Giving up The Ego to become a slave...

Many religions teach that it's bad to focus on the self and material too much and that you are inferior and should worship some being higher than you. This is a trap to take away your self worth and to turn you into a mindless slave. The Bible is a book for enslavement, give up the Ego and you'll be lost and then they'll pretend to give you the cure but really control you with religion. Animals already know better than this, animals have the Ego and are proud of it. The Ego gives you power. The natural state of being is happiness, it's unnatural to find reasons to be unhappy and keep thinking about it instead of finding what makes you happy and going after that. The Ego is your connection with the flow of life. The universe is one huge energy and we are moving along with it and when you go for what makes you happy, you are in tune with the movement of the universe. So don't be a slave. Don't give up your self worth. Don't be offended when someone says "That's the Ego talking", because YOU know YOUR self worth and that's something to be proud about.

Here is a website on Spiritual Egoism:

egoism.yolasite.com...

reply to post by arpgme


I disagree with you on this subject.

The Ego is not one's true self. The Ego is the image that you create through your life being affected by society.
When you get born you are yourself.
Then you get influenced by the exterior world, by society.

"There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral-immoral from the scientific point of view." "Why?" "Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed." - Lord Henry from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray

Cheers
^__^

reply to post by archasama


Definitions (From WordWeb):

Ego - Your consciousness of your own identity

Self - Your consciousness of your own identity

Your Ego is your self and it is important to be tuned into who you really are. In each moment, how do YOU feel and what can YOU be doing in this moment to make yourself more happy? If you learn to flow with your Ego, you learn to flow with the universe.

Lol, RP, you don't learn psychology from a dictionary.

Different writers use the same words, ego and self, in different ways. For about 100 years, ego has usually been distinguished from some larger conception of self, of which the ego is a part.

The simplest system with any following is probably Jung's, whose ego is the waking consciousness, complementary to unconscious aspects of the self, some personal and some shared with the species in general ("collective").

If that, or any of the competing pictures, is close to correct, then "identity" is an inference, and as such, is subject to error. It would be an error, then, to identify the self exclusively with the waking consciousness. The ego, in turn, would be mistaken to identify itself with any of the personae the waking consciousness is called upon to enact (parent, child, student, teacher, doctor, patient, ... ).

Inferences can also be manipulated, and I agree that many "religious" entrepreneurs do manipulate their followers into identifying with convenient and remunerative role models. So, don't follow them.

The Bible is a book. If somebody has read it in a way you don't like, then that tells me nothing about the book. Everything is a tool for making slaves in the hands of slave traders.

The trick is balance. It is a very difficult trick, a life's work for almost everybody. Many people will benefit from having a coach or training manual. For some people,

it's bad to focus on the self and material too much and that you are inferior and should worship some being higher than you.

may be excellent advice. These are ways in which they personally, at a particular time, may be off-balance. The advice points them in a direction closer to balance.

Of course, for somebody else, this is terrible advice. They are already off-balance, in this direction, and this teaching points them even farther away from balance.

Ironically, if you try to include advice for both people in the same book, then some atheist web warrior comes along and talks about how your book is full of "contradictions." If instead, you pitch advice only for one or the other person, your book reflects an indecent slave mentality or an immoral slave-holder mentality.

You just can't win.

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reply to post by arpgme

You do realize that the self perceived identity is exactly that.....something you perceive, as in, not factual....it's an illusion. To bring it down to basic terms, we are BS'íng our selfs.

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime




The James Bond of intellect tells it like it is.

reply to post by eight bits


That's true, you don't learn psychology from a dictionary and I understand that different psychologists use it in different ways. That doesn't matter because I'm telling you how I am using it in THIS conversation.

Originally posted by operation mindcrime
reply to post by arpgme

 

You do realize that the self perceived identity is exactly that.....something you perceive, as in, not factual....it's an illusion. To bring it down to basic terms, we are BS'íng our selfs.

Peace

Just because you perceive something doesn't mean that it's not factual. You know that you exist because you can question your existence. If you didn't exist then you wouldn't be able to question your existence, so you are not an illusion you EXIST. Your EGO is existent!

reply to post by arpgme


The problem is with the natural human tendency to slide into extremes. Which is preferable? People sliding into extreme self centeredness *extreme greed we both know what greed is doing to the world today *or extreme other centeredness *extreme altruism which can be equally destructive albeit for the individual and not the society*? In my opinion, balance really is the answer but that runs contrary to what a great deal of us can achieve. Thus the attempt to encourage most to go towards the more workable of the options.

reply to post by archasama


Even if this topic is (once again) discussed ad nauseam..

Agreed. "Ego" could be viewed as a result of social pressure, prejudice, pre-learned attitudes etc. Setting the "ego" aside (because I don't believe in complete "ego death" in that sense) a little bit could actually broaden ones views. It's useful when discussing highly abstract, wide topics. It's basically having an open mind. So it's actually an opposite of any trap or enslavement. It's about "freedom of the mind" and letting go. Freedom of thought. And that includes whatever views you may have about the "ego".

