Is ego a bad thing?

[dragonrider]

We are used here talking about letting go of the ego. But i wonder if it is ego itself that is such a bad thing, or rather a way of relating to it. Could you realy live your daily life in an ego-less way?
Are experiences without the ego always the better experiences?

I have had both very positive, as well as very frightening experiences with ego-death myself.
And i don't realy know what made some of these experiences positive, and others frightening.

There are parts of the normal human ego-experience, that do not only seem to be rather positive, but that even do seem to have a spiritual dimension sometimes. Or that at least allow for a spiritual dimension to exist.

Things like love for another person, sexuality, or a care for the world that we live in.

It is hard and maybe even impossible, to experience any of these things, or the full extent of it, without an embodied sense of self.

But they do not at all appear to contradict spirituality, the way i see it.

 

[Propello]

I agree with you. It isn't about egolessness, killing one's ego etc. It is about developing your ego to the better, being the best version of your ego.

I find this article describing my view to the point.

Hang on to Your Ego

Although many believe that the ego is just a source of trouble, Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches that a healthy, functioning ego is a crucial tool on the path to Awakening.

tricycle.org

 

[dragonrider]

I agree with you. It isn't about egolessness, killing one's ego etc. It is about developing your ego to the better, being the best version of your ego.

I find this article describing my view to the point.

Hang on to Your Ego

Although many believe that the ego is just a source of trouble, Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches that a healthy, functioning ego is a crucial tool on the path to Awakening.

tricycle.org

That is an interesting article. This is a much more sophisticated approach indeed. I was hoping someone would come-up with an answer like that. Just what i was looking for even.

Thanks.

 

[benzyme]

balance always seems to be the best answer.
ego-less doesn't seem practical at all. then you're just...a vegetable, or a couch.

 

[Jees]

There was a thread about it
Kill the ego
Most consider an all-bad thing or have (re)defined 'ego' as such, It's not easy to shine another light on it.

 

[Propello]

Different people can have different angles and views. FX
Big difference between the Buddhist and western PSYCHOLOGY.

 

[Icyseeker]

If we define ego as that part of ourselves that just wants more and more. Than we could always use a bit less of that. But if you define the ego as the your whole self than we can't say that it is totally bad as you are more complex than just good or bad.

 

[FranLover]

 

[Pile of cats]

The sum of all my experiences and observation of all culture that has developed around the psychedelic experience has lead me to believe that ego is too simple a word for what is going on. There is something within us that is directly responsible for our misery, it is heavily intertwined with our identity but it itself is something else and it dominates most of our lives. I've experienced periods of time without it but if I begin to stop paying attention it slowly worms its way back in and makes me miserable.

I really like the Opti and I experience report on here and when taken with a grain of salt. I actually think the person who wrote it had become very aware of what it is.

 

[FranLover]

The sum of all my experiences and observation of all culture that has developed around the psychedelic experience has lead me to believe that ego is too simple a word for what is going on.

In the Indian philosophy reality is seen as Prakriti and Purusha, ‘manifest’ and ‘unmanifest’.

Prakriti is creation or ‘matter’ and there are 25 ways Prakriti comes into being, most notably the mind, the senses, the body, the elements and the material world. Purusha is the ‘divine essence’, the energy that is unmanifest and cannot be seen.

One of the obstacles on the path of yoga is said to be Ahamkara (meaning ego or a sense of ‘I-ness’) and over-identifying with this ‘I-ness’ to the point that we become very affected by the experiences and thoughts that this ‘I’ has. Yoga means Unity. Unity between the Manifest and the Unmanifest.

Ultimatley the Dhamma expands on this by concluding through a claim of total and unsurpassed enlightment achieved by the buddah and verified through proof (the unexcelled truth of the dhamma) that all is emptiness, in the sense that even the 'ultimate self' is illusory, that Purusha is not the totality, but is empty as well. This corelates with the foundation of universal esoteric knowledge; Microcosom and Macrocosom view of reality.

This all comes down to Atachment, Clinging, Desire. Its roots run deep. Perhaps these are better words for what is going on :lol:

 

[Pile of cats]

Thanks for that, I can see how that fits in.

So, I guess the specific thing I'm talking about is the 'over identifying' or 'attachment'

I know that every layer of 'me' that peels off it just reveals an even greater sense of 'me' all the way to the grandest sense of 'me' I used to struggle with the idea of attachment and then the self transcending and only leaving behind 'Purusha' to animate this body but I realise that it wouldn't be as strange as one might think, it'd just leave you feeling more like you.

It's funny, in that report I posted that you commented on. When that image appears I frequently think that it has something to do with my attachment to the material, seems a pretty simple issue but boy does it run deep in us.

 

[Jees]

...This all comes down to Atachment, Clinging, Desire. Its roots run deep...

It's swords go two ways, the most beautiful things human created have been rooting out of these too. There's no need whatsoever to reconsider them, it's like money, or power, all can be wielded for better or worse.
I think to know of someone who is attached to better hem/herself and the world, clinging on to doing good deeds in the world, and desire for all beings to evolve toward enlightenment. Not a bad score imho. Ego is your dearest friend and asset, if you let it to be. Tame the power, fail, try again... since there's no escaping from it anyway.

 

[Sabnock1990]

The sum of all my experiences and observation of all culture that has developed around the psychedelic experience has lead me to believe that ego is too simple a word for what is going on. There is something within us that is directly responsible for our misery, it is heavily intertwined with our identity but it itself is something else and it dominates most of our lives. I've experienced periods of time without it but if I begin to stop paying attention it slowly worms its way back in and makes me miserable.

My view is, i would call it ignorance, unawareness, unconsciousness. It's tied up with the ego, the ego likes to keep us in the dark, for the most part, but ego is not the main source of the problem, because if ego was enlightened, and we worked through the ignorance, unawareness, unconsciousness, and brought the darkness to Light, the ego would be a very useful tool, but an unchecked and imbalanced ego that remains chained to the darkness, is a destructive, rather than constructive, force.

The ego is the minds creation, it's our identity and everything that makes up who we think we are and what we believe, how we behave, our personality, etc. The soul, is what we truly are, at the core/root of it all, and the soul has to work through the body and through the mind/ego, which filters and distorts the full expression of the soul. We identify too much with the mind/ego, rather than the soul underlying it which works through the body, which includes the brain which operates the mind which operates the ego. The body and mind is what the soul works through, the ego is the creation of the mind which we use to interact with the external world and is what we've formed as being who we are in this world. But we've lost our way. The mind is not the enemy, neither is the ego, the enemy is unconsciousness, unawareness and ignorance, if the mind was cleared out and course corrected, we could use our minds to the best of their ability, but our ego gets in the way of that, so if we can work out the kinks of the mind, we can work out the kinks of the ego, and allow soul to work through the mind to shape and work through the ego. But a lot of people confuse their ego, for who they truly are, but it's not who we truly are, it's temporary, not permanent, it's an illusion, not reality, when we die, ego dies, soul lives on. Therefore, try not to become too attached to the ego, or to what our minds try to get us to believe, relate to and identify more with the soul, allow soul to work through the body, through the mind, through the ego, as unhindered as possible. Quite the task, i know, but isn't that what eastern philosophies and practices are about?

And btw, when i say soul, i'm specifically referring to that part of us that is part of the larger whole, the all, the source, etc. Although i like to believe that our fragment of soul may also take back with it, to the source, memories and life experience, which could play into past lives and such. Not that i know that for sure, but it's what i like to believe.