A few questions about the ego...

1. Why is it that anytime ego comes up in convo, its talked about as if it is separate.

2. Is it really a separate thing?

3. If so, what is it?

4. Where does it come from?

5. Why do we have an ego?

6. Why does it seem like the ego is a bad thing?

7. Why does it seem like the ego wants to take over what we do and, think?


Last question, am i asking the right questions?




Sorry if i seem naive, i don't really know much about the ego except that it can get you into trouble at times.



I wasn't sure where to post this so please move if need be mods...thanks

leggo my eggo

Because.....

reply to post by Lichter daraus


The ego deals only with the self...

The self in thought, and the self in action...

Selfishness only leads back to the self... Selflessness is the path to enlightenment

Be love my friend

reply to post by Lichter daraus


I think we have a ego to give ourselves some sense of self worth.

Originally posted by Akragon
reply to post by Lichter daraus

 

The ego deals only with the self...

The self in thought, and the self in action...

Selfishness only leads back to the self... Selflessness is the path to enlightenment

Be love my friend

Well i'm not worried about me,i feel my ego is in check and i'm a pretty selfless person. The whole ego thing is just confusing to me at times. why is it talked about as if its something that wants to take you over. If the ego isn't separate from ourselves then why would it be afraid of annihilation and, how or would it fight to the death to preserve itself? I don't know, maybe I'm asking the wrong questions...

Originally posted by Lichter daraus
1. Why is it that anytime ego comes up in convo, its talked about as if it is separate.

2. Is it really a separate thing?

3. If so, what is it?

4. Where does it come from?

5. Why do we have an ego?

6. Why does it seem like the ego is a bad thing?

7. Why does it seem like the ego wants to take over what we do and, think?


Last question, am i asking the right questions?




Sorry if i seem naive, i don't really know much about the ego except that it can get you into trouble at times.



I wasn't sure where to post this so please move if need be mods...thanks

edit on 07/16/2009 by Lichter daraus because: (no reason given)

edit on 07/16/2009 by Lichter daraus because: (no reason given)

1. More than likely because the idea doesn't originate with those who said it. The first person said it and others followed suit which goes along with all other unoriginal ideas out there.

2. I wouldn't say it's a separate thing that would have to be removed. As I understand it, it is just an understanding to be reached that you are not your ego. I think it facilitates your ability to see the reality for what it is.

3. You could say it's what has fears and desires other than the base ones of self-preservation, sex and food which are purely biological.

4. It comes mostly from adults and your environment transferred to you as you grow. You learn certain things about the world as it is seen through others' eyes and then solidify it as you apply that stuff to your life.

5. Psycho-socio-self-preservation is all I got.

6. It is the cause of all of the 7 deadly sins and is the cause and result of judgement. Judgement being your view on what's good and bad when in fact nothing is good or bad.

7. The ego wants to rule the world or be the "office hero" and is the sole reason you buy almost anything or try to convince anyone of anything.

final: You are asking valid questions for you right now. I think that as you move along other questions will pop up that will be valid for that time. No worries. All comes as you are willing to accept or question.

reply to post by TheMatrixusesYou


Awesome, that shed some light on the subject for me. Thanks man i appreciate it

reply to post by Lichter daraus


Yea. No problem. Hopefully others here can expand on it some without arguing too much.

The reason the EGO is viewed as separate is because it is NOT you. It is a false sense of self-identification that has been created in your through social conditioning. Now, when I say "social condition" I am not some conspiracist claiming that "the illuminati or government are using propaganda to control our lives", so hear me out. When you are born as a baby you don't have this ego, you live in the present moment, you don't need a name or a symbol, you just live. As you grow older, you see that people have these names and these titles and these things that make them UNIQUE and so your mind grows accustomed to that. Before you know it, you constantly filling your vocabulary with such "I am.." statements. You see it all the time these days. Teenagers trying anything and everything to be different, yet ultimately become the same through their try. The real you (the you that you were born with), however, is still alive in you. It's your soul and it does not care about anything. You will only find it in the stillness of space. Perhaps you have noticed your mind will ramble on and repeat things like a broken record player? Well, that's because that is essentially all it is; a broken record player. It is learned responses of memory that is uses over and over again, and when you are finally able to just sit in pure stillness with no rambling going on in your mind and the only thing you can hear is the sound of silence, then you are your true self and in a state which the EGO can not exist. Many people call this "meditation" but it's hard to throw that word around without your EGO *smirk* having a very convoluted look at it and instantly thinking "spiritual nut-jobs". If you really want to learn more about the complexities of the ego, I would recommend you check out the writings of Eckhart Tolle, even though some people's egos in here will probably condemn him, as he is another "spirital whack-job" who has had publications from people such as Oprah Winfrey, so "he must just be in it for the money", it is not true, however.

Originally posted by Lichter daraus
1. Why is it that anytime ego comes up in convo, its talked about as if it is separate.

