Being The Best/competiteveness Vs Spirituality

[Visionary]

Bruvvas and sistas,

I'm stuck with this question and i'm pretty sure some of you are too. So as my sense of true Self grows stronger and my ego grows weaker, there's still a contradiction/paradox that's still around: i want to be the best. I want to feel the best. Better than anyone else. Especially on this path. It's very hard for me to detach from. This is the spiritual ego at its finest. The core of my fear-based ego mechanism: it wants to dominate. It want to be the best. Now i know that there is no such things as good/bad. But this somehow does not strike me as how an ego-less person lives his life.

So, what do you guys think? Do you experience the same thing with your spiritual ego if your honest? Is there room in spirituality for wanting to feel/be the best? I feel that this ego-driven motives can really help me achieve and contribute the most to this illusory world. Is competitiveness unspiritual?

 

Peace

[eputkonen]

I have realized that I can not be better or worse than I am.  There is no such thing as better or best.  But this is regarding being...who/what I am.

As for my role in life, I can attempt to be the best in my profession (for example).  Nothing says I can't try to be better or the best in the things that I do...but that has no affect on who I am.  Also, my happiness is not tied to whether I become better or the best.  I can still be perfectly happy not being the best or even known.

When you see through the fictitious "me" and realize who/what you really are - then attachments fall away and the need for ego inflation ceases...but for fun you can still try to be a better golfer, worker, painter, or whatever you do.  Whether you succeed or not in becoming the best is no longer important.  Becoming better than you were is good enough.

[Blind Squirrel]

 I never think about better anything. This, that, or what. All I do is show up and just be the best I can be. Whatever the occasion, as long as I know I am giving it all I got, then I can just be part of an experience, looking only for joy and compassion, unattached to outcomes.

[Gopackgo]

There is nothing in liberation for the individual. Any feeling of superiority is illusion. Nothing is added, It is a loss of something. I know what you are talking about though. It's not necessarily competitiveness, but there can be feelings of superiority over others. Generally it points to some kind of external sense of value or a belief. I promise you that any feeling of superiority is matched by an equal feeling of inadequacy. Thats why it exists. Without inadequacy, there would be no reason for needing to feel superior. The question to ask may be along those lines. What is it that is creating the need? Something in the past? Something in the Present? A certain relationship? This is what the self does. It plugs holes by running the other direction to distract. Don't think about it too much though. Anything can arise. The content doesn't change the fact that it is only a thought. It doesn't define you more than any other thought. There is also nothing wrong with the feeling. Be aware of it and it will self-correct.