Ego

What it is

The ego is the conscious part of ourselves that thinks, chooses and acts. It is necessary at this stage of our development, but it is not the whole of who we are.

Why it matters

A healthy ego eventually becomes strong enough to cooperate with the Higher Self. Its role is to choose, commit and act, while learning to trust the deeper wisdom of our spiritual nature. The goal is not to destroy the ego, but to integrate it into the larger reality of who we are.

From Bones

~1~

The ego’s role is to support such profound change. It does this by committing itself to wanting the change. Then it must trust that the involuntary spiritual self is well equipped to bring it about.

Next, it must get out of the way.

But if we have no identification with the spiritual self—our Higher Self or true inner essence—there will not be a necessary climate of trust. Nor will there be the necessary positive expectation, without any pressure. Without this, we can’t even want it.

For the high likelihood of failure will reveal just how powerless the ego really is. And that would just be too hard to take. Instead, the limited ego will save face by saying, “I do not want it,” long before it will admit “I cannot make it happen.”

On the surface, we deny our “I won’t” with “I can’t.” In the deeper, more subtle layers, this is reversed. It’s not that we can’t, it’s that we won’t.

Because the self hasn’t yet figured out a way to identify with the spirit. And the ego is fine with all this, simply because it doesn’t want to admit just how limited it really is. (Chapter 17)

~2~

From our ego’s point of view, we fear we’ll never get our way.

The problem isn’t that this is true. The problem is our warped perspective that this is necessary. (Chapter 13)

~3~

On the level of our ego—when it’s undisciplined and aligned with our Lower Self—it’s a different story. For then we want to pursue negative directions. And this creates a dark psychic sphere that covers over the original positive one.

This negative world is made up of our images—our mistaken conclusions about how life works—together with our bad attitudes and painful feelings. (Chapter 16)

~4~

We need to not take ourselves so seriously. Our pride doesn’t matter half as much as our overly self-important little ego would have us believe.

Becoming more detached from this precious vanity of ours will help us have the proper sense of proportion when comparing our experiences with those of others. (Chapter 13)

~5~

Certain aspects of the self are already free, and here we may sense a deep spiritual identification. In other areas, unfelt feelings make us feel submerged in Lower Self aspects.

Here, we fear this is our only reality.

In yet another area, we may have over-identified with our ego. Here, we believe our ego the only valid part of us that functions reliably. (Chapter 17)

Continue with: Meditation • Observer • Self-identification