The Ego

[Built To Last]

In yoga, the ego is known as, ahankara, which means the “I-former.” The ego is that aspect of your being that identifies with the positions and possessions of your life. It is ultimately your self-image---the way you want to project who you are to yourself and to the world.

The ego is the boundary maker that attempts to assert ownership through the concepts of “I,” “me,” “my,” and “mine.” The ego seeks security through control and often has a deep-seated need for approval.

Most emotional pain is the result of you ego being offended because something that it believed it had control over was actually outside your jurisdiction.

The ego is a major hinderance to spiritual development.

One of the easiest ways to experience disconnect between your true self and your ego (an ego death) is through the Third Person Method. In your internal dialogue, replace every word that refers to yourself (I, me, my, mine) with your name.

ex. This is kurdt318's cup of tea. kurdt318's computer. kurdt318's clothing. kurdt318 is attractive/smart. kurdt318 is stupid/a loser/retarded.

[The Jitterskull]

My ego has caused me a shit load of problems in real life, I've gotten pretty close to getting rid of the part of it I hate.

My question is, how would the "This is _________'s item/thing" help? Does it take away from the ego attaching itself to the item?

I'm interesting in trying this long term.

[Actor]

buddhism

[ArmsMerchant]

Interesting how some unevolved folks say they have a strong ego--as if that helps!

One's ego is time-bound, outer-directed, fearful, defensive, and generally fatal to spiritual growth.

[Built To Last]

My ego has caused me a shit load of problems in real life, I've gotten pretty close to getting rid of the part of it I hate.

My question is, how would the "This is _________'s item/thing" help? Does it take away from the ego attaching itself to the item?

I'm interesting in trying this long term.

It helps you to stop identifying with possessions/positions/titles in your life.

[danmega]

I have recently discovered that my ego has far more control over my life then I do, per say. I want to grow spiritually, physically emotionally and mentally. I am spinning my tires though, and am wasting away. Whenever I try to do something productive or new, I always feel fearful and nervous, and it's incredibly debilitating.

I am dan's fear.

[Built To Last]

Interesting how some unevolved folks say they have a strong ego--as if that helps!

A perfect example of this: log on to any social networking site, myspace, facebook, etc. sites made to glorify the ego.

Although, that being said, don't confuse causation and correlation, and think everyone on such a sight is spiritually unevolved :p

[Cathy McGee]

so how would one go about losing the ego?????

what are some steps i could take, is meditation key??

[Built To Last]

so how would one go about losing the ego?????

what are some steps i could take, is meditation key??

Meditation can definitley help. Anything that switches your awareness from spotlight to floodlight helps.

It also helps to find out what YOU truly are. What your true essence is, beyond body and ego.

[Rust]

A perfect example of this: log on to any social networking site, myspace, facebook, etc. sites made to glorify the ego.

Although, that being said, don't confuse causation and correlation, and think everyone on such a sight is spiritually unevolved :p

http://wackyiraqi.com/wtf/high_horse.jpg

[Built To Last]

http://wackyiraqi.com/wtf/high_horse.jpg

You make a valid point. Just because an ego may be responded to positively (I know I'm flattering myself here), does not make it any less hindering to spiritual development.

[lostmyface]

i have tried to kill my ego off with many strong hallucinogenics. so far all i got to show for that is a bunch of awesome memories an experiences. but my ego is still mostly intact, though not in its original packaging. i dont think the ego is as bad as some of you make it out to be. i think part of maturing is finding out who you are an accepting that, an then building yourself into who you want to be based on what you all ready are.

but that is just my opinion.

[Rizzo in a box]

"I'm the most ego-less person I know."

lulz

[Ambient]

Most egotistical people are unaware of their egotism whilst "spiritually developed" people are aware of the ego and because of that will be able to handle it better and use it in the appropriate context.

That is spiritual consciousness to transcend materialistic/intellectual tendencies such as the ego.

If we cannot learn to do that then we are no different from any other animal.

[Rizzo in a box]

The funniest part is that it is the ego that tries to get rid of the ego.

[danmega]

The funniest part is that it is the ego that tries to get rid of the ego.

I realized somehting along these lines in the shower this morning. Mind is confusing :(

[The Jitterskull]

I realized somehting along these lines in the shower this morning. Mind is confusing :(

Your ego realized its trying to end itself, so its confusing you to prevent itself from ending itself.

Heh :cool:

[danmega]

Your ego realized its trying to end itself, so its confusing you to prevent itself from ending itself.

