Contemplating facebooklessness

Facebook in general and the new profile specifically conflict with my ongoing (although newly embarked upon) quest for egolessness. I have only a rudimentary understanding of the concept of egolessness, but hope to learn more as most of my suffering (and yours too) stems from the ego.

Through egolessness, we realize that we are not our things, we are not our jobs, we are not the schools we went to, we are not the cars that we drive or the bikes that we ride. In fact, we come to realize that the struggle to define ourselves, to figure out who we are, to find ourselves is so goofy and unnecessary. If we let go of the ego, there goes the struggle. Poof. It’s gone, and now we are free to attend to the present moment.

Facebook’s new profile asks us to define ourselves in a snapshot that places undue emphasis on jobs, schools, spouses, siblings, and physical location. Although it is quite possible that I would feel differently about the new profile if I loved my job and wanted to tell everyone what I am doing or if the mere mention of me having gone to law school didn’t make me nauseous, I prefer to offer egolessness as the reason for my opposition to the new profile.

Although I am studying for the bar exam and have no business being on facebook, let alone blogging about its shortcomings, I keep my account active because I like it when people post pictures of me doing interesting things with attractive people. Egolesssness has its limits.