Something I won’t personally allow myself to do is
(1) compare myself to others, for we are all unique and on separate paths to different destinies.
(2) Try to quantify my spiritual progress.. you know to say I am this, for example, mindful, consciousness etc. Such statements are generated by the ego, to use as an identity crutch. The meaning comes in how your perspective changes over time … in what you feel, see and understand.
As well, it is important to understand that such thoughts are meaningless … to compare or compete with another is meaningless as well as ego driven! In doing so, you are trying to separate yourself, make some distinction between you and others when there is none, only your path and your destiny. The bottom line is that you are you, a wonderful unique special individual with unlimited potential. Any limitations we have, come from ourselves, in how we view ourselves, based on our beliefs and experiences.
Let me illustrate the Ego aberration anecdotally – after a class, I was waiting for a train, two students were talking about which of them was more advanced spiritually … they tried to include me in their conversation, eventually I had to suggest the following observation to both of them, that this need to compare with another, shows that as yet, neither of them were on a genuine spiritual path … For if you were, you would know the ridiculousness of comparison, we cannot compare … as the spiritual path is essentially solitary, personal and where the ego has no place, because it wants an identity separate from others.
In any case, what is the point of comparison? There is none, except to somehow make you feel better, separate from or feel superior in some way to another.
Just get on with your life; for it is quite easy to understand if you are present, even mindful, because it will be revealed in how you approach each day and how you respond to the challenges within these days.
As we are all different, it does not matter where you are on your path, the object is to be open, to be, and stay curious, to face and go beyond our limitations, to keep growing through learning from new experiences – the ego has no part, in this process.
A Mindful Union 