The Relationship Between Ego And Survival

[PlayOnWords]

Without ego, there is no survival. Is this true?

 

Say, for instance, a child came into this world and was left to fend for itself. We’d see the child give signals such as crying because it needs to be cared for; it needs food, water and shelter, at the very least. But we know the baby would not be able to survive on its own. It doesn’t have the capacity to look after itself yet. What is this capacity?

 

Cognitive development from Wikipedia: Cognitive development is defined as the emergence of the ability to consciously cognize, understand, and articulate their understanding in adult terms. Cognitive development is how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of their world through the relations of genetic and learning factors.[1] There are four stages to cognitive information development. They are: reasoning, intelligence, language, and memory. These stages start when the baby is about 18 months old, they play with toys, listen to their parents speak, they watch tv, anything that catches their attention helps build their cognitive development.

 

Human babies are altricial (born helpless and require significant parental care). However, there are certain species of birds that are precocial (able to find food and walk almost immediately after birth). So if we assert that without ego there is no survival, can we say that birds have a sense of self? As well, can we say because babies are born helpless but can still communicate their needs through crying, that this is a form of ego?

 

If the answers to these questions are yes, then is ego essential to life? Is it the case that actually nothing can come about without a personal self, without its own distinction?

[Hojo]

Sense of self is different than ego. You can live without a sense of self easily all animals do it. They are just there watching a movie an urge comes and they do.

But I don't think you can function without an ego and the ego is changing all the time. Ego is everything I have learned about reality.

And sense of self is I exist as a certain object in reality. I don't think humans get this until like 4 - 6. You didn't exist until you were 4-6 but you could navigate the world somehow. Everything you looked at was you until you came to a conclusion you are not what you are looking at but the opposite. But this is the wrong conclusion.

I think sense of self comes into play with a lot of kids by the fear of death. The realization that they will die. Its a fundamental lie and you sort of dissasosiate from God consciousness and become something else. And now you have to die to return to it

Edited July 10, 2023 by Hojo