Leggo My Ego, page 4

I'll Hang on to Mine, Thanks

And here's why.

Id, Ego and Superego are Freudian fictions, although they conform roughly to our perceptions of how our brains work when dealing with conflicting stimuli. We don't need these terms, nor do we need the terminology of Asiatic religion, pop philosophy or New Age cultism to explain what we have to do to be comfortable in the world. We merely have to grow up--all the way up. That's all.

A newborn infant knows nobody and nothing but himself and his sensations. He has no concept of an external world that couldn't care less about his existence and demands. He cannot understand that there are other people in the world, whose own demands and desires are in conflict with his own.

Over time, as he grows through childhood and adolescence to adulthood, the infant learns the facts of life.

He discovers that total gratification is neither possible nor, in the long run, desirable. He learns the difference between what is good to have and what is only pleasurable. He learns that the world is full of danger and malice. He learns that reality--in all its guises, from the nostalgic power of floral scents to the strictures of gravity and the penal code--has got to be accommodated and manipulated. He learns, as best he can, how to do this.

He learns about other people and the endless, ever-pressing consequences of the fact that they exist. He learns to play--again, as best he can--the endless game of mutual manipulation that is human society.

He learns that there are no unalloyed blessings, no unmitigated curses. He learns that nothing is ever just as it should be. He learns that he must die.

And he learns, for better or worse, to live with and make the best of these realities.

The better he learns, the happier, or at any rate the less unhappy, he is.

Some never learn. Nature and nurture have failed them. They go to their graves still wanting, still demanding, still resenting, still singing along with George Harrison, 'I, Me, Mine.'

Most learn at least the bare minimum that will allow them to function in the world, but not successfully or happily. They are the ones at whom Schrodinger's Dog's advice is aimed. The advice is almost certainly wasted, for happiness and success depend ultimately on one's capacity.

A very few, fortunate enough to be born with that capacity, will learn enough to attain some mental quietude before lives come to an end.

Does any of this matter? Does it really make any difference at all? I wonder.

A word about Buddha, Christ, Krishnamurti and all the rest. They are merely emergency-exit ushers. Their ways are for those who find reality too much for their tender hearts and minds, or who have come to the end of striving. The solutions proposed by the gurus and god-men work, but they are all forms of self-delusion and self-harm. They all demand, as their price, the sacrifice of a greater or lesser part of one's humanity and potential.

There is no Id, there is no Ego, there is no Superego. There is just You--an automaton with delusions of consciousness, an ape with delusions of grandeur. Sitting in a lotus position and thinking noble thoughts may cure you of your spiritual colic, but it's unproductive and habit-forming. Not recommended for grown-ups.

Fight or Flight, make the choice

FIGHT OR FLIGHT!!! MAKE THE CHOICE!!!