Heh :cool:

INDEED

[PirateJoe]

your ego realized its trying to end itself, so its confusing you to prevent itself from ending itself.

Heh :cool:

:eek: NOOOOO!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD CHARLES!!!!!

[Built To Last]

:eek: NOOOOO!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD CHARLES!!!!!

Please try to stay on topic.

[boostinkyboo]

Leggo my ego

[BrokeProphet]

Without ego, you would be a servant to those with ego.

Why so many religions and cults wish to rid a person of their ego remains a mystery :rolleyes:

--------

Seriously though, it must make you feel pretty good to KNOW why many people remain spiritually unevolved, and know how to fix it.

Ever listen to some old gossiping bitches? They ALWAYS seem to know what so and so's problem is and what he/she needs to do to fix it. But I doubt that they are egotistical enough to proclaim they know what most of humankinds problem is, and how they should fix it.

--------

Ego is perfectly natural, and perfectly healthy.

Not to say a person can't overindulge their ego, just as they can overindulge any otherwise perfectly natural and healthy thing in their life.

[Rizzo in a box]

:confused:I realized somehting along these lines in the shower this morning. Mind is confusing :(

If you really want to use the power of fluid awareness to blow your mind, try taking extremely cold showers around the times of 4-8 AM. Stay in until you no longer care about being warm.

Once you get used to that (a week or so should do it), try starting off with warm water first, to let your body open up...then use the cold to really get it going.

to be honest, if one did that everyday for the rest of their life, they would be incredibly healthy and happy, even if they were very fucked up in other ways (like, say, extreme drug use/abuse)

and now to address the ever so enlightening pseudo-reason of BrokeProphet, who knows everything already and thus can not Know(wink wink):

Without ego, you would be a servant to those with ego.

Why so many religions and cults wish to rid a person of their ego remains a mystery

--------

Seriously though, it must make you feel pretty good to KNOW why many people remain spiritually unevolved, and know how to fix it.

Ever listen to some old gossiping bitches? They ALWAYS seem to know what so and so's problem is and what he/she needs to do to fix it. But I doubt that they are egotistical enough to proclaim they know what most of humankinds problem is, and how they should fix it.

--------

Ego is perfectly natural, and perfectly healthy.

Not to say a person can't overindulge their ego, just as they can overindulge any otherwise perfectly natural and healthy thing in their life.

No, without an ego one becomes absolutely and perfectly free. The only way one can remain bound by an ego while in an egoless state is through selfless compassion: "I will not enter Nirvana until all sentient beings first achieve it as well."

When talking of ego, it is good to know exactly what one is talking about, for the term is used very often in different contexts to mean different things.

Then proper makeup of a true human being is firstly his lower animal/physical nature which can be termed the "lower self". This is our basic personality for dealing with the world which we formed as children through the impressions we gained from our enviroment. The most negative & extreme versions of the lower self is demonhood, total separation from anything sent from the Divine Light.

Rather though, I am confusing myself and most likely others. I will explain it more simply.

At birth, we are nothing but purely awakened essence, functioning perfectly to the will of the Supreme (for the most part, there are anomalies and exceptions everywhere), but we soon realize the need for a personality, a personal self, if we are to be able to survive in this world. There is nothing inherently wrong with the personal self, it is just not the true & essential Self, it is a vehicle through which the Essence rides. However, because of the horribly degenerated condition of mankind today, most so-called humans are not able to pass beyond their lower animal nature and thusly become obsessed with the Cult of Personality. Ignorance, pride, vanity, stupidity, etc, everything vile and wrong is a result of this limited-view. Why & how this happens is a discussion for another time...

Anyway, that is the Personality, which is unfortunately quickly HIJACKED by Egos. No one has an Ego. There is no king ruler Ego. There is the Lord of Love, the Infinite Self deep within everything, but is so far beyond personality that it is silly to even begin to confuse the two. What egos are is something truly despicable, something very unnatural and in fact harmful to just about everything.

Only a very rare few have the right to say they have a Self. Most are merely hosts to demons, a breeding ground of desire that consumes one in the links of Karma until one is purified the lamentable way... Egos are the product of desire, they have their beginning in the Casual bodies (the lunar, unillumined bodies of today's monkey-man) and trickle down to the mental, emotional, and physical levels. Every single "I" that you have is psychic abberation, a true monster of the subconscious abyss of the Mind that considers itself unique, indepdent, and truly in charge. But they control nothing for they are but slaves to their desire: the root of their existence.