2. Is it really a separate thing?

3. If so, what is it?

4. Where does it come from?

5. Why do we have an ego?

6. Why does it seem like the ego is a bad thing?

7. Why does it seem like the ego wants to take over what we do and, think?


Last question, am i asking the right questions?




Sorry if i seem naive, i don't really know much about the ego except that it can get you into trouble at times.



I wasn't sure where to post this so please move if need be mods...thanks

edit on 07/16/2009 by Lichter daraus because: (no reason given)

edit on 07/16/2009 by Lichter daraus because: (no reason given)

The ego is the material personality. It is physical, and as a physical thing, it is possessed by the soul. The soul on the contrary is immaterial. The soul is wisdom, the ego is the material pleasure, that's why it's usually considered as evil. The soul purified of an ego, selfless, is free of all material suffering. This state, nirvana, is experience able in this life. It is the good, god, enlightenment, the light in the soul.

reply to post by TheMatrixusesYou


Yeah, im hoping it works out. i have been really curious about the ego lately for some reason. i mean this isnt even somethin i know much about, the biggest thing im into doesnt even apply to anything on ats(i don't think so anyway).

Ego isn't some "force" that can take you over. It's a part of YOU, an inexorable part, and it's that side of you that makes U human. Do animals even have egos? Remember 1st, Ego is just a word, and it's just a way of describing U'r own state of mind. It's just one piece of the human condition and certainly not a thing.

reply to post by Lichter daraus


ErroneousDylan mentions Eckhart Tolle in a post above and that's a good place to start if you want to delve in. He clearly lays it out in his books.

Hopefully some more links can help you out here sorry if that they all link to the same site, but for this purpose, there really isn't a better one as this guy is just great at explaining things:

Some help with Ego
Try this out for questioning reality
To blow your mind...

Originally posted by Lichter daraus

Originally posted by Akragon
reply to post by Lichter daraus

 

The ego deals only with the self...

The self in thought, and the self in action...

Selfishness only leads back to the self... Selflessness is the path to enlightenment

Be love my friend

Well i'm not worried about me,i feel my ego is in check and i'm a pretty selfless person. The whole ego thing is just confusing to me at times. why is it talked about as if its something that wants to take you over. If the ego isn't separate from ourselves then why would it be afraid of annihilation and, how or would it fight to the death to preserve itself? I don't know, maybe I'm asking the wrong questions...

Its not something that wants to take you over, its something that is within all of us... its the animal instinct within ourselves... self preservation. Its the idea that what is best for the self is the only thing that matters. Greed is an ego issue because the self wants possessions in order to satisfy that need, but the problem is it does not satisfy, so the self continues to seek more possessions which will always be unsatisfying. Possessions only give temporary satisfaction.

The ego is your own selfishness... overcomming it isn't always easy... and there will always be a struggle between the physical self, and the spiritual self...

Though remember, the material world is nothing but an illusion... and you can't take it with you where you're headed

Originally posted by Lichter daraus
1. Why is it that anytime ego comes up in convo, its talked about as if it is separate.
2. Is it really a separate thing?

I understand ego as the thinking part of me, distinctive from the feeling part. I'm two people on the inside: one feels, one thinks. The thinker is Ego.

3. If so, what is it?
4. Where does it come from?
5. Why do we have an ego?

In it's simplest form it's a calculator. It measures. It exists for us because we experience time. This allows us to comprehend or understand things in relation to each other. All measurements are relative to the distance between 0 and 1. What those are in physical terms eludes me. It may not be physical at all and therefore arbitrary from a physical perspective. Maybe it's the distance between the heart and the mind (not necessarily physical).

6. Why does it seem like the ego is a bad thing?

Only starved and unbalanced egos are bad news. I'm not sure if anyone's ego can be perfectly balanced, but I know it can approximate balance over time.

7. Why does it seem like the ego wants to take over what we do and, think?

Taking over what? Sounds like a divided ego at odds with itself. Unify!

I think the ego is how you.view yourself and your opinion especially in relation to others and your place in the world. I don't think it's a bad thing and it is part of you but people who act like over opinionated assholes are often accused of having an ego out of control. Everyone has an ego as part of their personality butsometimes it can be negative I in the past have had a negative ego, I would put myself below others because I would have uncrontrollable negative thoughts about myself and others. Now I nurture my ego it's ok to think i'm good but ultimately ego is juat a word, it's just you.

reply to post by Lichter daraus


Just the other day someonee said to me "what is an ego?" in a conversation and i've had time to think about it, but what is alter alter ego?

reply to post by Nokrank


The ego being talked about here is much bigger than the self-esteem issue that you're talking about. The ego as it applies to this subject refers to how a person thinks they are a unique person and they continually try to make themselves more unique.

reply to post by TheMatrixusesYou


Oh.