Egos Anonymous Reflections — Egos Anonymous

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" —C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves Self-protection often works by convincing us that our particular confusion, fear, or

Wendy Etter 4/23/26 Wendy Etter 4/23/26

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"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real." —Iris Murdoch, The Sublime and the Good Self-will tends to center everything around the self—its needs, its story, its version of events. Ot

Wendy Etter 4/22/26 Wendy Etter 4/22/26

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"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." —Blaise Pascal, Pensées Pascal wrote this in the seventeenth century, long before there was anything else to look at. The observation may feel

Wendy Etter 4/21/26 Wendy Etter 4/21/26

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"We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time." —T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets The ego tends to experience the inner life as progress

Wendy Etter 4/20/26 Wendy Etter 4/20/26

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"I am large, I contain multitudes." —Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, Leaves of Grass Self-will often wants consistency—a stable, coherent self that knows what it thinks, feels, and wants. When we contradict ourselves, hold two feel

Wendy Etter 4/19/26 Wendy Etter 4/19/26

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"All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful." —Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners This is not a comfortable observation. We tend to imagine that we would welcome grace—that if s

Wendy Etter 4/18/26 Wendy Etter 4/18/26

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"All flourishing is mutual." —Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass Much of our effort can rest on the assumption that flourishing is individual—something we achieve through the right decisions, the right effort, the right amoun

Wendy Etter 4/17/26 Wendy Etter 4/17/26

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"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked." —Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet We often try to hold joy and sorrow as separate experiences—one to pursue, one to avoid. Self-will can spend considerable energy trying to secure more of the first a

Wendy Etter 4/16/26 Wendy Etter 4/16/26

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"We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together There is a version of the day that goes according to plan. We know what we intend to do, who we expect to encounter, what we hope

Wendy Etter 4/15/26 Wendy Etter 4/15/26

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"The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love." —Teresa of Ávila, The Interior Castle For many of us, the interior life has become another project to manage—something to a

Wendy Etter 4/14/26 Wendy Etter 4/14/26

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"The ineffable inhabits the magnificent and the common, the grandiose and the tiny facts of reality alike." —Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man Is Not Alone Self-will tends to sort things into categories—important and unimportant, sacre

Wendy Etter 4/13/26 Wendy Etter 4/13/26

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"I said to the almond tree, 'Speak to me of God.' And the almond tree blossomed." — Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco The response in this image is not words. It is not explanation or argument. The tree simply does what it does—an

Wendy Etter 4/12/26 Wendy Etter 4/12/26

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"There's a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change." — William Stafford, The Way It Is The rest of this poem describes how others may not see the thread, and how explaining it is beside the poi

Wendy Etter 4/11/26 Wendy Etter 4/11/26

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"To pray you open your whole self To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon To one whole voice that is you." — Joy Harjo, Eagle Poem This image of prayer asks almost nothing of the intellect and everything of presence. There is no corr

Wendy Etter 4/10/26 Wendy Etter 4/10/26

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"come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed."  — Lucille Clifton, won't you celebrate with me Clifton wrote this poem knowing its full weight. The "something" she describes is not abstr

Wendy Etter 4/9/26 Wendy Etter 4/9/26

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"The human heart is never completely born. It is being birthed in every experience of your life." — John O'Donohue, Anam Cara There can be an assumption, usually unspoken, that we should already be finished. That a grown person o

Wendy Etter 4/8/26 Wendy Etter 4/8/26

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"There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient." — Marilynne Robinson, Gilead These words are spoken by a dying man writing to his young son—someone who knows he won't be there to see much

Wendy Etter 4/7/26 Wendy Etter 4/7/26

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"Above all, trust in the slow work of God." — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, from a letter, 1961 The full letter from which this comes was written to a young woman navigating a period of uncertainty. What Teilhard describes is not pat

Wendy Etter 4/6/26 Wendy Etter 4/6/26

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"I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung." — Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali There is something quietly familiar in this image. The constant preparing—the adjustin

Wendy Etter 4/5/26 Wendy Etter 4/5/26

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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few." — Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind The ego often prizes expertise. Knowing things, understanding what to expect, not being ca

Wendy Etter 4/4/26 Wendy Etter 4/4/26

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