Do you love your ego?
I love the challenges (and following confusion at times) that my ego presents me with.
you love the challenges, do you love the ego?
im not,not really…but i still follow it…why? dont know,why u asking that??
I love my ego because of the challenges and growth? I have a hard time coming right out and saying “I love my ego”
you love the challenges, love the ego because it wants you to have fun, to enjoy yourself. WHen life is evolving you may end up finding meditation fun, helping others may become fun, talking with homeless people may be fun. Your ego may end up liking many things that you think it would not like, why? because it gets to experience a whole new world
many people seee the ego as bad and guess what, if you see it as bad it will be bad. I tried for a long time to loose my ego, it burned me up inside and I despised many things about the world. I resisted my ego and it fought back. If you love your ego, even laugh at it and with it, and give into it, then when it it time for meditation it may not be so resistent. I was under the impression for a long time that the ego is the enemy. what did jesus say about the enemy, “love thy enemy:” Love yourself, every part of yourself. withhold judgement of the ego, withhold judgement. Expand in love and the dark spots will be filled with light. Be careful of what you try and supress, for it may be stronger then you. Grow in love and nothing will be stronger then you, nothing is stronger then love. Many people on this board, and in life, say “love and light” start loving and watch the light shine from the inside.
more then thoughts
Neil
justwannabe,
I agree with you’ve said in your post, although I came to the same conclusion through a different path. I too tried to free myself of my ego and for the most part, I achieved that goal… once.
Now, I don’t supress it, I don’t avoid it, I don’t even just embrace it, I encourage it.
For me personally my ego is more essential than the air I breathe. Although I suspect everyone will have a very different experiance.
Hi Neil,
I think that you posted quite some time ago a quote: “What you love strengthens you, and what you don’t like weakens you.” And we need to be strong to make changes, right?
Anodea Judith says in a book Eastern body Western mind:
“The ego is like a house. It is where we live. It contains us, gives us place to grow and change, and creates boundaries, which are necessary for forming ourselves as an entity. It balances energy in the system, keeping us in homoeostasis. Ego is not that it is limiting - but that we let ourselves be confined by it at all times. We stay confined out of fear, guilt, or shame, and never go outside to the larger world, never open our windows and doors. It is not wrong to have a home, but it should be an anchor for experience, not a limitation.”
I guess that by ego you mean the sense of individuality, of I-ness. We could say that there is a positive aspect of ego when one is aware of one’s own existence and finds harmony in relation with environment with others. There is another aspect, cause of suffering, where there is ignorance, confusion on our true nature, the principle of consciousness, there is contemplation of the mind as if it were separate from the rest of the Nature. We should aim at getting rid of this negative aspect in an attempt to live a more harmonious life.
Philippe
Hello and No,
I don?t like my ego. Or what I think is my ego. It?s extremely bossy and controlling and distracting and undermines me at every turn. I do sometimes feel like I?m in some sort of an eternal battle and it?s exhausting. I understand (well, I think I understand) that I need to learn to be more positive and try to push it aside, or turn it around, or lose it. But, while I?m relatively new to yoga, I?m old to my life so the change sometimes feels like too big of a task and I don?t have enough time (year-wise, not hour-wise). More simply stated, I don?t know how to deal with it. Or how to consider it. Or how to live with it.
So…I usually just try to ignore it and look for some happiness or peace in the few moments it?s off duty.
aaron, I think you could live without your ego for ten minutes 
you probably do that in certain stages of sleep?
Mirjana, you have a better memory of what I wrote then I did, you by chance have a photographic memory? I met a girl once who did and she got her 4 year degree in 2.5 years, that would be cool to have. Yeah I think stepping out of the ego/house has its time and place. If we always try and suppress ego then we may always have the ego fighting us and not allowing us to leave the house for a while. But if we take care of our house/ego and have fun and enjoy life then I would think expanding our boundries would be much easier.
phillipe, the main reason for the post was just to throw somethign out into the universe and also refine myself. according to the definition you wrote, positive and negative ego, I will give examples along the lines of the way I am thinking.
