More UNITED than we realize!
What do we mean by 'Ego'?
We hear a lot on this network about getting rid of the ego, 'ego death' and so forth, but I find myself wondering what exactly is the meaning being ascribed to this term. Perhaps we each have different meanings and usages for this term, so I would welcome a discussion to clarify this.
Tags: ego
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cosmic Claire on -
> The "myself" was, & continues to be engendered by the act of the orgasm. The Ego is the Android of the orgasm.
What?
You say too much here Deva.
What you say I find meaningless because it gets lost in complexity.
Let's try to keep it simple?
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Permalink Reply by EL*CHI*MA on -
Another way of seeing it could be: The Ego is a product of interaction with external environment. At birth, there is no "ego", no separate sense of "me". More like a blank screen, that events happen on. Slowly we begin to respond to this external stimuli. You know, the usual pleasure -pain, good-bad, controlling-self controlling. Out of this intereaction, or more correctly, our reaction to it, developed a "person-ality; a self image mirror construct, in fact, an ego. As time past and mighty periods of interaction with environment, ego evolved a mate. This mate was named "intellect" and became the hand maiden to ego. As more time past inntellect and ego got so smart they discovered that they were mortal, that when the physical body died, so did they. This gave rise to a hyper developed survival instinct arising from an extreme state of fear of death, which drove the personality into a condition of extreme red alert and caused it to subsequently subdue and dominate every other life form extent on the Earth. It may never be known when the first fist was clenched in anger, born out of the pain of a sense of betrayal, of separation. But of course in our present time the ego has esnconsed itself even to the throan room of our hearts. Today the ego has grown so self aware, so self assured, so self denying. Egos mate intellect, is apparently suffering the "kings disease" which is i believe sypphylis , in which the intellect is affected in such a way so as to give it an extremely exaggerated sense of its own intelligence, descending into imbecility. Much as the modern day symptoms of mercury poisoning which give the exact same symptoms.
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Permalink Reply by Cosmic Claire on
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I see we have the usual suspects assembled;-)
Thankyou for your comment Elevator, simple and easily comprehended. Also non judgemental. It is a construct.
Deva, may I ask what you say when you answer the door? What is Devashanti?
Elmicha, > The Ego is a product of interaction with external environment.
Do we not all have that experience? Since you achieved enlightenment, do you not interact with the external environment anymore?
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Permalink Reply by EL*CHI*MA on
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Now to be fair, only the usual suspects seem to bother, but then we do not take any of it seriously.
Devashanti when you answer the door, which door is it?
I love elevator, he is like a sausage machine the way he forms his tight, lite erudite similies into tubes of neon brilliance. Yes we all do interact with our external environment becuase we are all constructs of that interaction, nothing more.The delusion arises when the construct believes it is someone enduring, when it is as ephemeral as cigarette smoke. The dying construct that hates its life because it feels cheated because of its mortality.
Since achieving enlightenment I find myself interacting with the external environment more and more. Having overcome the last great qliphothic demon, I stand freed from the Earth at last, now it is a joy to be here, having left forevever.
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Permalink Reply by Simon Davies on -
I see you've been reading the Handbooks, so I assume you've read the part in volume 1 that mentions the ego.
"If there is no ego, there will be no awareness of the manifested experience! The ego is your tape recorder. It is the observer of your thoughts, wants, needs and desires. It takes these thoughts in a type of robotic focused format, and this allows them to manifest into circumstances and situations that create your experience."
It took me a while to figure out what that meant, one day in the bathroom (its a good thinking place hehe) I thought how "I had some experience" in the past. "I" was there, it was "me" who did it, "I" remember doing it. And then I realised how this "tape recorder" comment fitted in. Its what gives the sense of "you" as an individual doing/thinking it rather than you as the universe. You have a record of your experiences because "you" did it. You know "you" did it, in the same way that you know "you" are reading this now. Or rather, you may not necessarily be aware that you are aware of reading it in the moment, but in the future you will know that you have read it, you will remember that you have done it.
Because you are the universe experiencing itself, you have an awareness of being an individual for a reason. You are an expression of the universe's creativity, and you, being the "person" that you are, is the universe acting/expressing a certain character or concept, THROUGH you as a conscious being. Its just that you then perceive this process in a certain way, you feel that "you" do it. But in fact its the universe doing it. Its just that you are the universe pretending you are not the universe.
You experience and express within this universe attributes that are uniqe to your character. As in a film, all the actors play different parts, and they all contribute to one story. It would be a pretty boring film if all the actors played the same character, nothing much would happen, pretty soon they would have done everything because they are all interested in doing the same thing and there would be nothing left to do. There would be no point in carrying on.
