What is the Ego ?

What is ego ?

Well that can depend greatly upon your level of honesty and also cultural identity and upbringing. I mean to say that we don't instantly say, oh yes I am an egotist, or yes I have an ego and happily live with it. Nor do many of us really notice that we have one nor see it operating in us. I'm not saying that we actively deny it, merely that we may be unobservant of it.

In our western culture ego is heavily tied up with the identity of self, who we believe we are and how we demonstrate that. Celebrity and social status are all about how we view ourselves and how we believe that others view us.

It is similar in eastern culture too, but far less concerned with materialism in the main, though that appears to be changing to come into line with western ways.

Dictionary description;

ego (ˈiːɡəʊ ; ˈɛɡəʊ ) 

Definitions

noun

Word forms:   plural egos

1. the self of an individual person; the conscious subject
2. (psychoanalysis) the conscious mind, based on perception of the environment from birth onwards: responsible for modifying the antisocial instincts of the id and itself modified by the conscience (superego)
3. one's image of oneself; morale ⇒ to boost one's ego
4. egotism; conceit

Word Origin

C19: from Latin: I

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry = self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect, self-image, self-worth, self-assurance,

What if I were to say that you are not that at all? You are not who you think you are, nor what others think you are.

What if you are not the job you do, the car you drive, the beautiful people you hang around with nor the wealth that you have accumulated?

You want to dunk my ass in the lake on a stool don't you? I can tell.

No?

Good, then please consider what I am saying and see if it doesn't resonate within you somewhere.

Who are you?

Who really are you?

Now you are having thoughts about this topic, and questions and or criticism of what I'm saying are no doubt popping into your thoughts too. So Ask, who is the one, the person, the energy talking that is your thoughts? Is that you, the real you? Are you not in fact the awareness that is considering what is now going on in this confusing mele?

We cannot truly ever detach totally from our thoughts, though this would be an advantage in contemplating truth about who you are, and ego awareness. This is no doubt why some of us meditate, to clear the mind of thought, long enough to just, BE.

Decarte once said, 'I think, therefore I am'.

Ground breaking at the time and for many years since. But go one step further, who or what is asking the thought to come into existence?

I feel sure that this famous statement was actually fundamentally flawed. Monty Python got it closer, when they said, 'I drink, therefore I am.'

I venture to say that this asker is not the Ego, but our true self. (The energy that we are and will always be.) Not the Psyche, but the soul or the spirit.

 

Ego, is a construct, much like time is a construct, to explain and rationalise something hard to describe otherwise. Ego I now observe is something that tries to dictate to me who I should be, so as to find identity and therefore self worth. A place in society, my social group, community and the wider world. An identity made up of false beliefs about what is seen as important, therefore should be to me/us. Ancient civilizations were set up on the ego as much as any today. The role of a person within that society was dependant on either what job they did, or what their parents did. They had no choice, except at the behest of someone higher in that heir-achy.

And for a very long time few ever challenged this idea/belief.

Jesus, Buddha, Mohamed and several others came and went, showing us the door and leaving us to decide whether to enter and be free. What do you think Jesus meant when he said, 'Know the truth, and the truth will set you free?'

Back in the 60's a group of individuals really challenged that and stood up and defied the roles and social class of the past. Hippies were seen originally by society as drop outs, lazy no good individuals who had no moral codes, who wanted to do nothing but challenge the will of the greater good. Actually it was the complete opposite. They were the catalyst that made us wake up and look at the way we had been sheepishly following trends without question. Ego was also involved in this movement, but it had a mainly positive drive towards sharing and opening of our joint consciousness. 

 Click for video.

But back to ego's ways.

What have you witnessed in your behaviour that gave you rise to wonder what had motivated you?

I saw and see ever more clearly in myself, the games and role playing that I had previously and still use to manipulate situations on rare occasions. The phrase 'drama queen' is not unheard of, nor the 'poor me', shy sad retiring trait of some. Aren't these the ego in it's constant game of attention seeking, to build an image of self worth? Even if that is initially negative, at least it is there to get us attention, or draw attention to us, the desperately needy Ego.

What are the needs of Ego?

Well surely we can estimate that we feel somewhat happier when we are recognised as a success, in our chosen profession, life role. Don't we get a glow when someone recognises our talent, our light our attempt to be noticed. I have been watching myself with keen observation for some time now, and I am sick of my personal ego's attempts to sequester and gain attention from others through begging and subtle requests for attention. I wonder to what level what depth the previously unobserved pathology had been digging holes and burying stores of ego treats for me to find in days of lack. The proverbial ego squirrel.

Now I am saying to my ego, give it up, let go of the need to control me and fu@% off....!!!

I hope that you all, the millions of devoted readers of my fantastic blog, and needy followers of my self accredited thoughts, can smile happily at the use of my increasingly important (to you) wordiness and abandonment of my personal ego. I totally renounce it and won't let it ever get to me again, where it could make me believe the world revolves around me, and where everyone else's life would be void if my light were to be extinguished suddenly, without warning, leaving you all groping in ignorance.....Nay.....

Oh and if you want my autograph they are purchased at my website, Big heads r us. £50....

Seriously I hope that this post has helped us all, me especially to gain some awareness of the pitfalls of becoming and living under ego's grip.

Some of the blogs that I read would not be quite the same if it were not for ego and its caveats of prescribed humour, so take what I say with caution, or a pinch of salt even.

May the love of the universe guide and protect you, as you question this ego in yourselves, and see what validity it has to be there.

Much love n light.

Peaceful Warrior

xx