The Ego- Define it

The Ego. There are many beliefs about it. There is the strict psychological term, defined, flat. Then there are the sub definitions being applied by many these days.

What I'd like to see is, "How do you define it?"

I'll go first.

To me, the Ego is all about comparison. It is not ego to say "I am great!" But when you compare yourself to someone else "I'm better than he is!" Then that is Ego.

I think, it's a false idea. There are facts. Such as " I am taller than she is." or "He is a better driver than I am." However, we like to insert a bunch of false ideas about keeping up with someone else.

This comparison is Ego. We have no say in where we are in relation to others. The only thing we can improve is the person we see in the mirror. Many people want to be better at someone in this field or another. But unless you can control that person's life, you have no say in that.

The only person you should compete with is yourself. You are the reason for resistance, difficulty in your life. When you fight yourself in any area, at any level, you are putting up walls between you and your goal. In martial arts, gymnastics, dance, pretty much any form of athletics, you battle against yourself. Physical habits, inner doubts, excessive thought. You seek improvement.

When you worry about someone else, and not yourself, you are focusing on them, adding conflict. By worry I mean, wanting to impress others, or be better. Instead, if you focus on improvement instead, you will find yourself having less difficulty progressing.

Ego is this thought that we can keep up with others. But that's false. All we can do is be better than we were. Some people have much more time invested, work harder towards a goal, have more resources/time.. whatever the case may be. Keeping up with them may not be an option, and it's frustrating when you don't see improvement in relation to them. The thing is, when you imrpove, others tend to improve, and while you don't close the gap, you do get better.

The only ego exists in comparison. This form of pride. It is ok to be proud and happy about your accomplishments. However, when you want to put yourself above someone else, then you are inserting ego, and in this, resistance.

It's like that episode of Simpsons. Flanders gets an RV, so Homer wants a bigger one. He's comparing himself to Ned, wants to feel superior. This is Ego.

To me, Ego is false, only because it's Comparison, which is something that cannot be helped. The earth is smaller than the sun. Obviously. That is a fact that cannot be changed.

However, there are things that WE can change in our lives. WE can improve, and by constantly improving, we will come to be better than most, in time.

If you are comparing yourself to others, saw you're doing a play or a routine, and you just can't get what you're supposed to do right. You get angry, it makes it worse. Rather than accepting that you make mistakes, you build tension, ie: More resistance.

If you would instead take practice as the opportunity to improve, you won't dread it, and will see much faster progress. Once you're not fighting yourself, you will see positive change come in like an unbelievable dream.

In my thought, Ego=Comparison= False Concept.

How do you define it?

While this subject does not necessarily fall into the realm of the paranormal, upon closer scrutiny it can be pretty scary stuff.

I define ego as the superficial fluff of our psyche. It is mere puffery for the most part. What really scares the hell out of me is the subject of "id" -- id defines who we are. It is our most base essence. It's the part of yourself you really don't want to acknowledge because you're afraid of what you might find.

The newborn child is regarded as being completely 'Id-ridden', in the sense that it is a mass of instinctive drives and impulses, and demands immediate satisfaction. This view equates a new born child with an id-ridden individual - often humorously - with this analogy : an alimentary tract with no sense of responsibility at either end!

The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex and aggressive impulses, and demands immediate satisfaction. It is amoral and egocentric' ruled by the pleasure-pain principle; it is without a sense of time; completely illogical; primarily sexual; infantile in its emotional development; will not take 'no' for an answer; is without verbal representation and therefore does not enter consciousness. It is regarded as the reservoir of the libido or "love energy" (note that libido can be read also as "Lib-Id-O"!).

A popular interpretation of the id is not that it is "convincing" the mind to ignore social norms, but rather in itself just does not take social norms into account when 'thinking' or 'acting'. The id is the primal, or beastlike, part of the brain, determined to pursue actions that are pleasurable, such as eating or copulation. The prime motive of the id is self-survival, pursuing whatever necessary to accomplish that goal.

A quick primer on Ego, Super-Ego and Id.

