I Want To Write About Ego And Neurosis, Any Good Sources?

[jakub_friso]

Hello guys,

Please, I would really use your help and an advice.

I want to write a essay for school (that's a pretty big deal) and I would love to research and write about Ego (sense of self) and Neurosis that stems from it.

When did it develop, why did it develop, history of research, what exactly is it, how it affects your lifes (or creates would be a better word), traditions around dismissing it through spirituality, drugs, etc...

That is only a rough outline that I had written down in few minutes but what I wanted to tell is that I want to fully explore this phenomenon right, left, up and down.

Not only from self-help/personal development perspective but also more scientifically.

And I had bumped into a problem - I cannot find any good sources about the Ego that are not spiritual or about self-development.

I'm asking all of you for help if you don't know any great sources about this topic - books, courses, topics, videos, anything...

I really want to write about this topic in psychology because I believe that this is the information that should be more spread around the world...

It was so profound to me and I think it would be the same for the others.

I'm not asking anybody to go spiritual and seek enlightenment but I think only awareness of this thing would be life-changing for many people.

Thank you so much for your advice and help.

[cirkussmile]

Welcome!

The absolut best way to explore the ego is to know yourself. And where does it come from? I believe the story of the ego started with the first human being.

I can write you a lot about ego but the final point is that it is an illusion. Trying to understand ego intellectually is not going anywhere. As long as you're attached to it, it stands for all the suffering in the world.  Leo have videos about ego on youtube. Check there.

But really... you should definitely explore the illusion by yourself with meditation.  

[jakub_friso]

@cirkussmile I just want to spread the awareness of this topic and I think that has to be done intelectually through thoughts (as Leo does in his videos).

 

[Consept]

great topic for an essay, i would like to read it once your done if youd be happy to share. But 2 books come to mind that i think might help you, 'the fall' by steven taylor, this talks about where the ego comes from, his theory is that when migrating from africa a group of people had to develop a strong ego to survive the tough conditions of the desert, limited resources meant that they had to look out for themselves and see themselves as seperate in order to survive, this led to western and arabic cultures. It is quite theory led but i thought it was an interesting take on where ego could have come from. 

The other book is 'ego is the enemy' by ryan holiday which is more of a self development book but has a lot of stories about ego. It kind of glosses over a few things but it is a very relistic take on it. 

Those 2 ive read and can recommend, you might also want to look at 'ego and the id' by sigmund freud, i havent read it but i think it could be helpful. Leading from that also look into carl jung. 

Hope that helps

[Toby]

I don't know how you write about ego "scientifically" and then tell us there are no resources. Is this more an essay in high school? Then you should go with Freud and Jung but also make clear that these are only models/maps and that there are hundreds of other theories out there. You could also throw in research from neuroscience where the "I" is investigated or rather proven to be an illusion.