I often hear that yoga will make you a better version of yourself. This is supposed to be positive but is becoming a better bitch, jerk,womanizer, racist etc a good thing?
The part that gets "better" & stronger is usually the ego. All our roles and titles are a part of an image that we have built for ourselves called the ego. The screen on which the ego's movie is played is consciousness. Consciousness does not get better or worse. It is what is hidden behind the self imposed roles & titles we have picked up. The real you watches all. The purpose of yoga is to still the mind enough to make us aware of pure consciousness.
When we came into this existence, we essentially agreed to play dress up. When a child plays pretend, they put on a pointy black hat and become a witch then a few minutes later they change into a pink poofy dress & becomes a princess. The roles we choose and our self image are a sophisticated version of this game. Branding ourselves like Oprah Winfrey or taking on the title of teacher, mother, bitch or jerk, opens us up to different opportunities and experiences. Role playing is a fun, exciting, & enjoyable part of human experience. It is how we play with life here on earth. It only becomes an issue when the game of pretend gets so complex and vivid that we soon forget that it is not real & that the princess costume can actually come off.
When a person is fully connected to their ego, they don't see the separation between the hand moving the chess pieces and the chess pieces themselves. They can only relate to their body and the roles. So when they become a better version of something, it is a better version of what they believe themselves to be which may not necessarily be good.
Yoga teaches us that who we think we are doesn't matter. Everyone is pure consciousness. Some people refer to it as the energy that cannot be destroyed. Some say the soul. Some say the God within us. If we can reconnect to the pure consiousness, all the roles that are destructive to ourselves and others will fall away. Our past no longer binds us and the future no longer concerns us. We can play dress up freely while knowing that it is not truly us and we can take off the custom with no fear of what is underneath.
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