Ego And Higher Self Are One ..

[Orange]

I don't know how to phrase this exactly, but a lot of times on the forum and elsewhere we like to make a distinction between the two, with the end goal being embodying the higher self right? and dropping the ego. My belief atm is we cannot entirely drop the ego. 

So what about..if we strive to embody the higher self, within the context of the ego..or embody the ego within the context of the higher self?? 

lol. My thoughts are messy  

 

 

[Shin]

You need an ago to function in society, the goal is to be so disentified with it that you'll see it as a tool.

The higher self is more like the ideal ego to carry the mission that the universe gave to you.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Shin

[Bronsoval]

Ego is a muscle you use to avoid fear and get what you desire.  Higher self is the part that realizes there is nothing to fear, and nothing to desire... it already is!  Reality unfolds exactly as it should.  Ego "helps" us to "cope" with reality.  Higher self explains that there is nothing to "cope"

[FindingPeace]

On 22/03/2017 at 5:18 PM, Orange said:

My belief atm is we cannot entirely drop the ego. 

I agree with this to some extent. It would be almost impossible to function if you lived without ego at all. The ego serves a purpose and although many of the side effects of it create pain, suffering and conflict it also provides a subjective interpretation of reality from within which we can derive meaning and therefore motivation for action.

Lower and Higher Self I would define as positions along the 'ego axis'. People seem to have the idea that the ego is a standard, fixed entity. You either have it or you don't. But with so many things in life and in psychology, ego sits on a axis of 'intensity'. At one end would be very unconscious and destructively self-interested ego (like narcissism) and at the other end would be something approaching enlightenment. And not everyone sits on the same position on this axis. In fact people can naturally be anywhere along this axis without even knowing it. There are people in this world who are naturally at the 'lower' end. There are people who are nautrally nearer the higher end, even without doing any personal development. It's quite easy to see where people sit on this axis when you meet them and interract with them for a while.

And we also change positions on this axis depeding on the situations. Things that trigger us can send us to the lower end. Other times we can less egoic.

People talk about the aim of development being to 'disidentify' with the ego. Which is hard to do when you usually operate from within ego itself. I mean, consider how you can operate 'outside' of the ego. How can you even 'split' your ego from your 'not ego'? And discern the difference? I see the ultimate aim of developement as moving the along the axis towards the higher end, by 'teaching' the ego how to be less egoic. This is done by raising awareness and developing mindfulness. The more awareness we have of how the ego operates and the effects that it has, the more we can start to change that operating paradigm.

I don't see the goal as disidentifying with the ego, as much as I see it as rewiring the ego to be less self-destructive and more accepting of reality. You don't need to lose the ego or to stop identifying with it to become enlightened. You just need to learn about truth, and how truth compares to the ego's idea of 'truth'. As you learn the difference, you will naturally become less egoic.

The term 'disidentify' with ego, to me simply means recognising when ego is being destructive and causing harm to yourself or others.

But ego is not the whole story when it comes to developing a 'higher-self' or to progressing towards enlightenment. The psyche and the Ego contain many different elements. The ego contains the self-image, self-agenda, the 'narrative' or identity, and there's the 'evaluating' and judging part. But other important factors to growth involve the parts of the psyche that contain compassion and empathy, third-person understanding, acceptance and natural awareness etc. Because it is a combination of ego plus these other elements that determine where you are on the 'lower-higher self' exis.

Awareness is independent of ego. But it is a 'skill' in itself that is vital to personal growth. As are things like empathy and compassion. Having higher levels of these things will naturally reduce egotism and promote higher consciousness.

Personal growth and enlightenment are not just concerned with ego and disidentifying from it. Yes, those things are important, but there are so many other factors that need to be worked on in parallel. In fact, you can only work on ego by working on these other areas. It is an 'outside-in' approach with ego rather than an 'inside-out' approach. And it all starts with developing awareness of the mechanisms that drive you.

[Vingger]

To me ego is the unconscious action of creating a separated self towards a mental/non mental object

ego contains information and meanings self assumed

higher self contains reality

[Shin]

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Edited March 27, 2017 by Shin

[Shin]

 

On 22/03/2017 at 9:05 PM, Shin said:

You need an ago to function in society, the goal is to stop the identification and use it as a tool.

The higher self is more like the ideal ego to carry the mission that the universe gave to you.

When you want to edit a post but you fail

TWICE !!!!!

Edited March 27, 2017 by Shin