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7.20
Ego and respect
 
  Can ego, in action towards a desire ever show respect in a present now moment?  
  The word respect, comes from the Latin respicere meaning " look (back) at, regard, consider" (re + specere = look).  
  Therefore when we consider respect in its original sense, we are talking about the feature of awareness of things as they are, the esteem of things we witness, as they are.  
  The word esteem, comes from the Latin aesteimare originally meaning "fix the price of, estimate (value)", hence to esteem something is to value something.  
  In contrast, as we have discussed, anticipation and desire of ego is the projection of the future, using past considerations, without much due consideration to the present awareness- this is exemplified by the effect of perpetual desires, being habits of behaviour, or the conscious ego driven mind being distracted to the present moment.  
  The original question of this section can therefore be re-phrased- "can ego distracted from the present and showing less regard for esteem of the things of the present, show at the same moment an esteem of things around it at the present?" Clearly the answer is no.  
  What we are saying then is that ego, in a state of desire, in a state of future momentum, or even in a period of depression of judgment can show no respect at the same moment. Without respect, without esteem for the things and people around us, our behaviour towards those things and those people must by definition be less than if we are in a now moment state of respect.  
  hence an additional by-product of habits and desires is the lowering of esteem- self- esteem and the esteem of what is around us.  
  What we have just discussed is no less of a paradox than the major paradoxes of existence. How could something as significant as ego, of mind, of that which calls itself I be such a destructive force within the human mind?  
     
 
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