So seeing as "person" means mask, the mask which the universe wears to hide itself from itself, the ego is that "person" or the character, and this character must know what it has done in order to keep playing that role. I can continue to be "me", I can stay in character, because I know what this character is about, "I" have experienced everything it has been through, in the same way that an actor knows the script and therefore may consistently be that character in the overall story.
So then, I haven't given it too much thought, but to a certain degree I don't think its possible to "get rid of" the ego, or its not a good idea. Instead I just think it needs to know its place. For me its a matter of balance. To continue to interact with other characters in this story, being one of the characters myself, but to also know that it is all me. Its the balance between playing the character for the purposes of being able to interact with other characters in some productive way, but at the same time knowing that its just a facade, a big act which we put on purely for the purposes of being able to do all that. The universe is entertaining itself, but the only way it can be entertained is by forgetting that it is also the entertainer, it needs that contrast, the mirror that reflects its actions back to itself.
Or, you can entertain or amuse yourself easily enough, but unless there is something "outside" of you, to be aware that you are in some kind of "situation", standing in a room for instance, there is nothing to provide the contrast that allows you the opportunity to be aware that you are entertaining yourself. If there was no still room, how would you know that you are moving within it? You only know you are moving relative to things that are not moving, you require that contrast, a sense of difference between "you" and "it".
So the ego, or the awareness of being an "individual", is absolutely necessary for the universe to be able to experience itself in this way, for you to be able to experience yourself in the way that you are doing now.
Or that kind of thing. Sorry if that's a bit random, hopefully it makes some sense or is at least a bit relevant :)
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Permalink Reply by EL*CHI*MA on
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ELCHIMA, kind sir, careful not to fall into the trap of a 'Spiritualized Ego', one that is steeped in Mystical Pride, thinking that it has "achieved enlightenment".
AHA!
That is a trap I can easily avoid my blessed one,
you have forewarned me by your very own entrapment!
Unless your a masochist, you would endeavor to eliminate every single bit of ego within & give birth to the Soul once & For All.
Perhaps this is where we differ? You see, I prefer not to "eliminate" anything, ever. Why enter into conflict?
There are many semantic interpretations as to what constitutes an "Ego" in this blog and elsewhere, and as a consequence there is no clear agreement about what it is we are talking about.
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Permalink Reply by Simon Davies on
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Permalink Reply by Cosmic Claire on
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My own take on this.
The brain has two hemispheres. The right hand side deals with the holistic view, the left with detail, navigation in the world of space time. (In the case of right handed people. Most left handers have all this in mirror image.)
People who have had left brain strokes have reported feelings of being one with the universe etc and often lose language skills (Broca's area, language control being in the left hemisphere).
The ego is a function of the left brain, the limitations of the construction of the self derived from personal continuity in space time, Elevator said something to this effect.
If the ego thinks it is all that the person is, then it is clearly deluded. On the other hand if the person has no sense of personal identity then their survival in space time would be seriously compromised.
Balance is what is required. The corpus callosum is the brain structure that deals with the communication between the two hemispheres, and is the real integrating point between these two equally important views of reality. My neuroanatomy is a bit rusty, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had some link with the pineal gland.
There is a lot about Balance as the Fourth Law of the Universe in the Handbook on the New Paradigm. In this instance balance between negotiating the world of space time and remaining in touch with the infinite universe of all that is, of which we are each a unique focus.
Incidentally the word focus comes from the Latin, either as the raised centre of a circular place on the household altar onto which offerings of oil, wine etc were poured, or else more generally the fireplace or hearth, in either case the heart of devotional intent.
We all exist as foci of the universe, each of us has a heart of our own existence, each of us knows the heart of existence in ourselves, the divine presence, the Now, I am (Latin iam means now, nice cosmic pun, I like that one.)
The centre of the Universe is everywhere in every being, each is a Monad or hologram of the infinite, the microcosm of the macrocosm.
Both exist and each is a reflection of the other, each requires the other or else would have no meaning.
The 'Ego' can exist in an infinite number of forms, not just as a reflection of the infinite diversity of individual existence, but to an infinite degree of variations of awareness. The problem is to only see the ego as the enemy because it is limited. It is limited because it has a limited function in space time. That is what it is and how it works. It is part of organic life, continuity and survival. So long as the greater consciousness is aware that the ego is only a tool and doesn't let it dominate then it does not have to be a problem. We can't get away from needing a navigator in space time, the only way to this is death. Ego death is death, or total brain damage. It is the pilot, but does not have to be the Captain:-) The right brain is the liquid, the left the funnel through which it is poured.
