allow its
release. It’s also helpful sometimes to consciously visualize certain situations that create
fear in you (in your mind), so that you can trigger the release.
6. ValerieSeptember 10, 2012 at 5:44 pm

I have really been getting a lot of understanding and a more clear sense of what I have been doing
for the past year and a bit in these two latest posts most of all. Thank you for choosing to share
your wisdom and inspiration. It is very enlightening.

7. abetSeptember 10, 2012 at 7:27 pm

poornima,

It is great to hear about your experience I feel like I am in the same exact stage as you. The only
thing with me is that I still feel the emotion connected to my thoughts in my body..

Sen you say that suffering is resistance to what arises but what if we can’t make ourselves be
open.. What if the mind resists the teates that one up all by itself

1. JimSeptember 11, 2012 at 10:11 pm

abet,et al, your thoughts and emotions will always feel connected to your body, that’s how
our bodies are designed, however, it is we as nonphysical consciousness that can separate
from these physical experiences of the body and allow them to do what they need to, eg,
reduce momentum, resistance, etc. Been exactly where you are. Continue to separate
(identify and allow) who you are as conscious awareness (non physical) from your
thoughts and emotions created by your brain (physical).

8. JSeptember 11, 2012 at 1:46 am

Hi Poornima,
Thank you for sharing. I have been following this process for several months now. It has been a
brutal transition but I know it works. Last week is when I finally started to see a break through
and felt peace and inner freedom but no such luck that it would stay. The past few days I have felt
so annoyed, frustrated, angered and brought to tears. It is the worst I have felt in my body since I
first started. However in the beginning my thoughts were really giving me a fight, they seemed to
get worse before they slowed down but what has been going on with me the past few days is by
far the worst.

I had a high mind momentum so it took awhile for me to know when I felt inspired but I had also
lost all desire to do anything. Before I found this site, I had a mental break down. I use to always
get into action in order to distract my thoughts and feelings but something just shifted and my
mind body connection was not going to allow this anymore. I was at an impasse. I had to sit still
for a very long time before my mind stopped telling me what to do to ignore this whole process.
When it was just my mind telling me, it felt like just a babble of thoughts, with just a feeling up in
my head. Once I felt better and as I was inspired, I could tell that when I had a thought about
doing something it seemed to be a whole mind, body connection. I could feel it in my core.
It may take time for you to stay aware and watch how your mind works before you really know for
yourself.

I look forward to having a wavering peace of inner freedom. Im hoping its just around the corner
for both of us!

I wish you the best and take care!

1. PoornimaSeptember 11, 2012 at 5:59 pm

hi J,

I can relate to your experiences of feeling the low feelings, where you’re so elated and
understand the whole picture in one moment, and the next day or possibly in a few hours
 you fall into a slight depression, deeper if you’re not aware of it. And this results in
annoyance, frustration etc.

From what you’ve said, it seems like being calm (reaching the space of allowing) is the key
to get inspiration or go through any inner transformation – the one thing I’ve been

constantly putting off, sheesh. It is nice you recognise your inspirations I’ve yet to.

I wish you the same, I am sure it is not very far off. I’m reminded of what Sen wrote in a
post, that the global transformation would be in a few months, which makes me think of
December o.o

9. GBSeptember 11, 2012 at 2:05 pm

While practicing relaxed awareness, my back and head shakes involuntarily and sometimes shakes
vigorously.I’m curious to know what it means.

10. PoornimaSeptember 11, 2012 at 6:09 pm

Hi Casey,

Thanks for emphasising the importance of patience – it is the clearest sign to show our trust in life,
isnt it. And when we are impatient, well, we are doubting life.

Hm, it is strange that we know all we need to know and do, but we don’t follow through on it till
the situation becomes quite bad. Imagine if we had just one pointer: ‘Let go’ and no other
information, then I think we would follow it, and not let the mind have so many doubts.

1. MarkusSeptember 14, 2012 at 2:27 pm

It seems we do know all we need to know and do – but that knowledge is what is blocked
out by the mind. Also, in the thick of our problems, it is hard to see where we are. Taking
a step back allows both opening to our inner wisdom and giving the mind a chance to see
that no, that old pattern or habit will no longer do.