Is ego the source of all fear?

[mandyjw]

Can one become enlightened simply by working with fear? It seems like all manifestations of ego are some low level of fear. Fear of not getting a mate, fear of being insignificant, fear of not being accepted, etc.

Is the primal, raw sort of fear, like being startled by a sound, also from ego? 

If I become fearless will I also be free of ego or do I need to become egoless to become fearless. 

 

 

[Salvijus]

22 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

 or do I need to become egoless to become fearless. 

 

 

That sounds like a better answer.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Salvijus

[Highest]

Not necessarily egoless, stay as that which is aware and witnessing the ego, the person, the mind and all it's fears and falsehood. The aware, the witness, should become fully aware and discard the mind, for the mind and all it's content counts for nothing when it comes to the One who is Aware, the One who knows itself as the One and Only existent, the One who knows itself as itself and only itself. The mind is the deceiver, including the person and the ego. Remember this.

[Enlightenment]

I don't think you wanna become fearless as it leads to problematic behaviour. Enlightenment does not make you lose ego, you need it to function. 

[DrewNows]

@mandyjwOn the contrary, fear is a great tool to use to understand ego. To see that fear is not something separate from self (ego). Go ahead! observe all "your" fears throughout the day and explore them, sit with them. True change comes when we have the insight into "what is" simply illusion 

Edited January 28, 2019 by DrewNows

[DrewNows]

What I'm getting at is what if all your thoughts / emotions - fear, anger, sadness, anxiety etc are all part of the same mechanism - self perpetuating itself simply because of the division within

[Nahm]

Yes. If you are everything, there’s no other thing to fear. The ego is the idea you are a separate thing, which creates fear.

[Shin]

2 hours ago, mandyjw said:

Can one become enlightened simply by working with fear? It seems like all manifestations of ego are some low level of fear. Fear of not getting a mate, fear of being insignificant, fear of not being accepted, etc.

Is the primal, raw sort of fear, like being startled by a sound, also from ego? 

If I become fearless will I also be free of ego or do I need to become egoless to become fearless. 

 

Ego is believing you're a fragile limited entity when you are in truth infinite and eternal.

Every fear stems from this misconception.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Shin

[mandyjw]

The striking thing about Jesus was that he was totally fearless. He touched lepers, pissed off the wrong people and kept on doing it, went to his death on the cross without resistance. He got angry, got sick and tired of people, got sad and cried, all kinds of other emotions. But no fear. 

 

[Jack River]

2 hours ago, mandyjw said:

If I become fearless will I also be free of ego or do I need to become egoless to become fearless. 

 

Becoming & not becoming is a reaction to fear/ego. Fear is reaction. 

All one movement 

 

[Forestluv]

@mandyjw Hmmm. . . I'd say that the ego is fear-based and the source of the vast majority of what we call fear. Yet, it seems some fear may be instinctual - programmed into us via evolution. For example, most animals intuitively know not to jump off a cliff. . . . Most cats held outside a third story window would freak out in fear.

[DrewNows]

We can question what it means to “be free” of ego

21 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

The striking thing about Jesus was that he was totally fearless. He touched lepers, pissed off the wrong people and kept on doing it, went to his death on the cross without resistance. He got angry, got sick and tired of people, got sad and cried, all kinds of other emotions. But no fear. 

 

What was the point Jesus was trying to make By not allowing fear to guide his actions? 

 

[DrewNows]

@Serotoninluvwe could call that fear but is it really (psychological)? 

Does Instinctual reaction require a fear based response? 

often we can observe fear which comes after the fact 

Edited January 29, 2019 by DrewNows

[Jack River]

@DrewNows ?

[mandyjw]

9 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

@mandyjw Hmmm. . . I'd say that the ego is fear-based and the source of the vast majority of what we call fear. Yet, it seems some fear may be instinctual - programmed into us via evolution. For example, most animals intuitively know not to jump off a cliff. . . . Most cats held outside a third story window would freak out in fear.

That's a fascinating question about animals experiencing fear. I believe that animals have a primitive sort of base ego. There are some dogs that are so full of anxiety that they have to be put to sleep. Sometimes it's caused by abuse, sometimes they feed into the owners anxiety and sometimes they are just born that way. They also act selfishly and see themselves as separate entities. 

[DrewNows]

Yeah it’s no lie. I’ve worked with dogs the past few years and the coolest thing I noticed initially was the different personalities and learned behaviors 

dogs are awesome! 

[mandyjw]

20 minutes ago, DrewNows said:

We can question what it means to “be free” of ego

What was the point Jesus was trying to make By not allowing fear to guide his actions? 

 

Ok, I think I get it.  Can't I reverse engineer enlightenment? 

[DrewNows]

3 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

Ok, I think I get it.  Can't I reverse engineer enlightenment? 

Hmm ?

go right ahead. Let me know how it works out for ya  

[Matt8800]

3 hours ago, mandyjw said:

Can one become enlightened simply by working with fear? It seems like all manifestations of ego are some low level of fear. Fear of not getting a mate, fear of being insignificant, fear of not being accepted, etc.

Is the primal, raw sort of fear, like being startled by a sound, also from ego? 

If I become fearless will I also be free of ego or do I need to become egoless to become fearless. 

 

 

Someone that is enlightened has no aversions or attachments. With no aversions or attachments, what would there be to fear?

Lose the ego and fear goes with it.

[Forestluv]

@DrewNows @mandyjw Nice thoughts and questions. I think it gets tricky using the term psycological. Our primitive limbic system evolved prior to our capacity for rational thought in the frontal lobe. Other mammals have this system - it orients the organism toward survival. In particular, the amygdala stimulates fear.  It seems in the human mind-body the limbic system is still a driver toward survival. Experience gets imbedded into it and is generally subconscious. There is also crosstalk with the rational processing center in the frontal lobe that creates “the story”. 

Of course these are just concepts, yet I think they have practical use.