EGO

EGO

Ego is the inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others involving self-consciousness of your own identity. It represents the sum of certain mental mechanisms, such as perception, memory with specific defense system. Ego is neither an entity nor a process. It is only a notion of I-amness, which exists in the mind. It's not our choice to have the ego or not. We are born with it. It is the nature of the mind to experience its individuality. All our desires, attachment, experiences in the world are due to the ego based in the mind. It is a complex with in psyche, which constitutes the center of person’s field of consciousness possessing a high degree of continuity and identity.

Within the mind dwell anger and massive ego. The ego means that which creates I-ness. It has no other meaning. It has no particular place in our body but it is rooted in all the activities of the mind, intellect, and senses. So we can't deal with the ego without using our mind.

A strong ego can relate objectively to activated contents of the unconscious, rather than identifying with them, which appears as a state of possession. It is the awareness of self, the conscious feeling that “I am Me.” It is often called false when identified with matter.
The real of the ego is found in self-realization of soul that matures towards self-responsibility no longer depending on outside authority.

It is the seat of anxiety as its propensity to identify with material condition is the guarantee of failure since nothing material will keep its form forever. The notion of superego refers to social construction of rules for behavioral conduct, which has to define the social reality.

Ego identified with mortal responsibility takes many forms:

1. The power ego. It loves nothing more than to ma1ice you one of power over others. Knowing this ego is controlling you have to apply the strength that power ego gives you in a way that you do not hurt others as a result.
2. The superior ego. It's really easy for it to convince you that you are superior to others and your skills are more important than that of your friends, family, and co-workers.
3. The defensive ego. This one keeps you so contained that it's hard for you to accept the guidance and lessons others offer.
4. The stubborn ego. It can keep the real you imprisoned. It backs up the defense ego perfectly by disallowing you to admit you are wrong and others are right. It blocks acknowledgement that prevents growth.
5. The meddling ego. This one takes on power to actually let you believe you know what is best for others. It tells you there isn't a need to ask if others need or want your opinion, it goes blasting in. These were just a few examples of egotism. There are many more forms of ego that make you blind to all of the love that life holds for you. The ego was given to serve you not control you. Take back the power you have unconsciously endowed to your ego. While the ego will always remain a strong part of which you are, it is time to let go of the ego to free yourself and begin living a life of conscious change and loving. A high percentage of the interference in our higher self-purpose is our ego. So, we must "let go of our ego" if we are to understand who we really are.

It could be the conscious and unconscious "personality" who we often consider ourselves to be – the set of experiences, expectations, and little voices in our head that we hear that often put down our ideas or challenge us to be who we aspire to be.

The ego is also that force which causes us to care about being better than everyone else. This is our competitive nature. This can be a healthy driving force; however, it may also cause problems.

In general, competition destroys creation and invites doubt when we fail.

Some problems ego may cause include:

1. Overly competitive nature, wanting to destroy or judge others
2. Putting ourselves first, rather than others
3. Taking, rather than giving and serving
4. Self-puffery, believing we're greater than we are
5. Self-doubt, believing we're less than we are
6. Living by circumstance, rather than faith
7. Losing the attitude of gratitude - expecting everyone to give us everything
8. Belief in negativity - creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt

This gives some keen insights into the process of liberation-how we can free ourselves, and how by not realizing that we can get stuck endlessly in stories of suffering. "You may receive endless teachings on compassion and good heart, as written and prescribed in BB, but how can they touch you when underneath you are as tough as a block of wood?"

You have to learn to give up all old ideas of how things should or should not be. "If you could be eliminated, you would have it all" Of course, it means "ego deflation in depth."
The continued practice of the message in BB has eliminated the old clawing, clinging, scrapping, unloving and unlovable ME, and given me a loving I AM. As time progresses we find we learn best by teaching. This is the basis of the truism that "When the student is ready, the teacher appears, when the teacher is ready, the student appears." We are all learners and we are all teachers. I was constantly defending my ego-image of SELF. It wasn't until some time, I started practicing the guidance to the best of my ability that I began to realize that my ego defense walls came down, and life got a lot better. From this it came that the best defense in all situations was defenselessness. In this context, it always stands for losing only the unfruitful part of the self, our defects of character. It leaves intact all those vital functions that help us manage situations in real life. Consistent application of the teachings of BB, and in particular the daily review of my life, looks a marvelous agency of personal change. It contributes a distinctive, fourfold, creative encounter that shapes the process of change.
First, it provides a setting of rigorous honesty that soon exposes how much we have been distorted by the I-Me-Mine complex.

Second, as review each day in meditation, our own insight then discloses how insubstantial and lacking in continuity these distortions really are.

Third, as we interact with other Sikhs, it provides ways to work off these dysfunctions in daily life practice.

And fourth, it provides a setting among us that is intrinsically so much more appealing than the life we had been leading, that the awakened spirit is more actualized, buoyant, and compassionate.
Where did the hitherto partisan self of the Me generation go? It seems like a return toward one's original state in the eternal scheme of things. Why so few persons have ever become perfectly evolved, selfless beings? This involves a glacially slow process of unlearning and personal restructuring. In the beginning, it turns out, that first simply learning how to unlearn. Then the receptive process of relearning opens up. As it unfolds on its own, it seems to reconnect the person with what are new and vital relationships.

The persons, who have controlled the five senses and the five vices, have realized forgiveness, patience, and contentment through Higher Power’s guidance. Blessed is the person who sings the praises of the Lord and rids himself of the fear and becomes a perfect man with detachment of heart. By spiritual practice, by devotion, by study of BB, by the tools contained in, the ego becomes subtler. The gross ego is the ego of individuality, which expresses itself in worldly desires and attachment. Subtler ego is when those desires and attachment get weaker and individual self-interests start disappearing. The mind identifies with the subtle ego by its own pure state.