You want something sweet
negative ego would be getting a candy bar. they have refined sugars and for the most part are not very good for you and you may have a headache after
You could always have some mango, an orange, pinapple, or whatever your favorite fruit is. for me I love a great mango, orange, pinapple, watermelon. you will be nourishing your body while having somehting sweet as well
You want a sweet drink
negative ego gets you a coke, caffeine gets you a quck high and then you crash off a little after the coke
positive ego takes a lemon, some maply syrup, water, a little ice and puts it in a blendor, now you have great tasting lemonade from all natural ingredients made out of love by you and no crash a couple hours later
You crave to have a beautiful partner in your life
Negative ego will go to a nightclub and possibly pick up the first physically attractive woman you are able to, very shortly you will not feel secure or fulfilled with this woman and be yearning for something more
positive ego would be more patient and wait for one who is attractive to you inside and out, one who helps you to expand in love, not in lust, fear, jeleousy, etc… With the positive ego woman just going for a walk and holding hands is an enjoyable thing.
love your ego, give it what it wants in a loving way so you are not always searching for more.
just my opinion
neil
Here everyone seems to know what the ego is. So tell me, what is it ?
So, what’s the ego ?
Here’s a definition, so let’s start with this.
[I][B]1.[/B] The self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.[/I]
Distinct from the world, and from other things. What do you think creates this distinction ? The physical body, as a focal point of our sensorial experience in the physical world. In our waking consciousness, we expereince this: I think in my head, I feel in my heart, I act my will through my limbs and senses. All is related to the physical body. This makes this body very important, as the vehicle of everything we do in this world. The only problem is, that this vehicle is perishable prone to decay, suffering. The materialists says, this is what I expereince only, this body, as death shows, will be discarded one day, and togheter wth it, my ego, the man I am. The ego is body related. If we did not have the body, we did not have the sense of individuality, personality, being someone. We would be in a dream like state where everything flows togheter, no separation, no boundaries.
[I][B]2. [/B]In psychoanalysis, the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality.[/I]
The term ego has been largley used only since the development of psychoanalysis, in the early XX century. Remember, the yogis knew for long the existence of subconsious, yet these termes, ego, higher Self, subconscious, unconscious, collective unconscious spread in the western culture only recently. Until than, the course of western culture has been directed by the evolution of natural sicence.
[B][I]3. [/I][/B][I][B]a. [/B]An exaggerated sense of self-importance; conceit.[/I]
How do we know someone who is self important ? By watching him acting as only he/she’s existing, only his/her view is correct, real, important. It means to realize someone limits from the outside.
[I][B]b. [/B]Appropriate pride in oneself; self-esteem.[/I]
So, it can be also good. What does this mean ? The ego is a vehicle, a shell, a body, the boat what carries our consciousness, our sense of continuity in time. Think of this, what if tomorrow you wake up in a totally different body, environment ? Would you know who you are ? What if … you’d wake up with a different mind. memories, thoughts ? We must admit, we would be totally lost. If the memory of the former body and our expereinces would remain, such a change would prove unbearable … why ? Because we chain our consciousness to what we use, what we grow fond of, what we think we are.
The ego is limited, sperated from the whole to make possible the consciousness of I, but on a low level. The human body is not an animal body. The animal body is unfit to receieve the I consciousness, at least on the level as we experience it. We are individualities. Someone said, the universe is coming to self consciousness through man, and although it comes from amaterialist world view, it’s not that far from the truth, only that the universe already has it’s consciousness, and the steps of higher and higher consciouness, and we need to grow to receieve this consciousness, we need to climb the stairs. We are not the peak of evolution, this seems so only in the physical world, but we are the smallest of gods.
The ego, the sense of I-ness is what makes us capable of love. Compassion, and empathy wakes when you realize that the other being next to you, is endowed with the same consciousness as you are. If one knows him/herself well enough, one will know the other well enough so compassion, and undrestanding wakes in him/her and this is love. Love is not liking things, or growing fond of, love is undrestanding, experiencing the other, letting the feelings, thoughts of that other being live in us, and when we do this, we can’t act as if they were not existing. We have to act in ways that not only we do not harm them, but in ways to help them achieve what they have to achieve. The more we know ourselves, and through this, others, the more we can do to help the world follow it’s course. The more we see the obstacles, the problems, the suffering of others, the more we will feel compelled to adress them. The ego consciousness can stop at the boundaries of my life, but than, it loses it’s purpose, what is to makes us capable of love. Than it is just selfishness. The I-ness of me, and the I-ness of others is not different. We all have the same Father … and this is not just talk. As the physical children of a father bear the fathers genes, and his blood, so, the children of the Allmighty bear the same spirit. The spirit in us, the very core of our consciousness, the I-ness, is the same. Fingers on a glove, moved by the same hand.
