By Gonny 
Every now and then you meet someone, on TV, at a birthday party, or while standing innocently in line for coffee, who seems to have only one favorite word.
“I.”
Not just occasionally, not even frequently, but relentlessly.
Ten minutes… five hundred “I’s.”
It becomes a kind of performance art.
Like watching someone pump air into a small balloon that should have retired years ago.
And the funny thing is: the more the “I” inflates, the smaller the person seems to feel on the inside.
From an ACIM perspective, this is not strange at all. In fact, it is textbook ego behavior.
The ego has one job: to build, maintain, and defend an identity that does not exist in Truth. And because it is built on nothing, it needs constant reinforcement. Words, opinions, stories, accomplishments, anything that says:
“See me. Confirm me. Tell me I am real.”
One of the gentlest statements in the Course says:
“The ego speaks first, and it speaks loudest.”
And oh yes, sometimes it speaks in capital letters.
When someone talks only about themselves, you’re not actually hearing them.
You’re hearing the ego trying to hold itself together.
It is terrified of disappearing, so it fills the space with noise.
“I, I, I…”
As if repetition could make it true.
But ACIM quietly smiles and says: “Nothing real can be threatened.”
Which means the Self, the real You, has no need for self-promotion.
It already is. Complete. Whole. Loved.
So who is this person who keeps talking about themselves?
On the level of the story, it may be someone insecure, someone who learned that attention equals safety, someone who never experienced true listening, or someone who simply has no awareness of the pattern. There is no guilt in this. Only a lack of awareness.
On the level of the Dreamer, the level ACIM invites us to inhabit, it is someone who forgot Who He truly is.
When you know you are the Dreamer, you stop needing the dream-character to be impressive.
You listen differently. You see differently. You hear the trembling behind the bravado. You feel the tiny inner voice saying: “Am I okay? Am I seen? Do I matter?”
And that is exactly where compassion enters.
The Course says: “Every call for love must be answered with love.”
So instead of irritation, you can offer presence. Instead of rolling your eyes, you can soften internally. You don’t have to fix them or to mirror their ego.
You certainly don’t have to pump your own balloon.
You simply stay rooted in the quiet Knowing: “I am as God created Me.”
From that place, their endless self-talk becomes almost touching.
Not because it is wise or deep, but because it reveals how frightened the ego truly is.
And sometimes, when you listen from Love, a miracle happens.
They slow down. Their words soften. Their eyes shift.
Because your quiet presence gently reminds them of something they forgot:
They don’t need to inflate themselves to be worthy, because they already are.
And that is the real beauty of seeing through ACIM eyes:
You stop reacting to the noise of the ego and you start responding to the silence behind it.
Which, ironically, says nothing at all… and yet speaks the Truth.
With love and light,
G.