In my humble opinion, all this talk of getting rid of the ego is equally as deluded as the talk of those who believe there is no transcendent reality. Both exist, and both require each other. People who deny the transcendent reality try to only live in the ego, and so in such cases there is a problem. Perhaps they need to let go a little and realise that there is more than their self centred reality going on, but they are still going to need their space time navigator, perhaps they don't see the infinite because they are afraid of ceasing to exist if they let go of their identity. You can get there on a thousand mikes of good acid and it scares the bejesus out of some people, and others dig it like there's no tomorrow. In the end though, most people come back down and are still in space time. Syd Barrett never quite came back all the way and it was a little sad. Before anyone jumps on me, of course acid is only a means of jump starting this, and it's much better to learn it naturally, meditate, but back in the day reality was so rigid and stuck that perhaps that was a legitimate tool to kick the ego into realising it wasn't all that was going on.
What we really need to understand and work towards is how to tame and refine the ego to work in harmony and balance with the greater whole. A good servant does not think they are the master. Walking on two legs, not tying one up and hopping because we believe the other is 'bad'. It exists. A necessary evil? Well if it is necessary, can it really be evil unless we make it so?
Just my opinion;-)
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Permalink Reply by Simon Davies on
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Interesting story. However, to say this I will assume that "ego" and "personality" are the same thing, or it is the "person". One's personality can be modified through chemicals, hence all these behaviour modifying drugs we see these days, plus your diet and so the nutrients/chemicals in your body affects your mood or personality in the same way. And that story David Icke speaks of regarding the woman with the mercury fillings in her teeth who had depression (or something) for 20 years or so, which was incurable, until she got the mercury fillings removed comes to mind.
So I agree with Claire that the ego or "person" is a function of the brain. When the body/brain dies the "person" dies with it. But the body is a fully functioning "machine" in and of itself, it doesn't need a "person" in charge of it. The body might not go out and seek food because it doesn't know how to do that, it doesn't know what to eat or how to prepare it, it doesn't know what "food" is when it comes to the external world, but it knows how to process that food once it has been consumed. But processing the food is something that the ego doesn't know how to do. The ego "me" knows what "I" like to eat, "I" know how to cook it and use a knife and fork to get it into the body, but then the body takes over, digesting it has nothing to do with the ego "me". "I" wouldn't know where to start.
So there is the "automatic" aspect which the ego doesn't do and is largely completely oblivious to in terms of the process, the ego can only be aware of it happening, and then there is the "voluntary" aspect which "I" feel that "I" choose to do.
But then also, if you were put into another body, would you be the same person? You may be the same awareness experiencing the person, but do you think you would be "you", the "person" that you are now? The body would be slightly different, the brain would be wired up differenly, it would work in a similar but different way. That body would have different wants and needs than the body you have now due to the differences in physical structure and the chemistry. The ego would have to alter to accomodate those differences. It would no longer be able to do the things it once did, for example if the new body is fat and the ego likes to do activities that are best suited to slim people, what would happen to the original "person"? Would it be the same "person", or would it be a different one?
And to take it a step further, how do we define a "person", how do we define who they are? By what they do, what they think, what they say, by their physical appearance? What exactly is a "person"? I know it means mask, but I mean in "normal" "real-world" "practical" terms, what is a person? How do we define the concept that is any given individual? What exactly is that concept, what are the hidden details and definitions that lie behind the concept or idea we refer to as the "person".
But anyway, I came across this a couple of days ago, they have big pieces of the puzzle missing as far as I'm concerned, but its still quite interesting and relates to this subject.
BBC iPlayer - Horizon: 2009-2010: The Secret You
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nhv56/Horizon_20092010_The_...
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Permalink Reply by Cosmic Claire on
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Daniel wrote > Ego is not part of our body, but part of our consciousness. and though it is processed internally, it is likely that it actually originates outside of the body remotely
Very interesting stuff this is getting on to. Brings in the whole business of 'consciousness as a non local phenomenon' which Rupert Sheldrake discusses in several of the YouTube videos linked from this site. Unquestionable in my view that the brain is like a radio receiver and local power substation where the infinite consciousness of the All is received and stepped down into the local focus/vessel which is our own material self.
Rupert is the standard bearer for the New Paradigm in the scientific context. Watching the recently posted conversation with Bruce Lipton I realised how morphogenetic field theory was the basis for the Law of Attraction. I don't mean the 'red Ferrari' version of the LoA , but the real Big Version of it as a Universal Law. I should probably continue this on the Handbook of the New Paradigm thread when I have gathered my thoughts some more about it all.
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Permalink Reply by Frater LMHPCD on -
A very simple way to put it is that your EGO is the you that you think you are. Like when your mom griped at you and made you feel bad or kids at school teased you or you made the winning game shot and thought you were cool. These are things the human computer will gather and start to form a type of person. When killing the ego you are killing this human that is made up from out side stimulus and giving birth to a new spiritual being that is divine in its person. This will take over the human and now control it rather than the old person based on out side actions making all the decisions.
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