When yoga teaches that ego must be shed, not the I consciousness must be shed, just the identification of it with the limited things it uses. The ego must not be thrown out, but seen through, and used by the spirit, by the I consciousness. It is wrong if we think we need to eliminate it. Can you live without a physical body ? Not in this world. And we have been born to live in this world, this is our karma. We have duties to perform. We need to learn. We need to grow.
aaron, I think you could live without your ego for ten minutes
you probably do that in certain stages of sleep?
you probably do that in certain stages of sleep?Depends on your definition of living.
Thanks Hubert…I was considering last night that maybe my ego isn?t as bad as I think it is. Maybe I?m giving it a bad rap. It does, after all, seem to make some good choices for me ? eat healthy, try compassion, act responsibly, etc. BUT…it is part of the psyche (soul) along with the ID and superego, too and they all have their own individual parts to play, right? I don?t claim to understand how they all work together, but it does seem to be that, inside me, my ego certainly seems to be the dominant part and ?has a mind of its own.? Ha. It feels restrictive, oppressive, and controls too much. It needs to ease up. Maybe I?m on the right track by trying to ignore its control over me? Am I right to think if I can achieve a more harmonious balance inside while continuing to look more outside or beyond myself, I might be able to experience the world as all interconnected (or something)? I admit that this is something I haven?t been able to grasp fully yet, but the ?idea? of it seems wonderful. I can see happiness there. True?
[QUOTE=justwannabe;12630]
Mirjana, you have a better memory of what I wrote then I did, you by chance have a photographic memory? I met a girl once who did and she got her 4 year degree in 2.5 years, that would be cool to have. Yeah I think stepping out of the ego/house has its time and place. If we always try and suppress ego then we may always have the ego fighting us and not allowing us to leave the house for a while. But if we take care of our house/ego and have fun and enjoy life then I would think expanding our boundries would be much easier.
[/QUOTE]
I just love the quote, than it’s easy to remember Super practical!
Thanks Mirjana, well of couse the quote is easy for you to remember, you have a super duper memory.
my reason for starting this thread was because for a while I thought of ego as bad and I figured maybe there were more people out there who thought that way. So I just figured I would throw out some food for thought. Hubert, you had an interesting reply on it as well and it helped to expand on the conversation, it also helped to expand my understanding. thanks bro.
aaron, you got me on that one, I guess ten minutes after ceasing the breath I may still be living, just not in this physical body
well tomorrow is friday, which means junk food day for my ego Junk food for me now is organic cookies or organic ice cream, and sometimes both. some tasty stuff
buhda once said
"Believe nothing, no matter were you read it or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense"
love the ego, give it a big hug and kiss, and an occasional cookie 
Neil,
I have always believed that the greatest love we can express is the love for our ego and as such I express my love and gratitude for my ego on a daily basis. Without ego we are very much like a boat on the ocean without a rudder, we will just float around getting nowhere. Ego helps us to learn our lesson, it directs this whole play which we call maya and I have learned when I loathe, hate or dispise my Ego, the lessons are so much harder to learn, it seems that the more I resist my Ego and what it wants me to learn, to more my Ego in any case persist.
What is Ego? Ego is my shadow, formless sometimes, in form other times, it is my mother and father, my guru, master and teacher and more often it is my inner child who just want to have fun!
Pandara,
Once again you are true to your signature, love and light. WIth grattitude I say Thank you for your reply it was full of love and light.
Neil
To paraphrase a wise friend:
Looking at the world you are looking at your mind.
Therefore, no looker, no mind. Ego is attachment.
I know you’ve all heard this before. But my revelation was that the Universe’s face is my face, and passing through is radical and the ultimate freedom.
Marshal McLuhan, the media philosopher helped me see this too. Electronic media as an extension of the central nervous system, but the sort of “speed-up” involved makes the patterns more obvious, and the old man behind the curtain plain to see if you’re looking. sharingsuccess.tv has a good little blurb about this.