Ego vs Consciousness

[Stiliqnnnman]

Hi everyone , just joined the forum though i would kick it off with an intresting topic

So im at a point in my spiritual journey where there is constant conflict between my egoic mind and the counsciousness
underneath , and it takes alot of willpower to stay away from that voice inside my head always leading me back to my old 
ways of being (negative habits , negative thoughts , negative feelings etc.) , im really having trouble letting go of the self image 
i had for myself or the person i thought i was . Funny thing is that i've developed a certain amount of awareness to recognise 
the Ego's funny buisness but i cant detach from it completly. I literlly feel like there is an angel and a devil sitting on both 
 my shoulders , one trying to trick me into sin and degradation and the other trying to free me and show me the light of 
counsciousness its really quite amusing to say the least   

Would love to hear some opinions or experiences on this topic , Is your ego your friend or your worst enemy ? 

Feel free to share guys peace

 

[Ayla]

SOMETHING keeps both the Angel and the Devil on its shoulders. Inquire into what/who That one is.

Who is it seeing both Angel/Devil?

Furthermore - both are manifestations of Consciousness - Devil/Angel so none is inherently good or bad. These are just human concepts. 

 

[denselayman]

ego is entity of yourself that is illusionary self. if one has to have self it is it. u cannot really not have it in your day to day life.

the non-illusory self is conscioussness, the nonpersonal overlord.

for maximum benefit, try understanding how both of them are trying to help your life experience and then manipulate/balance them for your own gain.

[Stiliqnnnman]

@Pinocchio Good point  , i guess i was actually reffering to the counscious and unconscious , The whole Angel/Demon concept was rly misleading
as @Ayla said there is no good or bad , but thinknig makes it so

[Azrael]

Man, I really know what you mean. I struggle with this every day. And personally I have weeks in which I feel kind of very enlightened and detached and I have weeks where I'm completely in my head and there is no way out of it.

While this always goes from on side to the other I actually just try to let it be. When I'm resisting, I'm resisting. When I'm laughing, I'm laughing, when I'm sitting, I'm just sitting. And I don't judge my ego so much any more for playing devil and priest at the same time. Because the judging is also just another stream of thoughts that is just happening.

Here is a very nice view to go about your spiritual journey: Try to see everything your ego does, everything the watcher sees and every perception you have as the most marvelous kind of act that could be played. Try to get a good fascination for that. And also see it in other people. Then just go about your life, do your business and go seeking and see the beauty of it.

[Ecurbnon]

8 hours ago, Stiliqnnnman said:

Hi everyone , just joined the forum though i would kick it off with an intresting topic

So im at a point in my spiritual journey where there is constant conflict between my egoic mind and the counsciousness
underneath , and it takes alot of willpower to stay away from that voice inside my head always leading me back to my old 
ways of being (negative habits , negative thoughts , negative feelings etc.) , im really having trouble letting go of the self image 
i had for myself or the person i thought i was . Funny thing is that i've developed a certain amount of awareness to recognise 
the Ego's funny buisness but i cant detach from it completly. I literlly feel like there is an angel and a devil sitting on both 
 my shoulders , one trying to trick me into sin and degradation and the other trying to free me and show me the light of 
counsciousness its really quite amusing to say the least   

Would love to hear some opinions or experiences on this topic , Is your ego your friend or your worst enemy ? 

Feel free to share guys peace

@Stiliqnnnman I'm going through the same thing right now, one thing that's for sure is that it's a long process of detaching from the ego. Just stay diligent and keep on raising your presence by meditating,the more u do that the easier it is to raise above the ego. Also don't get annoyed or frustrated if the ego keeps on drawing u back to it because that's what the ego wants u to do and because that strengthens it.

 

[Michael119]

The ego loves problems, this whole angel and devil thing you've made in your mind is a "problem", don't make this into a problem cuz your ego will feed off this crap.

[immortal]

Good/Bad are illusory, they are conceptualizations of reality, break free from that survival program to see reality as it truly is. 

[jjer94]

So you discovered the underlying consciousness, and it's amazing and mind-blowing and all that for a while. That's the honeymoon period. Then, what starts to happen is that you begin to get groggy and fall back asleep; your old egoic conditioning rises to the surface. 

You may feel inclined to resist all of this conditioning, to bury it again, to try to control the situation by attempting to detach, to try to 'stay awake'. But instead of asking, "How do I stay awake?" You may want to ask yourself, "What is it that makes me fall back asleep?"

My advice: let all of the conditioning rise to the surface. Let the ego go on a crazy selfish rampage. Don't fight it. To fight it is to continue to operate in the egoic paradigm. Let it all come up, and instead of trying to control the ego, learn to understand it. Learn to see why it does the thing it does. Understand all of the agendas it puts itself through and all of the struggles it makes itself go through in order to fulfill those agendas. Once you see the struggling for what it is, you will find less utility in doing it, and letting go will start to happen spontaneously.

Also, I hope you notice that the ego doesn't actually exist. 

[Kaslex]

You are referring to the ego as if its a real thing. If you do enough introspecting you will notice that the so called ego, is just the feeling of thinking. The feeling of having an ego behind your eyes, is the same feeling as thinking without knowing that you are thinking. everything that you can feel, hear or think in the present moment is just something that arise in consciousness. your awareness is not in your head. everything is appearing moment by moment in consciousness.

[A way to Actualize]

I see people talking about the ego in a way that is neurotic. Like it is some bad guy that needs to be eliminated. Actually what do you expect? When you are focused on seperation and the qualities of ego, you attract those things. I highly recommend Matt Kahn's teachings; the video explains exactly this topic. Success!