A Radically Different Approach To Explain the Ego

"I was convinced that all the answers to the dilemmas of human existence could be found through the intellect, that is to say, by thinking. I didn't realize yet that thinking without awareness is the main dilemma of human existence." ~Eckhart Tolle

I already had briefly mentioned about the ego in my lengthy write-up about "Overcoming", but I thought it could potentially be helpful for some to dedicate an own a post to it.

So, what is it about the ego? Is it just a mere word to point to a character aspect you normally don't want to give too much importance, or could there be more to it?

From what I found, it's much more than that. On one hand, what we understand under the ego isn't actually the real ego, but rather it's a negatively polarized mechanism that does all it can to keep people away from exploring their real self/the real ego, which is the Higher Self.

This false ego is the analytical part of the human psyche, which puts the wants and needs first, or much more so, the wants. And as Eckhart Tolle teaches, if it cannot have it, it will undermine the person and try to make us feel utterly miserable. So, our meets will at times not be met.

When I say that it isn't real, it means that it is not connected to your real self. However, it seems to be intrinsically linked with being human. But the good news is that it can and should be transcended through mindfulness practices like meditation and yoga.

Remaining apathetic and in ignorance is exactly what the false ego wants at this time. Telling you to only believe in science and things that can be observed, using the intellect / analytical mind, yet you might lack the drive to actually do the research and look into the sciences which might motivate you to actually take your head out of the sand, i.e. to not using your intellectual mind to think (for yourself).

In another post I wrote:

It doesn't mean per se that basing knowledge on the analytical mind, so, on the intellect, necessarily has to be bad, but I'm just trying to point to the automatic thought system we humans possess, which can and does easily get us into trouble. The false ego is just automatic and unconscious. We need to try and focus on those thoughts that don't keep us in auto-mode or in fear, being apathetic and selfish/self-centered and self-serving. Which is how we usually define the term egoic behavior. 

Yet, most people right now and in the last year have been exactly that! 

The way I've come to understand the ego through writings of Ptahhotep (though I am unsure as to whether these are really ancient teachings of Ptahhotep) is that you need the 'false ego' in order to experience the physical world. Your physical body has nothing to do with the real you. All the sages and mystics have always known this, and nowadays more and more people are becoming aware of it.

Again, the false ego is not necessarily evil by itself but merely will at times come across as cold and calculating. It frequently wants you to make decisions that go against common sense or as mentioned, are not in people's best interest. It can take on aspects of "evil" in a truer sense particularly when information is fed to it from a source that is not well-intended, to put it this way. Everything is consciousness and people can easily be manipulated by those who know how to use and tap into the powers of the mind and of the Universe. If something happens that goes against your own goodwill, you still have a choice to not let it take over by focusing on your heart-space and remembering that love is the answer and the real truth.

Ptahhotep describes people being over-identified with the body, who do not have faith in the true self, as "satanic", and the body that is left behind someday, as Satan. But do not misinterpret the message here or read some different message into it that's not intended. It doesn't make you Satan. Simply since you are not the body and the body is not the real you. Every truth needs an opposite pole in order to maintain balance. Life in whatever shape or form is always preferred. It's just wrong to think that once one arrives at the end of one's life that there is absolutely nothing and then be in fear, which too is the false ego.

"When you detect egoic behavior in yourself, smile. At times you may even laugh. How could humanity have been taken in by this for so long? Above all, know that the ego isn't personal. It isn't who you are." ~Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle has a lot to say about the ego in his book "A New Earth" (recommended reading; and it's not really about any paradigm shift). Many people already might know a lot about this and have read lots of books, including those of Dolores Cannon. And yet some of them might bash you and throw some cold remarks at others with their half-hearted knowledge, failing to notice how ego-centered that is, potentially having misconstrued the author's original notions. Even me pointing out to this is ego. So, just reading a lot of books alone doesn't seem to cut it either. Not all information in books should always be taken too literally, we should also consider and remember a human aspect, transform knowledge onto real life situations and apply the knowledge more wisely and mindfully. Knowledge and information by themselves are dead. It is always on you how to apply this dead information onto life and whether you allow the ego to be in charge, which could easily hurt others, while making you feel wise, or whether this knowledge is being applied from a point of view of the right side of the brain or from the heart-center, with the goal to lift others up. - Science meanwhile has shown that even the heart has brain-cells.

