Books spark my ego - any advide?

[Timsen]

Hey guys,

I'm new to this forum, so here is a quick introduction of mine: My name is Tim and I live in northern Germany, close to Hanover. I am interested in mindfulness and meditation for about a year now and try to live with it as much as I can. So far, I think it has helped me a lot calming down and getting to know myself.

Recently, I was trying to move my ego out of all areas of my life. Doing that, I recognized that my ego finds it quite attractive to have all these books presented in the shelf. I sometimes have the feeling that they show other people who I am and that my bookshelf is letting a bright light shine on me, since most of the books are self-help, spiritual or biographies. Also, I feel my ego getting sparked about accumulating all this knowledge through the books. I catch myself thinking about how much more I know than others and how much more of a spiritual being I am.

Now, I really like reading books and learning, so I totally want to keep up that activity. In order to not having them displayed in my bookshelf, I bought a kindle, but I don't really like the "electronic reading", so I would love to come back to real books. I think, having the books in the shelf also helps me remember the good lessons in them. For example, I have "The Power Of Now" by Eckhart Tolle in my Kindle and I hardly remember his words because I never see something from it. Meanwhile, there are books in my shelf that I read 3 years ago and I get reminded of them each time I walk past the shelf and have a look at them.

Does anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences to this? I just don't really know how to keep my ego out of this.

Thanks in advance,
Tim

[JonW]

Hi Tim.
Welcome to the forum.
Fascinating question.
My personal view on this is that the fact you have caught yourself thinking about your ego in relation to your book collection means that your collection is no longer based on ego - if indeed it ever was. If your concerns were purely egotistical, you wouldn't have caught yourself having that thought.
I feel you have asked yourself a pertinent question and answered it yourself.
It's clear that what really matters to you are the books that you love. You don't read to impress. You read because you are seeking the truth.
Does that make any sense?
All best wishes,
Jon,
Hove, UK

[Timsen]

Hi Jon,

thanks for your reply! Yes, you're probably right - haven't thought about it this way yet. I guess I just become more aware of where my ego comes into play these days. Still, I think my ego would get satisfaction of showing off the books to other people and proving knowledge, but now I'm thinking: Maybe it is good to just do it how I want to and then rather try to catch my ego at work in order to resolve the issue.

Regards,
Tim

[JonW]

"Maybe it is good to just do it how I want to and then rather try to catch my ego at work in order to resolve the issue."
That sounds like a good idea. After all, "Am I displaying these books in order to show off my knowledge?" is just another thought.
Apart from anything else, a well-shelved book collection is often the most attractive part of any home. I'm slightly distrustful when I walk into somebody's house and see no books on display. I'm even more distrustful when I see that the books on display have all been written by Jeffrey Archer/Dan Brown/JK Rowling, but that's just me being judgmental.
Cheers,
Jon, Hove

[larorra]

hi guys,

on a lighter note, you will see books displayed in my home - but all toddler/small child books, puddle lane books are the most popular, some of them were my childrens books but now belong to their children. My books are in my bedroom. I guess my home has been taken over by the next generation of Myers. Wouldnt have it any other way