Is business Ego based?
Dear Eckhart,
My wife and I have interesting discussions about your teachings. Yesterday, she pointed out something interesting. She asked if the business created with your books, CDs and DVDs is another form of ego. What do you think about this?
Sincerely,
Arnaldo
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Certain organizational structures are necessary to get the teaching out into the world. When I started teaching there was virtually no structure (except for a park bench), but of course very few people were being reached. I was quite happy with that, but then the growth of the teaching over the years required more external structures. Those organizational structures are there to respond to the growing demand for the teaching, not to create the demand. If the growth of the teaching had come about as the result of creating a bigger organizational structure, that might have involved egotism, but it was the other way around.
It is true that any structure or organization could become self-serving (ego-based), which is to say the driving force behind it would be a desire for expansion, for more followers, more profit, fighting against “competing” organizations (“enemies”) etc. This, as you know, has happened even to churches and religions. In such cases, the structure serves no purpose beyond itself.
Ego arises the moment you identify with some form. The “form” could be a business, a possession, an organization, or any mental image of yourself that gives you a sense of identity, of who you are. Without identification, there is no ego.
Blessings,
Eckhart