In my honest opinion, the moral dilemma of ego doesn't hold a candle to the horrors of id.

I'm no expert in psychology. It has been several years since I have taken a course in it. That said...

My psychology course was prefaced with the phrase "Psychology is a social science...It is a Pseudo-science." At this point, concepts such as the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego are all hghly supported theories, but nothing else.

Id, assuming it is exactly as you describe, is still, all in all, no threat or concern in any shape or form. Id is the primal survival instinct. It is vital should we be thrust into a situation, or if our conciousness were severely limited, Id is what would try to keep the body alive. It is much like the reptile part of our brain that gets attention these days.

But look at us. We all have Id. Yet, we are not ruled by it. Some might cite that murders and rapists are ruled by their Id's. However this cannot entirely be true. Planning is not much of a part of the Id. Rather it belongs to the other portions of the mental equation.

You have the Id within you. So what? As threatening as the potential destruction caused by the Id, the general public has much less difficulty controlling the Id. Modern man is so far removed from their Id, the need to survive, their instincts, that it poses little threat save for extremely rare cases.

Again, I am not an expert, however, at no moment during my study of the Id did I find myself intimidated or concerned with it's horrific potential.




Getting back on track here...Does anyone else have a way to define Ego, beyond psychological terms?

The ego is a tree with many branches and I don't feel it is just as simple as comparing oneself to another. The primary influence on our perspective or world view is our ego. An ego is a tool our greater personality uses to interface with the world. Its purpose is to create an identity. The purpose of an identity is to assist us in interfacing with the society in which we live and also as a gatekeeper which filters experiences determining what will be allowed into or excluded from our conscious awareness. It defines us to ourselves, defines the world for us, defines others for us, and defines our experiences according to the limitations we create. It is a tool, but becomes a tyrant for most of us. This tyranny is created when we are not able to change our attitudes because we think our world view is the only right or correct view.

The ego is a lesser evolved version of your present self. We go through many stages in life. The ego always wants more attention, more power, more me me me.

If we starve our wants and only fulfill our needs a better person comes to the surface. We are burdened by less karmic weight and can progress steadily along much smoother without the childish egoic ties.

Our ego will always be a part of us. However, some can gain greater control over it than others. Once you have broken free from the ego, you are immersed in the flow of creation.

The ego is not bad or good, it just is. It exists in the material realm and does not have an eminent reality. Once you die here, your ego ceases to exist. That does not mean you are gone, just a part of the vehicle is left behind. The ego is what allows you to function as an individual in this world. Schizophrenics have a differentiated ego that plays multiple roles. Most people only have 1 personality.

Ego is all of what was said earlier as well. It just is.

without reading yours (explanation), I start reading mine.

ego is that glimpse of yourself you start to think that is real; while in fact what you truly are is unlabeled, undefined.

the ego crumbles down when truth is found.

that is what the ego is.

a brick, a wall we build up to believe in, to get a hold on ourselves cause accepting ourselves, our true self, yourself is a hard thing to do.

ego only puts one higher according to another one. ego creates diversity.


ego is not truth. don't live it up.

Definition of ego;

"Im right, your wrong. 9/11 was the result of Islamofascists"

Ok, not a full definition, but i thought an easy one liner would explain it fairly well

A difficult one to sum up briefly, but here's my take: the ego is an inner mask that hides on many levels. It prevents us from seeing who we really are, and from showing who we really are to others. It convinces us that we are a nice person really.

It's only when we start to observe our own actions and reactions on a daily basis, in every situation, that we can see the ego at work. When we act or react, we should ask ourselves 'why did I do that?' or 'why did I say that?'

What pushes the buttons that brings out the worst in us? Usually either a wish to be popular (as in your 'comparison' aspect) or an effort to protect ourselves from pain or embarrassment.

When we ask those questions, it's quite difficult to get to the real answer sometimes, because the ego will try to stop us from admitting things even to ourselves.

I imagine my own ego as a Gollum type side to myself, trying to convince me that it has my best interests at heart and is protecting me from pain. In truth, it is actually an ugly mask that brings out the coward in us.


Nebankh