Every "I" is one of the Red Demons of Seth, one of the 3000 heads of Self-Importance, the hydra, and until one realizes how "I"s are created, not only will you not be able to stop it and realize the Self, but you will be nothing more than a breeding ground for parasitic entities that drain your life force and make you wallow in suffering. "We are legion."

Suffering is the result of not being in tune with nature & the divine. Of wanting two contradictory things at once, or wanting something you can't have, that isn't real...

If you could for one moment, learn to suspend judgement and observe yourself, you would be shocked.

The ego, the separative thought structure which keeps one true natured tied down while nourishing its own parasitic chains, is nothing but a burden. The personality, when cleared of even a small portion of its egos, slowly becomes more and more beautiful and radiant until it is able to merge completely with the higher, trascendental self...And from there, it is all but great mysteries of the highest caliber.

Egos drain your energy. They drain your inherent intelligence, they separate you from the flow of life, and they are the source of all suffering.

Not only that, they are all completely empty of anything at all. They are psychic phantoms. Horrific dragons that are yet smaller than ants.

When egos are no longer present one is able to live life to a degree even inconcievable in an unenlightened state. In every aspect of life are you able to preform better. There is absolutely nothing to gain from being nothing but a Whore House, and everything to gain by being a purified nothing that acts as a beam of light & life & love & laughter.

Oh, and btw, my emotions and feelings are not dependent upon the least on others, or my relation to them. It does not matter to me if they hate me or love me or whatever. I control myself through my self, and anyone can if they try. If you become truly proficient in pranayama, nothing at all will ever bother you again.

Also, like I said before, it is not the personal self or personality that is a problem, per se (it just eventually becomes useless as one is able to master the world and sit on a throne over Nature), but that it should follow the proper course and flow upwards to the Transcendental Self (or higher self, or nagual, or whatever you want to call it, but if you know it you know names dont matter), instead of remaining stagnant & ultimately degenerating into demonhood.

Need I go on? Explain or expand? You see, I have real, experiential knowledge with what I talk about, and so do a few others on the forums. It is not hard to see who really knows, or is at least an Initiate on the path, and who is still living in complete ignorance.

Silliness like feeling superior or whatever you may accuse me of would miss the point entirely, that the true heresy is in separating yourself from the rest of existence. Feelings and emotions are just a very small stepping stone to the highest levels of perception & consciousness & direct knowledge. In fact, feelings are not anything personal at all, they are merely a way of interpreting certain vibratory rates of energy. Superior feelings and emotions are a result of a higher vibratory rate.

Remember though, vibrations will try to balance eachother out, or that many ripples in a pond will create well...just try and watch. I affect you and you affect me and everything around me affects me and I affect everything around me, at gross and subtle levels. Most of the time I can't distinguish my feelings from other people's feelings. They're just feelings. like a smell.

and thus there is no way to separate yourself, so any separative thought system that exists must be a product of what you aren't really...ego.

The real crux of the Great Work is taking back what ego has stolen and removing its plight from your being forever. Every "I" has a little bit of the essential Self stuck in it...hence, freeing energy from matter...

saving a lost love from the underworld...

christ coming down to attone us for our sins...

everything will make sense when you have true knowledge & can suspend judgement (through the quieting & stopping of the internal dialog)

[Nachismo]

Ego is similar to a dog.It can be your best friend or worst enemy.

Lovingly training that part of ourselves using the practice of virtue encourages our lower self to serve us, instead of letting our animalistic urges rule our lives.

The ego is similar to the little devil that accuses, and lies in order to feed our fears,lusts, and other forms of unhealthy physical attachment and gratification encouraging us live like animals instead of humans.It is the dealmaker and breaker, master of logical manipulation, illusion and other demonic influences.It likes to try telling us that the only way we can achieve our goals is at the expense of others.He loves duality, and paradox is one of the ways he manipulates decisions, mind you very mechanically.

The voice of our conscious is available to serve as a governer, and based on love and light.Intuition based on truth, and "knowing" focused on positive personal growth are strengths stemming from the divinity in each of us.It is the angel inside of us, always urging us to get closer to good, and is altruistically motivated. It reminds us that through proper intent, using honesty, self discipline, and hard work allow us to achieve whatever we want for ourselves, while helping one another in the process.This part is in touch with unity, and uses love as the tool that creates order out of any chaos.

I doubt it is possible to be completely free of our materialistic limitations by abandoning the ego completely, but using our divinity to temper our lower nature is possible by practicing working with the two in conjuction.Practicing using virtue strategically, enables one to put the ego in it's proper place, and reap the benefits of what it is.

