I am using post for enrichment and fun learning for our class.
If you have time and want to use your creativity and develop it jump write in and you will be rewarded with newness and joy.
Here is what Baily wrote to me which prompted me to write this:
I was talking with some of the students and asking them if they understood the framework of my project and they said that because they hadn't read a web in the sea or a beginner's guide they didn't really understand the idea of the ego and the self, would you talk about this idea or see if anyone else wants to share their thoughts? It kind of goes along with the last email you sent
Let me share my thoughts about the Ego and the Self:
I define Ego as the sense of separation from the whole. I reality we are all one but because of our ego we do not experience it. The Ego is associated with the 5 enemies of man (there are different ways to express it): Anger,Pride,Greed,Lust and Hatred...In a sense as long as we are in the body most of us will still have an Ego (I know I have a huge one... :) (: )
Only when there is no ego or at least less Ego can Peace, Happiness and cooperation and Love flourish. By helping others wa can tame the Ego and also there is a process of purification. I can share with you many stories about how my ego has been humbled over the years, especially through severe depressions...and now I know it was all for the good.
What do you think is Ego? How does it apply to your life? Can you share some stories?
Now the other side of the equation is Self? Can you shed light on that? What does it mean for you?
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4 comments:
I think a sense of "Ego" involves more of the prideful traits humans can express. Self-focused thinking, holding a high opinion of oneself, comparing oneself with others, etc are all negative traits of the "Ego".
On the other hand, I view having a sense of "Self" as more of an awareness of an individual as a being, or part, within a larger, more important whole.
In life I think it is incredibly important to be a self-aware person, and that is something that I am working on right now myself. In the past few years I have experienced some really significant emotional hardships that I have been (and still are) working to overcome. When I was in the middle of those difficult times I wished they had never happened, and I was very angry and upset that I had to deal with them. I was spiteful and very sad that these terrible things were affecting my life so drastically. However, when I regained my footholds and began to work my way out of those negative situations, (with a lot of help from my friends), I found myself learning and growing in ways that I never would have if I had not first gone through that significant trauma. Now that the end of that dark part of my life is in sight, I am so grateful that I had to go through such negative things. I am emerging from them a stronger, smarter, more independent, more caring, and all-around better person.
I definitely believe that I have a stronger sense of "self" for having experienced such hardships in my life. Now I am working towards educating and teaching other people about the situations I have had to face, and I am very happy to say that I know I am making a difference in the people I have worked with in those areas.
I agree very much with Lael with regard to the way humans express themselves. In my sociology class we learned the steps of social evolution and how we as humans evolve in stages. The second stage of evolution is egocentrism and how when we are teens (for the most part) we are only concerned about what others think and how to better yourself. This is very instinctual! As you can se ein the news and on televeision, there are still many people (celebrities for the msot part) who are primarily stuck in this egocentric stage where their ego has taken over and they always get what THEY want. But as humans many of us evolve to the higher stages of finding ones self and being grateful for the life you are given and give back to others. It is this evolution and form of "self" I am still on my way to. I am in no way egocentric. I have been given a talent (I feel that everyone is given something they can excel in) but it is the use of that talent for good and for others that leads one out of egocentrism. It can be hard not to be caught up in yourself when things are going great but i view having a sense of self as overcoming this ego and working towards the afore mentioned evolution of self.
The self is a really interesting concept. In Buddhism, one of the main goals is to recognize that the self does not actually exist. The daunting question that Buddhists ask of themselves and others who dwell on the ego, is to identify where the ego is. Logically, it can not be found. We are so attached to something that has no placement. Where is the self? In the mind? In the heart? Where? It is no where, it isn't real. One could deduce that the self exists in the mind, in the present, and if we decide that it's relevant and here and now then we must ask new questions. What does it look like? Where in the present mind is it located? What is it doing? For something to exist it has to have characteristics, but upon consideration, we find trouble describing the self. It's just not there. The self is something we create for ourselves in search of a separate identify that will make us feel unique and important, but all it really does is bring about negative energy. Greed, fear, hate etc. all stem from the idea of having a self. The separation of a part from the whole, demanding attention for itself and therefore taking attention away from the bigger picture and from others. How can we be compassionate and generous with our whole being we believe that part of our being needs extra attention? To rid one's self of the self is to accept the whole and incorporate fully into it, relinquishing that ego entirely. This, in Buddhism at least, is liberation. It is achieving harmony with existence. It's such a lovely idea.
I think everyone else summed up really well what ego is, especially Hanna. I think that you three should talk a little about this in class for people who maybe don't read the blog or have questions about this idea.
For me there is a struggle between Ego and Self, but I believe I have found the answer that I seek in a book about super heroes and philosophy. I will post this in the Canibus blog or maybe talk about it in class.
For me, I find myself, or rather myego, wanting things that I know are not good for myself and don't contribute to my development as a person and my spiritual well being. It is difficult deciding what I should deny myself and what I should allow myself (as our society teaches us that it is okay to be unhealthy and do things strictly for our egos) and I start feeling guilty and maybe that I am taking myself too seriously but then when I finally make the decision not to do whatever it was I was thinking about I always feel better that I was able to do the right thing, and each time this happens it reinforces the belief that I am the master of my own destiny and then this weird feeling occurs less and less.
I have to learn to trust my heart and to always be consistent in my principles and in the way that I treat people. This is difficult in a society that throws so many seemingly different situations and environments at us and where we act in so many different roles. The trick is to always remember that it is all the same underneath, just different illusions on the surface, but it is hard to know what being one's self really is, especially in college where we are hardly in the same place or with the same people for very long before we are in an entirely different situation.
Consider that most of us went from our last year of high school in which we are probably focused on grades and college and savoring our last moments with the people we grew up with. Then we have summer after high school, for me this was trying to spend as much time with my friends as possible. Then we go to college and we are learning very new and different things, most of us are living with people our age for the first time/full time and away from our parents for the first time. Now we are starting to do work all the time. Then we go to a month of winter break, back to our old friends and no work. Then another semester of a lot of work, deciding where we will live the next year, and living with our college friends, being on our own, going to parties, meeting new people, etc. Then three months of summer, the longest time without any structured schedule most of us have had since before school. Some of us might be working, we might be hanging out with our friends from high school, but things are a lot different now since we have been away for a year, we may not see them as much since we are getting used to being at home again. Then back to college, living in a different place, back to school work - etc.
I have had three different best friends over these past three years, one of whom I live with now but don't know very well anymore, one of whom I don't speak to but goes to Cornell and one of whom I am still in a very loving relationship with.
Through all these changes, I have at various times felt like a very different person. Upon reflecting, however, I realize that it is not these surface realities of behaviour and mannerisms and habirs and so forth that define who I am but the bigger "way in which I deal with things" and the "way I feel about things" in the larger sense. These are not things that one can easily put their finger on, they are manifestations of our SELF, and since they are hidden from the realm in which we normally think they are somewhat esoteric. All of these transitions have taught me that I am more consistent than I am chaning but that I am developing and growing much more than I am being static.
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