A Critique of "Kill The Ego"

reply to post by 1Learner

Are you confused, or were you providing rhetorical questions?

If you want to clarify your use of the word "ego", maybe you should consider that "ego" is not how we look (or what our name is), but the ego is instead the traits and/or behaviors occurring in an individual who is aware of himself or herself within the boundaries of their own understanding of
(a) society, and
(b) his/her self in relation to society, in relation to other individuals of a particular group, or in relation to those close to that person.

On a different note-
Your definition of the "ego", as that which is an identity to a self, seems to be not demonstrated by the behavior of a person based on the relationship to specific individuals, but rather it seems to be demonstrable as the choice of a person's appearance, how they choose to be named(?), and what they choose to have as their occupation...maybe even how they feel about those 3 things.

Even so, what I wish to point out is that the ego may not be the clothing or name, but is instead the "identity" conceived (and conceived by whom, exactly? Who perpetuates it?) when taking into account things beyond the appearance.

Rhetorical questions.

I wish to find the ego—not the idea of it, but its actuality, how the ego is acted out and its properties. Conceptions such as "identity" have no properties until it is written down or acted out.

Good stuff!

reply to post by Itisnowagain

The eyes can see without words but the eyes can only see one. It is the mind (thought/words) that give the impression that there is more than there is. When there is an idea that there is more than there is - therein lies the confusion. One can be confused when one is not sure if it is 'this' or 'that' - one can only be amused when it is seen to be just 'this'.

I think it is safe to say that not everyone's minds operate in the same fashion as yours. Is it amusement you seek in lieu of your confusion? Or is it that you are simply weary of being confused?

NiNjABackflip
Is it amusement you seek in lieu of your confusion? Or is it that you are simply weary of being confused?

It is all amusement so there is no need to seek.
No confusion remains.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


Then you are not amused at confusion?

NiNjABackflip
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

Then you are not amused at confusion?

All is amusement including confusion.

reply to post by Itisnowagain

All is amusement including confusion.

Then there is no problem. Words, minds, ideas are for our amusement. We should then celebrate it rather than disparage it.

NiNjABackflip
I wish to find the ego—not the idea of it, but its actuality, how the ego is acted out and its properties. Conceptions such as "identity" have no properties until it is written down or acted out.

edit on 19-11-2013 by NiNjABackflip because: (no reason given)

It sounds like you're searching for a sharp object in a haystack which holds needles, pins, and thumbtacks.
How accurate is that analogy?

reply to post by NiNjABackflip

I wish to find the ego—not the idea of it, but its actuality, how the ego is acted out and its properties. Conceptions such as "identity" have no properties until it is written down or acted out.

The ego exists in a state of unawareness. It is an automatic mechanism, like breathing. If you wish to find it or catch hold of it, then action will have to give way to what Krishnamurti called "passive awareness" - a witnessing awareness that is vigilant without desire for an outcome i.e free of prejudice. Because the ego is mechanistic in nature it is constructed of repetitive mini-processes which after taking so many revolutions give way to an associated follow up process. Before one process can give way to a follow up process though there is a space of non-activity - the equivalent of neutral in geared mechanisms. Right witnessing or attention causes these gaps to become more attractive and distinctive. The aim of meditation is to remain aware of these gaps without falling asleep. Falling asleep by watching the gaps is the ego's defence mechanism to protect against discovery. The discovery that the ego is essentially dream stuff. One little whoops and a push. The more you try to focus on the reality of the ego the more unreal it is seen to be. The ego is a ghost in a haunted house.

reply to post by 1Learner


I think that's an apt analogy. Or, we are simply looking for nothing. This is the whole point of the thread.

reply to post by Golden Rule

The ego exists in a state of unawareness. It is an automatic mechanism, like breathing. If you wish to find it or catch hold of it, then action will have to give way to what Krishnamurti called "passive awareness" - a witnessing awareness that is vigilant without desire for an outcome i.e free of prejudice. Because the ego is mechanistic in nature it is constructed of repetitive mini-processes which after taking so many revolutions give way to an associated follow up process. Before one process can give way to a follow up process though there is a space of non-activity - the equivalent of neutral in geared mechanisms. Right witnessing or attention causes these gaps to become more attractive and distinctive. The aim of meditation is to remain aware of these gaps without falling asleep. Falling asleep by watching the gaps is the ego's defence mechanism to protect against discovery. The discovery that the ego is essentially dream stuff. One little whoops and a push. The more you try to focus on the reality of the ego the more unreal it is seen to be. The ego is a ghost in a haunted house.

By "automatic mechanism", "repetitive mini-processes", and "follow-up processes", I am going to assume you mean the body, or that which automatically repeats processes. I think the ego is the body, or an abstraction of the body, and nothing more. Observing gaps between processes is nonetheless observing the body. Defence mechanisms are mechanisms of the body, as egos have no mechanisms being intangible. If the ego isn't "dream stuff", or what I would call a superficial abstraction of something concrete, then it is the body.

Seeing the ghost for what it is makes the house no longer haunted.

reply to post by NiNjABackflip


No, I didn't mean the body, I meant the mind. Psychological processes. But it could be said that the mind is a form of body - a mental body.

The physical body has no other purpose than to support the mental body and its assumed identity (ego). That, and physical reproduction to create replacement organisms.

but as you say Ninjabackflip:

Seeing the ghost for what it is makes the house no longer haunted.

Quite so.

The ego is just a pattern, a system, a program, like countless other archetypal patterns we use. These programs require attention to run. The ego happens to be one of the biggest programs we possess, and it's always running. That means it's a resource hog.

The ego is not a badge of shame like the new agers would have you believe, it's the mother load of attention. You need attention to do anything, the more you can put towards your goals the better. Unfortunately most of our attention is being used up by the ego.

Don't kill the ego for spiritual reasons, do it for greed! That's where all your power is locked away! Or if not kill it, chip away at it one piece at a time.