It's interesting how it creates such strong reactions. A bit like talking about "love" (whatever we mean by that).

Our civilization is a slave to it's collective ego and the illusions which come along with it.

There isn't much more to say.

That doesn't matter because I'm telling you how I am using it in THIS conversation.

Actually, it matters a great deal, RP. You have equated both the self and the entirety of anyone's identity with the ego, by the rhetorical device of pronouncing a shared solecist definition.

Ego - Your consciousness of your own identity

Self - Your consciousness of your own identity

You have done this in order to back up your otherwise unfounded claim that "many" religions generally ask their adherents to give up their selves. Or actually, to lose their minds altogether is what you claimed.

In actual fact, many religions, along with many secular practices, ask only that their adherents come to an awareness of what is now a scientific commonplace, that their ego is not the entirety of their self. Armed with that knowledge, the adherent is urged to give expression to their full selves, not merely the loudest imagined voice in their skulls.

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Originally posted by xiphias
Our civilization is a slave to it's collective ego and the illusions which come along with it.

Could you explain this a bit more? What do you mean?

A bit of off-topic here: Maybe we all need to accept that we're basically animals.. but that doesn't mean that we should act uncivilized. To me, it's interesting how some people find it so hard accept that humanity is a result of "evolution", and that a "human being" is actually an developed extension of the animal kingdom. It's not like it makes us any less of a human. Quite the opposite.

reply to post by arpgme



Ultimately you cant give up the ego, its a part of you like your arms and legs, only a lot less obvious then a arm is. And those who believe the bible or are bible freaks, didn't give up there ego, nope its not like that. There ego found a home and like entities in being a bible or religious person, even to the extremes it goes. But it's pretty much like that with any group of people you would hang out with or search for, you don't give up the ego, its almost impossible to do such a thing, but it can be done I think. Even lots of those who thought they were enlightened and had no ego were just at peace with there ego or just found a home for there ego.

Originally posted by Tryptych

Originally posted by xiphias
Our civilization is a slave to it's collective ego and the illusions which come along with it.

Could you explain this a bit more? What do you mean?

A bit of off-topic here: Maybe we all need to accept that we're basically animals.. but that doesn't mean that we should act uncivilized. To me, it's interesting how some people find it so hard accept that humanity is a result of "evolution", and that a "human being" is actually an developed extension of the animal kingdom. It's not like it makes us any less of a human. Quite the opposite.

Well, the illusions are that which separate us: the borders, classes, castes, ideologies, etc. - pretty much all the root causes which make our world a dangerous place to live in. All of these things are the result of the ego (yes, even the border which encloses each nation.) To put simply, the ego creates that "little world" that each individual person (or nation) lives in, and is the root cause of all small-minded thinking.

Not to say the ego is inherently a bad thing - but on the global level - it needs to be tamed. We need to accept that we are all part of a single unit - a superorganism - and that we are all connected on a deeper level than just religion, media, or social relationships. The longer we fail to realize this, the more chaotic and volatile the world will become.

We are slaves to the concept of "them" and "us."

reply to post by arpgme


Yeah, I would rather be a "slave" to my ego.......

Some people are welcome to their illusions regarding who they think they are, but when we realize that that's just a ROLE or ROLES we play, then the transcendant ego or the real person arises, from which there's freedom to be who and what we want to be. The spiritual path is one of liberation, not entrapment or control. Some people..

Originally posted by ChiForce
reply to post by arpgme

 

Yeah, I would rather be a "slave" to my ego.......

That's funny!

How absurd the preface of the OP which is based simply in ognorance and a lack of understanding.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
Some people are welcome to their illusions regarding who they think they are, but when we realize that that's just a ROLE or ROLES we play, then the transcendant ego or the real person arises, from which there's freedom to be who and what we want to be. The spiritual path is one of liberation, not entrapment or control. Some people..

I believe the OP didn't know the difference between the Universal Self and the ego (mask or role we carry to function in a society). Besides, only ego cares about being happy and to do what we want to be happy.... The Universal Self does not care about who is being happy. However, you do feel joy when your action is motivated by this Universal Self. To become this Universal Self, you have to erase the ego and its infantile emotions and world perspective.

Even the Buddha struggled with the question of ego. He was said to have gone through a period of extreme deprivation to eliminate all craving. Ate only a tiny bit of rice a day till he almost died. I've always wondered if at the point he made the decision to eat and live he came to understand the need for the ego?

reply to post by ChiForce

I disagree, I think the spirit of the universe is compassionate, happy and joyful, even humorous, since it is complete, and all good. There is no spirit without awareness, so the question I guess is what does self aware wholeness and completion look like or feel like, lacking in desire. That feels nice, happy and joyful to me.