THOUGHTS ON EGO
NOT ALL BAD
As I understand ego from my teacher, Dr. Carl Jung, ego is the entire conscious self, everything else about us is shadow, which is itself not all bad, just repressed elements of ourselves that ego rejects, for innumerable reasons.
When we confront the Shadow as “us” and not “the devil”, we allow it to gain what it must have, conscious recognition, conscious life.
While repressed into unconsciousness, the best way for our Shadow to get our attention is by causing us to say and do the opposite of what ego seeks, leading to pain.
My God, did I say or do THAT? Yep, my Shadow side did, seeking my (ego) attention.
Once we confront our Shadow side and admit, yes, that is me, we then begin to give our Shadow side what it must have, conscious recognition that it is us, and can live a conscious life.
I remember reading Pogo when he said, “Behold, we have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Most surprising is, once we “confess our sins”, the ritual of recognizing Shadow, we are surprised to find that positive aspects repressed to our Shadow come to our consciousness.
A personal example is when I dreamed of confronting Darth Vader as symbol of my Shadow, I thought, “What do I admire about Darth Vader”, and was surprised to discover that I truly admired his total self confidence in his power.
This revealed that my acceptance of self confidence was repressed into my Shadow, and would not come to the surface of consciousness until I recognized that all the despicable nature of Darth was part of me.
With that “confession” came the benefit of knowing I have power that was previously repressed. I have good reason to allow myself to feel self confident. I’m OK.
As for ego, far too often I see it cast in negative terms. When it is in control of us, it will quickly take on self serving, proud, and less than helpful characteristics.
We hear talk of the need to “kill ego”. Oh my God, what a foolish mistake that would be, even if we could do it, which, thank God, we cannot.
I think of ego as a wild horse which must be broken without killing its spirit, so we can serve each other to mutual benefit.
We who? If ego is the entirety of the conscious self, who is the “other” that must break it in? It is what I think of as the superego, that higher part of ourselves that is responsible for monitoring our conscious functions.
The superego is not part of our ordinary conscious function, but it whispers in our ear suggestions we do well to attend. It generally manifests as an intuitive impression, attempting to cause us to make certain adjustments.
The superego is not the “True Self” which is usually identified with the soul. The True Self speaks through superego.
These are iffy, difficult considerations for each of us to ferret through to find what we really feel about who we are.
I am rambling about attempting to provide a personal view of what is going on with me. If it resonates with you, good, but you are the sole judge of that (I first typed “soul” judge.)
I encourage you to avoid thinking of ego as an enemy. It is not. It is YOU. Without ego we are dysfunctional in this world. It is US.
I suggest we should be friends with ourselves as expressed through ego. First friends, then the recognition that really we are “OK”, then the great accomplishment of self love, which I believe to be a principal goal of this incarnation.
We need to, hopefully this time around, displace fear of whatever, of ANYTHING, with learning to love ourselves. I find this surprisingly difficult, but entirely necessary. Acceptance of EVERYTHING about “ego” and Shadow is necessary to attaining this great goal — I think. What do you think?
It is suggested, rather strongly, that we are to love others “as we love ourselves”. I think that says it all.
Neither ego nor Shadow is all good or all bad in our judgement. We are human, and this is our principal purpose in choosing to partake of this challenge of being human, i.e., to displace fear with self love.
We are here to learn. It ain’t easy, but it is unspeakably worth the effort.
Carry on, my friends.