Meeting the Ego

Howdy folks,

I recently became intrigued of one's ego. Now I very new to the subject, and i was wondering HOW DOES ONE CONFRONT THEIR EGO.

In a sense I would like to know, if any one has been able to do this, and how. And If you have any external links providing any professional or creative works done on the subject.



PS: MODS please move if its in the wrong section.

reply to post by morf991


Hi

It's great you get interested in that stuff. It changes your daily life. You can start reading any Krishnamurti book or New Earth from Eckhart Tolle.

You meet ego everywhere. It's easier to notice in other people's behaviour and quite hard to lower in your own personality. Basically you can point out your ego when your start looking at your thoughts.
"Am I really saying this?" "Why do I say that?" "It's a terrible statement!" "Maybe I'm saying it because I've heard it in the past"
When you look at yourself you can see all what's going on through your mind is actually part of the past or future. We always care about what's coming or what other people think.

This is Ego. The way you confront your own image with old/future images coming from elswhere. Think about it. You almost never think PRESENT. Even when you see something wonderful you try to compare it with something you know already (past) or something you expect to happen (future).

Understand your ego means understand how Others (society, family, friends, childohood, school, idioms, ...) have shaped you as you are. And when you start to see that, I mean when you put a mirror in front of your Ego, then it vanishes.
"I really don't dare going out with such an haircut? Why? Because that's not the way other people do? Screw them"

A french statement from Sartre says it all

Hell is Other people

If you think of this in your daily life you'll see how you almost never think by yourself and how you partly are shaped by a collective ego (mainstream vs self).

Krishnamurti stated as well that you can free yourself from ego when you start hearing the silences between the tic tac of a clock. That means we're all used to hear the tic tac because it's tic tacing all the time. We're used to it, we don't even pay attention to it anymore.

Same for your life. When you start to hear the silence in your head then you're on the right path because it means your ego is learning to shut up sometimes.
If you don't pay attention to your ego it will take all the space of your head and you'll be blinded by it. Then you buy a luxury car, need the hottest dumb wife ever, get the latest crap internet device,... YOU don't really want it, the collective ego incnsciously told you to join him and do as he does.

Could talk about it all day long so ask questions if you want. I can give you book references as well

Peace

Originally posted by morf991
Howdy folks,

I recently became intrigued of one's ego. Now I very new to the subject, and i was wondering HOW DOES ONE CONFRONT THEIR EGO.

In a sense I would like to know, if any one has been able to do this, and how. And If you have any external links providing any professional or creative works done on the subject.



PS: MODS please move if its in the wrong section.

There is actually no HOW. There's just an observer, no method. It has nothing to do with concentration, only with attention. When you do/say something jusk ask yourself "Do I really do/argue this or that that way? Or is it someone else opinion I'm expressing?"

Just pay attention to your thoughts. Quit automatic-thinking-living-acting. Doing so you'll give your true self some space and ego will slowly decrease.

That's why you can feel some have HUGE egos when others look more free even if they seem more marginals (or less mainstream )

I have learned a tremendous amount about ego through taoist philosophy. To Invest in Loss is the most profound piece of wisdom I have ever learned. If applied in the correct manner and at the appropriate time or circumstance it allows you to gracefully navigate through many the eye of a sh!t storm without getting damaged or bent out of shape. In fact putting your ego on pause and stepping back from tense situations allows the scenario to flow freely without your negative input worsening it. Then their is a surplus of positivity, that is bestowed upon you and usually benefits you in the end. Invest in loss can be applied in many ways. Letting go of heated situations, not keeping score with loved ones about who does this or that. Humbling yourself by being generous or grateful or giving of your time. All forms of "Loss" that have intrinsic benefits built in. You will know when its right to invest in loss if you listen to your true self and be aware of your over blown ego or selfishness.

Try Investing in Loss, to yield like water, is to overcome like a tsunami.

Originally posted by morf991
Howdy folks,

I recently became intrigued of one's ego. Now I very new to the subject, and i was wondering HOW DOES ONE CONFRONT THEIR EGO.

In a sense I would like to know, if any one has been able to do this, and how. And If you have any external links providing any professional or creative works done on the subject.



PS: MODS please move if its in the wrong section.

Since this is in the relationship section and not the philosophical, I'm going to assume you mean ego as in how someone views their own worth and how you can approach that, deal with it, to become closer to them.

If their ego is justified, meaning if they THINK they're all that and they really are, you confront it by embracing it. Tell them you like them and try to get to know them better in the way that you do.

If their ego is NOT justified, meaning if they think they're all that but just a bag of hot air instead, you ignore them. People like that who are all talk and no action aren't worth getting to know in my opinion. But that's just me.

There's a difference between being conceited and convinced. You have to get to know someone on a more personal level before you can know which one they are in my opinion. The problem is though, a lot of people who know they're kind of "above" everyone else, who are justifiably convinced of themselves, are kind of standoffish. They didn't get to be who they are by being part of the crowd anyway, so they're not about to let just anyone "in" so to speak. If someone has always marched to the beat of their own drummer, they're not going to let anyone from the rest of band in. I guess you could say their music would suffer.

Besides, people like that are often misunderstood anyway so you can try to "deal with " their ego all you want. They're not going to let you in. Sorry. There's only so many times people can be misunderstood before they shut everyone else out. It's called self-preservation.

Anyway, if that's not the answer you're looking for, my bad. When I saw the word ego that's the first thing that came to mind. How someone carries them-self.

thanks for the responses. I will certainly ponder them all.

2nd.

reply to post by morf991


The simple answer is...

Put yourself in someone else's shoes, and imagine their reaction/response. Think of it as if whatever the Ego is doing, it's someone doing it to you. How do you feel? Then you'll see your own Ego in action, and make a determination from there.

Originally posted by morf991
Howdy folks,

I recently became intrigued of one's ego. Now I very new to the subject, and i was wondering HOW DOES ONE CONFRONT THEIR EGO.

In a sense I would like to know, if any one has been able to do this, and how. And If you have any external links providing any professional or creative works done on the subject.



PS: MODS please move if its in the wrong section.

I like to kick my egos butt sometimes but sometimes I let it play to see what happens. What you do is thinking about your thinking. Making a beaviour in yourself where you are messuaring how you are reacting to things around you. I do not censor my thought I can be very nasty inside to see where the thoughts are going. I allow myself to experiance duality and ego but try not let it outside most of the times. It is a learning thing and takes time so do not be a hard judge if it goes slow. I am not the mind or ego. I am the watcher controling myself to the best of my abilities. You cannot fix problems if you do not see/aknoledge them. Namaste

Yeah, take psychedelics. First you meet ego, and it's not pretty. Then your ego dies, and it's scarey. Then you're in the Isness, and everything is lovely! True story.