what is ego?

i dont think i really understand the concept of ego. i've heard about id ego and superego, is that generally what people are referring to when they say ego? in context, ego usually seems to be something that gets in the way of enlightenment.

 

I'm not sur eI can explain it the best, but in a metaphysical sense the ego is like the illusion of individuality. It is 'I'. I'm probably not entirely accurate in my explanation though..

 

yeah that seems to fit.

 

I think it is importance of ones ultimate greatness. on simple levels, the idea of 'i'. in even simler levels, a human's way of overcoming its counterpart, the society. Ants have no ego. they work for the good of the colony. If an ant had an ego, it would go and find food needed for itself. living would probably be increidbly efficient form of running the organism that they are. however, ants cannot reproduce, so an ego would kill them off.

on higher levels it makes people think very highly of themselves and their potential.

when ego is removed, people stop seing importance and power in themselves, and see the importance and power in the 'ultimate' level of issues.

if ultimate goals and meaning are lined up shortest to tallest,, the more ego one has, the further to the smallest end of the scale is. the ultimate ego is to see ones self as being able to do anything and being the only thing of importance in the world. to have no ego at all would be to stop caring about living, and care only in the most expansive or epic level concievable by the mind.


i dunno, does that sound right?

 

yeah, stonerbill that's definitely one of the meanings of ego. (not really the meaning i was thinking of though) it seems like one of those terms that has a lot of different meanings.

i found a site that lists over 40 definitions of ego... http://www.livereal.com/psychology_arena/what_is_ego.htm

 

EGO = the sense of separative existence.


the sense of being a definite someone separate from everything else existing.

Thats one definition.

 

*Questions...what is the I?, who am I?*

 

I think of the ego self as a non spiritual thought of being. In other words, seeing life only as material is an egoic interpretation of things. It creates a "good" or "bad" idea of things instead of feelings things as just "being".

 

ego is your mind, your thinking, your thoughts. ego is what fears death.

 

Saying that the mind is the ego isn't necessarily true. If your mind begins to control you then that is the ego self, but if you use your mind (say as a tool) then there isn't any ego involved.

 

PD,

When has the mind not controlled and governed Man?

The ego is that part of our consciousness with which we identify, that we discriminate with and separate our consciousness from the rest of reality. It is that part which we identify awareness with (the concious mind).

We all have egos - some big, some small. The mind is what hears the ego thinking, the mind is thinking itself because it identifies with thought.

Consciousness can watch the mind thinking. There can be a disconnection. I call that the Witness; others have different names for the same thing.

Yes, the mind can be used as a tool. Yes, the mind can be used without the ego. But most don't and aren't.

 

What name then would you give to that which can separate the ego from the self (aren't they synonomous terms in a sense?)
And what is it that realizes?

 

The part of the mind that recognized an "I".

 

i think of it kinda like our tail bone... like it was useful when humans were climbing trees and fighting off sabre tooth tigers. Like it's the part of every animal that keeps it on constant alert. to either make sure it isn't eatten or drowneded.


Since humans became so efficeintly adaptable to it's environment, they had nothing to fear, but they still posesed a brain that was used to being under constant threat. so we replaced the sabre toothed tigers with sabre toothed Maybes. worrying about what maybe will threaten us in the future...

 

Is that part of the mind conscious of itself as a 'self'? Ie as another 'I'.

What I'm trying to get at is this: is there another, perhaps a higher 'point of individuation' - other than the ego?

If so, what is the difference between that and the ego?

 

I was simply answering the question of the individual that started the thread.

 

Whats the difference between 'the Lord' and 'God'?

To me, this sounds like new-age tripe.

 

no need to judge another person's view dude, i've been looking through this whole thread and everyone has they're own view of ego, each as individual and interesting as the next. i see ego as the separation between 'me' and 'i', me being my physical self, the self i project to the world, and 'i' or 'ego' being my consciousness, my soul if u will. recently i suffered from an ego death, in which time i believed that i'd destroyed 'i' forever, no doubt some of you have had the same feeling, lol. with the death of my ego, my physicall self suffered, as i no longer had my ego to keep my body in check. without ego/soul/consciousness/'i' etc, the body is just a confused vessel.

 

Maybe this will help:

God is person without its ego.

 

The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story of every man born of woman,
for there lives within each one of us two selves---the ego and the I:
the self one seems ,and the self he is;a man other men meet,and a
man unknown to other men.The ego is what we think we are;and
the I is what in fact we are.The ego is the spoiled child---selfish,
petulant,clamorous,and spoiled---the creation of our mistakes in
living.The I is our personality made to the image and likeness of God!

The lives of the two selves cannot be lived simutaneously.
If we attempt to do so,we suffer remorse,anxiety,and inner
dissatisfaction.If true freedom is to be found within ourselves,
the ego must yield itself to the birth of our true personality.
But the seeming self is so familiar a companion to some persons
that it cannot be easily dropped,nor is it of any use to tell them
that this superficial self has no legitimate place within them.
Like a plaster cast,the false ego has to be cut away,pulled off,
and this is a process that involves detachment, pain and some indignity.

When the ego dominated our lives,we blame little faults in
others,and excuse great offenses in ourselves;we see the
mote in our nieghbor's eye,and not the beam in our own.
we wrong others,and deny that there is any guilt;others
do the same wrong to us,and we say they should have
known better.We hate others and call it "zeal";we flatter
others because of what they can do for us,and call it "love";
we lie to them and call it "tact."We are slow to defend the
rights of God in public,and call it "prudence";we selfishly push
others aside ,and call it "getting our just rights";we judge others
and say we are "facing the facts";we refuse to give up our
life of sin and call anyone who does so an "escapist."We
overeat,and call it "health";we pile up more wealth than
is necessary for our state in life,and call it "security";we
resent the wealth of others and we call ourselves "defenders
of the downtrodden"we deny inviolable principals in law,
plant our feet firmly in mid-air,and call ourselves "liberal."
We begin sentences with "I" ---and condemn our nieghbor
as a bore for wanting to talk about himself,when we want to
talk about ourselves;we ruin family life by divorce---and say
we have to "live our own lives";we believe we are virtuous---
merely because we find someone who is vicious.
And so on...