Ego and NOT being in balance

[southflorida]

This is NOT a one post thread. It is an ongoing journey to get to the truth of who we all really ARE. I invite everyone that is interested in grasping YOUR true nature to post and share your insights as we take a trip down the rabbit hole!

Okay, time to get this party started folks...Peace!

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Part ONE:

Been a while since I started a thread in the Den.

This time I figured I write about something that we are all familiar with, our EGO.

What is an EGO?

So glad you asked

It is a fear-based mechanism that with the help of the intellect builds a castle, using fantasy and dellusion, and then hides in that castle from these IMAGINED fears.

This produces a FALSE feeling of fearlessness and safety, since the intellect cannot follow any single motivational strand to any fear in particular.

So, the ego (false-self) and the intellect create this delusion, and temporarily hide the fear from our awareness.

The problem is that the foundation for this castle is fear-based, and eventually it all comes crashing down.

No matter how solid, stable, and sound this castle appears, the unrestricted ego, aided by the intellect, will always act in a way that inadvertently manifests theses fears into the reality of the human being.

One feels secure inside this castle, but in reality is simply trapped.

Eventually, the ego-intellect construct encourages the human being to make choices that actualize the fears that form the foundation of the castle.

If the problem or fear that the ego is whitewashing is only an imagined difficulty (which is the normal condition) the ego will slowly but surely transform whatever is feared from an in-your-mind-thought-form to an in-your-face physical reality.

The speed and certainty of this transformation is dependent on the energy invested, which is proportional to the intensity of ego's reaction to the fear.

Simply put, your EGO makes your fears come true!

By manifesting your fears, bringing them from the realm of consciousness into your local physical reality and forcing you to deal with them directly, your ego becomes a powerful teacher by hitting you over the head with the painful consequences of your fear and imbalance.

A dumb rat gets zapped!

This is a consequence of a great educational feedback reality that we exist in.

It is NOT an existentialist's or a nihilist's "life sucks" reality.

To be confused on this point can be disastrous.

A "life sucks" attitude dooms you to an unhappy, no-growth existence of self-inflicted pain.

Going through life with these attitudes is like trying to swim in deep water with a cement block strapped to your back.

 

[toughmudderdave]

The ego is also a construct built, in part, by others as we grow up. As children, we are told by adults how "good/bad" we are, how "smart" we are, how <insert descriptive here> we are. As children, we "believe" what we're told by our adults i.e. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. This perception of "us" by others is instilled upon us so much so that we come to believe that it is truly "who we are". We then spend our lives chasing/believing a dream built by the perception of others and not truly "us". This dichotomy can cause conflict and strife later in life.

 

[BlueBlazer]

Things were getting a little heavy and she said, "deeper, deeper!"

I said, "man is a thread stretched across the abyss."

She said, "not that deep."

 

[Sat X RB]

Oh dear, Oh dear. here we go again ... a plunge into one man's world of notions and reifications ... another demonstration of that man's inability to control his compulsion to categorise and make inventories ...

dear writer you have not read Freud ... your terms are vague. for example "intellect" is not separate from "ego". this is in Freudian terms. not that I give a stuff about Freud who was a Fraud.

what's the point of writing about ego and intellect when what you say is generated by the ego and the intellect?

can't you see the Irony of your action? that the Observer is the Observed? that your analysis identifies/reveals the present solipsistic state of your ego?

HOW is what you say a movement forward? WHY is what you say not a mere regurgitation of what we already know and experience? I say ... what you have to say ... is without any point at all ... altho I defend your right to say it.

so in the alleged words of an alleged Zen master: " he who says does not know. he who knows does not say".

cheers!

 

[Storm Shadow]

What came first?......The Chicken..... or the Egg?

 

[Kush_Master]

what is the sound of just one hand clapping?

 

[whodare]

Mushroooooooooooms sound nice right now...

 

[teemu shalanie]

Jedi mind tricks
TS

 

[Womble]

so it's a portion of the reasoning mind, focused within the third dimension looking out upon the illusion of matter-space-time....cool

 

[Storm Shadow]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_time_machine#Flux_capacitor

Flux capacitor

The flux capacitor, which consists of a rectangular shaped compartment with three flashing Geissler style-tubes (arranged in a "Y" configuration), is described by Doc as "what makes time travel possible." The device is the core component of the time machine.[1]

 

[bench warmer]

Smoke & Mirror

 

[barnyard]

It depends on how the energy of the ego is directed. Many actors, artists, CEO's etc. are egomaniacs who make choices that result in positive outcomes. In fact some would argue that being an egomaniac is a necessity for these social positions.