That little devil tempting you by some outside the box thinking?It's good at that, but usually our conscious is able to come up with better alternatives.I don't consider my conscious to ask me anything, it tells me a suggested course of action.The other part, usually uses temptation to try to sway your decisions.

It is wise to chart, the outcomes of choices made in regards to working with these aspects of the self, in order to get better at managing them.How well do you know these parts of yourself?It is interesting "talking" to them, and they are very knowledgable about many different things.I bring this up, because I get the feeling most average people keep their relationship with them on a very basic level.They are deeper, and just as simple or complicated as any other ego out there.Talk to them, make them debate, and you may be pleasently surprised by the results....

Watch out for self rightiousness masquerading as rightiousness, this is a very subtle way the ego attemps to use misplaced pride to interfere with your plans.

[Ouroboros]

I am dan's fear.

I am jacks spastic colon

[FuckThatShit]

Getting rid of the ego is impossible. It is part of who we are. the only thing you can do is achieve AWARENESS of it when it crops up in a way that doesn't effect you positively. Like somebody said its your ego that wants to get rid of it to somehow be better than the glorified monkeys we all are.

[Ouroboros]

:confused:


everything will make sense when you have true knowledge & can suspend judgement (through the quieting & stopping of the internal dialog)

Great post with a lot of meaning. I want to relpy to it but it has a beautiful simplicity i dare not alter...it would be pointless. XD

[Ouroboros]

Getting rid of the ego is impossible. It is part of who we are. the only thing you can do is achieve AWARENESS of it when it crops up in a way that doesn't effect you positively. Like somebody said its your ego that wants to get rid of it to somehow be better than the glorified monkeys we all are.

You can be rid of it. Besides the several natural was of going about this look at the Peyote cactus.

Ingestion causes your adrenachrome (what adrenaline realy is) to stop regulating the correct amount of sugers to your brain and litarily dumps your ego for a good few hours. You are youless

Ive personaly experiace ego loss on roughly 7 grams of psilocybin mushrooms...well over terrence mckennas heroic dose. I wast me anymore, i was everything and nothing. I flowed with air, i gave in, shit i even pissed myself on purpose because i truly felt my uselessness in that moment. I felt as if i was reborn the next day. I lost and gained something that night.

May i suggest aldous huxleys "The Doors of Perception"

[FuckThatShit]

You can be rid of it. Besides the several natural was of going about this look at the Peyote cactus.

Ingestion causes your adrenachrome (what adrenaline realy is) to stop regulating the correct amount of sugers to your brain and litarily dumps your ego for a good few hours. You are youless

Ive personaly experiace ego loss on roughly 7 grams of psilocybin mushrooms...well over terrence mckennas heroic dose. I wast me anymore, i was everything and nothing. I flowed with air, i gave in, shit i even pissed myself on purpose because i truly felt my uselessness in that moment. I felt as if i was reborn the next day. I lost and gained something that night.

May i suggest aldous huxleys "The Doors of Perception"

DID YOU? DID YOU REALLY NOW? Or did you just momentarily override your brain with a bunch of drugs. Go read fear and loathing again i think your ether is wearing off.

[Ouroboros]

i have tried to kill my ego off with many strong hallucinogenics. so far all i got to show for that is a bunch of awesome memories an experiences. but my ego is still mostly intact, though not in its original packaging. i dont think the ego is as bad as some of you make it out to be. i think part of maturing is finding out who you are an accepting that, an then building yourself into who you want to be based on what you all ready are.

but that is just my opinion.

You seem to be on the right path.

[Ouroboros]

DID YOU? DID YOU REALLY NOW? Or did you just momentarily override your brain with a bunch of drugs. Go read fear and loathing again i think your ether is wearing off.


I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
Hunter S. Thompson

Adrenachrome is a substance found in body.
Kinda like DMT in your pineal gland...but i dont think adrenachrome will get you high.

[Headspin]

When did we start feeling isolated as fragments instead of together and connected? This is a driect cause of ego. Connected as energy, we are only separated through thought.

The ego is not invulnerable, nor is it any stronger than you. It is merely a master of personal illusion.

[Thecosmicexplosion]

I flowed with air, i gave in, shit i even pissed myself

Isn't it the darndest thing, I swear i was swimmin in it

[Ouroboros]

Isn't it the darndest thing, I swear i was swimmin in it

Swimming is a damn good word for it (not the piss i mean)