GuidoWorld

Ego A-go-go

May 28, 2008 on 11:48 am | In General |

In the last few posts we’ve discussed how the ego (self-consciousness) gets routinely bashed in psychology and spirituality. Yet, the ego is just a process, a locus of possibilities,  neither inherently good or bad. What we do with the ego decides its usefulness and sense of satisfaction.

The ego is often criticized for being absent from the present. At these moments our mind is wandering or fretting over what we are going to have for dinner,  rather than enjoying the sunshine or smelling the roses. Yet, as we previously pointed out, it is after all, the ego which can and does smell the roses, just not as often as some would like.

The ego, therefore, is both the locus of our joy and our regret, of our pleasure and our pain.  Wishing for the demise of the ego is literally suicide, yet this is the goal of many spiritual disciplines.

The ego is the process by which we are aware of our experiences. It is our identify by which we learn, have a memory and a sense of history. The ego is highly flexible and adaptable. Able to live in the past and future as well as the present it is no prisoner to the moment. Yet, what it does on these time excursions greatly impacts our quality of life and how we feel about the world and ourselves.

Our ego’s stance during its forays into the past, present and future greatly affect the way we live and the quality of our experiences. When looking forward to the future we can plan and prepare, or we can fret and worry. We can be filled with anticipation at the opportunities lying before us, or we can be paralyzed by fear or the prospect of failure. We can draw upon our past to prepare ourselves or fantasize abilities we can not draw upon.

When looking back at our past, we can use it to learn, or recognize patterns which can help is in the future. We also are free to focus on anger and regrets over perceived injustices. We can fortify and energize ourselves by recognizing past accomplishments and strengths or we can sap ourselves with a sense of never attaining what we wanted. We can learn from our mistakes and misfortunes or we can view our life as ill-fated and doomed to emptiness.

Likewise, in the present, we are free to maximize and savor the moment, or we can detach and protect ourselves from possible pain and disappointment. We can fret and agonize over every event in our life, or we can embrace what comes our way. The ego can be forever unsatiated by striving for perfection or grateful for the endless possibilities inherent in a finite imperfect life. We can regret what can’t be or be uplifted by the promise of growth and development offered by the limits and boundaries of our bodies and senses.

The ego is free to be a nice guy or a jerk, to be enthralled with life or be bored. Those who complain about the ego and view it as a problem or something to be overcome, seem to be missing the possibilities and beauty of self-consciousness. And who is it that is complaining about the ego? Isn’t it their ego itself?

Next time maybe we’ll reflect on the ego, the functional self, subconscious and unconscious as they are given to us in actual experience.

Jim Guido