CHOICE is the key word here...

 

[southflorida]

Part TWO:

Thanks for all the replies, they are always appreciated.

The thing I'm calling ego is NOT what Freud calls ego. Or anyone else calls ego.

The ego I'm talking about in this thread is the mechanism that I have observed in my own direct experiences, and after contemplating those experiences I have noticed how it functions.

The ego is distinct from intellect, awareness, and consciousness. Not separate, but it is very different, in that it's job is to bring our fears from our mind into our physical reality.

The reason it does this is because we don't learn just through thinking, we learn through our personal, direct, and first-hand experience and through contemplating that experience. If we are afraid of something, and create a fantasy in our mind in order to ignore that fear, obviously we can't learn anything about the TRUE NATURE of this fear.

If we sweep our fears UNDER THE RUG - obviously they don't disappear, they remain, and eventually start to stink really bad, just like garbage that is swept under the rug.

When we live in our mental-fantasies our INTENT remains fear-based, and we live mostly in our mind, in a delusion (castle) that the ego and the intellect create.

Eventually the choices we make and the actions we take that are based on FEAR, will lead to whatever we fear appearing in our physical reality, where we will have to face it head-on.

These are the experiences that we usually consider to be unwanted, and that we try to avoid. We usually don't want them to happen under any circumsatnces.

But, they happen anyway, because we are the one's making choices that eventually force us to face the things we fear in a direct face-to-face experience.

These choices are disguised by the ego, so that we believe and assume that we are moving away from what we fear, when in reality the ego is simply setting a trap for our asses!

When we experience something painful, we usually don't see that it is our own choices that have brought these painful experiences into our physical reality.

But, if one is honest with oneself, it will become obvious that our own choices are ALWAYS behind all the painful experiences that occur in our life. It is never other people or circumstances, it is always us. It is our responsibility that is out-of-sync, and NOT anything outside of us!

 

[southflorida]

...okay folks, this next post is semi-long and quite content heavy, hold on to your hats!

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Part THREE:

To understand ego...you must first understand fear.

At the deepest level, fear is generated by ignorance within a consciousness of low quality.

Evolutionary pressure is at the root of the four PRIMARY motivators of humankind:

1) survival and material success

2) male-female relationship and sex

3) influence, control, and power

AND

4) self-improvement, love, and fear

The first three are the result of physical evolution, whereas the last is a product of consciousness evolution.

All four of these motivators are uniquely blended within each individual, and it is THIS motivational mixture that drives the bulk of our choices.

Whenever an individual perceives that he or she is seriously lacking any of the first three motivators above, FEAR is generated.

This fear is especially powerful if the consciousness of the individual is low.

Additionally fear arises from incomplete knowledge or understanding, it leaps up in dread of unknown possibilities.

Worry, anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy breed insecurity and fear.

Ignorance fanning the flames of fear can quickly whip intself into a blaze of insecurities building one upon another.

What is important to grasp is this: FEAR resides in the intent or motivation, and NOT in the actions taken.

Like a biological cancer, fear is debilitating and destructive of the system in which it grows.

And, EGO is the direct result of fear!

Needs, wants, expectations, and desires are generated by the ego as part of its shortsighted strategy to reduce the anxiety produced by fear.

Desire is generated by wants and needs but not all desire is fear-based or counter-productive.

Basic needs like sex or hunger are not necessarily fear-based, and the desire to improve yourself (if the motivation is correct) can be a strong positive incentive.

The desire that I speak of in this post refers to the desire that arises in response to the needs of the ego.

The ego and intellect are expressions of an individual being, they reflect the quality of consciousness of that being.

Fear is the reaction of that being to the perception of a vulnerability, problem, or difficulty in one's experience.

The ego lives and works between the fears and desires on one side, and the intellect on the other. It is a trusted advisor to the intellect with the special job of neutralizing the dysfunctional effects of the fear, as well as defining and focusing on things desired (wants, needs, and expectations).

An excellent example is the fear of being inadequate.