"Each man, a reflected molecule of humanity made in its image, contains in himself an Adam, the source of the Will - this is the brain; an Eve, source of the intelligence - the heart; and he should balance the heart by the brain, and the brain by the heart, to become a center of divine love." ~From "The Taro of the Bohemians" 

References to the ego can be found pretty much everywhere...

"The goal of warriorship is to express basic goodness in its most complete, fresh and brilliant form. This is possible when you realize that you do not possess basic goodness but that you are the basic goodness itself. Therefore, training yourself to be a warrior is learning to rest in basic goodness, to rest in a complete state of simplicity. - In the Buddhist tradition, that state of being is called egolessness. It is impossible to be a warrior unless you have experienced egolessness. Without egolessness, your mind will be filled with your self, your personal projects and schemes. Instead of concern for others, you become preoccupied with your own "egofulness." The colloquial expression that someone is "full of himself" refers to this kind of arrogance and false pride." ~From "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior" by Chögam Trungpa

Lastly, an excerpt from "A New Earth".

"[...] Her diamond ring, of great monetary as well as sentimental value, had disappeared, and she said she was sure it had been stolen by the woman who came to look after her for a few hours every day. She said she didn't understand how anybody could be so callous and heartless as to do this to her. She asked me whether she should confront the woman or whether it would be better to call the police immediately. I said I couldn't tell her what to do, but asked her to find out how important a rig or anything else was at this point in her life. "You don't understand," she said. "This was my grandmother's ring. I used to wear it every day until I got ill and my hands became too swollen. It's more than just a ring to me. How can I not be upset?"

The quickness of her response and the anger and defensiveness in her voice were indications that she had not yet become present enough to look within and to disentangle her reaction from the event and observe them both. Her anger and defensiveness were signs that the ego was still speaking through her. I said, "I am going to ask you a few questions, but instead of answering them now, see if you can find the answers within you. I will pause briefly after each question. When an answer comes, it may not necessarily come in the form of words." She said she was ready to listen. I asked: "Do you realize that you will have to let go of the ring at some point, perhaps quite soon? How much more time do you need before you will be ready to let go of it? Will you become less when you let go of it? Has who you are become diminished by the loss?" There were a few minutes of silence after the last question.

When she started speaking again, there was a smile on her face, and she seemed at peace. "The last question made me realize something important. First I went to my mind for an answer and my mind said, 'Yes, of course you have been diminished.' Then I asked myself the question again, 'Has who I am become diminished?' This time I tried to feel rather than think the answer. And suddenly I could feel my I Am­-ness. I have never felt hat before. If I can feel the I Am so strongly, then who I am hasn't been diminished at all. I can still feel it now, something peaceful but very alive."

"That is the joy of Being," I said. "You can only feel it when you get out of your head. Being must be felt. It can't be thought. The ego doesn't know about it because thought is what it consists of. The ring was really in your head as a thought that you confused with the sense of I Am. You thought the I Am or a part of it was in the ring.

"Whatever the ego seeks and gets attached to are substitutes for the Being that it cannot feel. You can value and care for things, but whenever you get attached to them, you will know it's the ego. And you are never really attached to a thing but to a thought that has 'I,' 'me,' or 'mine' in it. Whenever you completely accept a loss, you go beyond ego, and who you are, the I Am which is consciousness itself, emerges."

She said, "Now I understand something Jesus said that never made much sense to me before: 'If someone takes your shirt, let him have your coat as well.'"

"That's right," I said. "It doesn't mean you should never lock your door. All it means is that sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."

In the last few weeks of her life as her body became weaker, she became more and more radiant, as if light were shining through her. She gave many of her possessions away, some to the woman she thought had stolen the ring, and with each thing she gave away, her joy deepened. When her mother called me to let me know she had passed away, she also mentioned that after her death they found her ring in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Did the woman return the ring, or had it been there all the time? Nobody will ever know. One thing we do know: Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you now this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.

Is it wrong then to be proud of one's possessions or to feel resentful toward people to have more than you? Not at all. That sense of pride, of needing to stand out, the apparent enhancement of one's self through "more than" and diminishment through "less than" is neither right nor wrong - it is the ego. The ego isn't wrong; it's just unconscious. When you observe the ego in yourself, you are beginning to go beyond it. Don't take the ego too seriously. When you detect egoic behavior in yourself, smile. At times you may even laugh. How could humanity have been taken in by this for so long? Above all, know that the ego isn't personal. It isn't who you are. If you consider the ego to be your personal problem, that's just more ego[llum]."

~