Ego is my friend

[Wijuu]

Hello guys, 

Can someone please explain to me what the Ego really is? Cuz I see a lot of things sometimes contradictory on the internet!! Sometimes ego is demonized sometimes its gloryfied! I don't get it... I though it was our fears and all the things we want to get rid of and outgrow but then it is said that ego is there to protect us (you know like from serial killers and past traumas) like defense mechanism... So what is it and what does it do? 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Wijuu

[Fearless_Bum]

Ego isn't a person really, rather it's a misunderstanding that leads to a feeling of dense-ness. 

The thing is that everyone's big bag of misunderstandings is different, so you have to see for yourself what your misunderstandings are.

When you investigate the Actual real thing that the word ego points to, you'll inevitably find its a contractive dense feeling in the center of reality, perpetuated by the belief that there is a center to reality.

[Wijuu]

[Tim R]

As Fearless Bum said, it's different for everybody. You can't really put your finger on it. Ultimately of course, the only thing "it is", is: not real.

It's a mixture of identification, misunderstanding, illusion, fear, thoughts, beliefs, stories, attachments, likes/dislikes, psychological idiocracies, etc. That's "you". That's "ego". 

[Zedman]

Lets take an example. I used to think my addictions and self deceptions were the ego. Then I realized my desire to get rid of those behaviors is also ego.

Are they both ego?

Can we determine what ego is NOT?

[Wijuu]

@Fearless_Bum so the ego is unique to everyone ( obviously we don't have same fears) but I still don't really get it ??

[Fearless_Bum]

@Wijuu trying to get it, is to value "knowing" over Love. Love is foolish and senseless, infinite Love does not, and will never make sense. 

The trick here is to be in touch with feeling sensation and have the humility to stop trying to know.

[mandyjw]

58 minutes ago, Fearless_Bum said:

everyone's big bag of misunderstandings is different

Are you trying to derail another thread with your avatar? 

[Fearless_Bum]

@mandyjw it's not a bag, it's the Buddha ?.

[Wijuu]

@Fearless_Bum @Fearless_Bum so you suggest I should simply not care and not ask questions and just go about my things and move on with my life like ego doesn't exist or what? 

[Fearless_Bum]

@Wijuu Question the beliefs you hold and keep meditating. 

Questioning the beliefs you hold is not the same thing as asking questions about how to be free or trying to get it if that makes sense. 

The emotional scale works, I've confirmed it's no hocus pocus, it's real. Ever heard of it? 

[Wijuu]

@Fearless_Bum @Fearless_Bum @Fearless_Bum 

I have absolutely no idea what you talking about ??‍♀️

[Terell Kirby]

2 hours ago, Wijuu said:

Can someone please explain to me what the Ego really is?

Ego is that which resist the Truth.

Now you may ask what the Truth actually is .. but I would encourage you to figure that out on your own through spiritual work.

[Fearless_Bum]

@Wijuu the emotional scale allows one to recognize how you go from Love to Fear/Insecurity. 

I'd google it, or check out @Nahm 's site as there's a section talking about the scale. 

[Wijuu]

@Fearless_Bum@Fearless_Bum @Fearless_Bum @Fearless_Bum 

Okey ? thx ❤️♥️

[Wijuu]

So I googled ego and the research result was its synonym to self-worth self-importance self-esteem, from that I concluded that having a high ego is a good thing nah? ?

[Mason Riggle]

@Wijuu I define ego as- the imaginary separation between 'you' and 'that which is not you'.. it's like 'the difference between a knife and a sword'.. is there really a difference? The difference seems arbitrary and made up.  Same with 'you' and 'not you'.. where is the line drawn?  Are you 'your thoughts'? Are you 'your brain'?  Are you 'your blood'?  Are you 'your body'?  Are you 'your friends?'  Are you 'your experiences'?   You are none of those things, or all of them.. depending on where the imaginary line is drawn... the imaginary line is 'ego'. 

[Mason Riggle]

@Wijuu another analogy which seems particularly fitting, is that of a whirlpool... Ego is like a whirlpool, in that it arises as a function of what the entire river is doing, and yet, there really is no 'whirlpool' which exists independent of 'what the entire river is doing'.. you can not take a whirlpool out of a river and show it to me.  You can not show me your 'ego' independent (separate) from what 'that which is not ego' is doing.. it arises in each moment, when it does, as a function of what an organism is doing, and, like the whirlpool, doesn't actually 'do anything' other than 'be how it is'..  the whirlpool isn't 'swirling itself' or 'causing itself' or 'controlling itself'..  it just 'is itself'... same with ego.  It arises when conditions are just so, and ceases when conditions are not just so, but there's nothing that the ego 'does', any more than there is 'what a whirlpool does'.. there is no 'whirlpool'.. only 'whirlpooling'. 

no 'doing'.. only 'being'. 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Mason Riggle

[Wijuu]

@Mason Riggle k Mason ?

Thx for clarification ?

[Mason Riggle]

@Wijuu ?