Egolessness

I've wanted to write something about egolessness.

Egolessness is not the opposite of egotism. If we consider humility as the opposite of egotism, then egolessness is something that's standing off to one side beyond the boundaries of either.

Self aggrandizement is clearly not egolessness, but neither is self deprecation. Donald Trump and Woody Allen are equal distances from it.

I strive to be egoless, and right there is a problem. I strive to be egoless? Can't happen. To strive is to fail.

Wen-tzu talked about the Taoist sages who did nothing to draw attention to themselves. That included not obviously seeking to avoid attention. Imagine that there are sages among us today, yet we don't see them because they blend in so well as to be invisible. Maybe you passed one on the street today and didn't notice him. Maybe you saw her just moments ago and you've already forgotten her.

If you made a list of all the people you know, public and private, who might be sages, you'd miss the ones who actually are. They wouldn't occur to you.