When a human being feels inadequate, the ego-desire is the need to feel adequate!

This ego-need is usually satisfied by any contrivance that appears to deny the existence of, or compensate for the fear - regardless of how superficial or transparent this stratgey is to others.

The ego is hard-pressed to create a viewpoint that decreases the anxiety produced by the fear - any viewpoint that works and works quickly is satisfactory.

Holes and discrepancies in the rationality of the ego's viewpoints are quickly filled by conventient beliefs.

It is the ego's job to reduce anxiety and discomfort by sweeping the disconcerting fears under the rug.

The ruling principle is out of sight, out of mind, or equivalently, out of awareness, out of personal reality.

An individual's ego and intellect work together to develop and justify those wants, needs, desires, expectations, and beliefs that are required to prevent fear from adversely affecting the functional (operative) awareness of the individual - their mission is to make sure the individual always feels good about him or her self.

No ploy, or deceit, as long as it can be suitably justified is off limits.

This dynamic duo's (ego and intellect) most usefull strategy is to maintain a fantasy of power, significance, importance, adequacy, correctness, competency, invulnerability, superiority, righteousness, or whatever it takes to allay the anxiety produced by the fear.

Fantasy or delusion is integrated into the perceived reality of the individual by that individual's INTERPRETATION of the experience he or she is having.

Of the three (fear, ego, intellect), the fear is the only one that is fundamentally powerful.

The others (ego, intellect), like the wizard of OZ, derive the most of their apparent power from illusion and trickery!

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...this post might have to be read a few times to really grasp its meaning, since it points at a mechanism that most of us are possessed by - and admiting this is not very comforting - for obvious reasons!

 

[southflorida]

double post

 

[southflorida]

Part FOUR:

Wanted to point out that the ONLY reason that any human being has an EGO is because his or her "intent" is fear-based and NOT love-based!

This is a very important distinction to make.

If you are a LOVING human being (fearless, humble, compassionate) you have no use or need for an EGO.

An EGO is needed ONLY for creating fantasies and delusions that hide your fears!

If you want to know what I mean by this, simply look at the choices that you make on a moment-to-moment basis, and ask yourself are these choices based on fear or love?

If you are honest, the answer will be quite obvious.

Unless your fears are SO-MASSIVE that your EGO will work its magic on your awareness BEFORE you can honestly answer this question, and cover everything up with smoke, mirrors, fantasy and delusion - you will notice that your intent/motivation is either fear-based or love-based.

One has to be rock-bottom honest to actually grasp this.

The best way to know if your intent is fear-based or not, is to look at the results of your actions throughout your life.

Do you end up in the same SHITTY situations over and over, and ask yourself, how the f*ck did I end up in this shit AGAIN?

Look at the RESULT, and very likely, the fear that your EGO is covering up has something to do with it.

Peace. Happy EGO hunting folks

 

[azad]

I cant reply to this topic without my ego getting in the way lol
Pride sucks attitude is everything.
In the death of the ego love is born..

Always remain in prfect harmony
azad

 

[southflorida]

I cant reply to this topic without my ego getting in the way lol
Pride sucks attitude is everything.
In the death of the ego love is born..

Always remain in prfect harmony
azad

Hi azad! Thanks for your reply. Love and balance, lead to harmony, and help us evolve toward being what we really ARE.

Life is really a large classroom, and we are students learning how to interact and cooperate with other students in a mutually beneficial way.

What could be more effective at raising the quality of our intent and consciousness?

 

[Anti]

nothing to say at the moment... but tagging in anyway. Love you guys!

 

[southflorida]

nothing to say at the moment... but tagging in anyway. Love you guys!

good to see you Anti! That God thread was the last time we exchanged our thoughts and I had a lot of fun there. If my memory serves me right...Grat3fulh3ad also commented quite a lot there, and eventually the plug was pulled on that whole sub-forum

I lurked in your posts quite a lot, and never posted there, but I noticed you had a break-up with your girlfriend and life has been testing you quite a lot lately.

I'm here to tell you that it is all part of your evolution, and I'm the quality of your Consciousness is increasing thremendously through all of this.

You have a high quality, loving intent, and I'm sure you are one of the folks that is helping many folks by being a truly POSITIVE example!

Look forward to seeing you in this thread, and for that matter in any other thread on icmag!