Psychointegration: ROLES OF EGO

Monday, June 21, 2010

ROLES OF EGO

ROLES OF EGO

By Prof. Jorge R. Olguin.

EGO AND SPIRIT

Most of the people are not interested in "how they are", but in "how they look like" or, what image of themselves they are projecting (appearance). People are more interested on the image more than objectivity. And then the man of society and those who belong to that society participate in that competition of appearances, in the typical desire to see “who deceives the other”, and how they can give a better impression. The world is an immense stadium in which "the pride of life" plays a great match of labels, social ways and economic exhibitions to compete for the social image, a combat in which human beings don’t care on how they are, but rather on how they look like.

THE SPIRIT AND THE BEING:

The Spirit has always been avoidant. We have been avoidant to the Spirit. Materialists say: "that is a crazy thing". The being or spirit sustains us all, it is our source of strength and life, however, it is something our parents taught us very little about. John tells us: “He was already in the world, this world didn't recognize him. He came to his own house and his relatives didn't receive him." An old writing of India tells us about the Spirit the following thing: " A knife cannot cut It, the water cannot wet It, the Wind cannot move it away and the sun cannot dry it"

Each molecule of the universe is full one of existence; each thought, each piece of information that we receive through our five senses is not another thing than existence. But we can overlook it because it keeps a total silence, like a choreography teacher that never participates in the dance. Truly, he always existed and it will exist. We only need an opening to be "in spirit" or inspired.

EGO AND THE I:

As well as there are two poles in a magneto, one positive and one negative; people also have to cope with two characters in dispute; one of them is the one that makes the effort to succeed materially and the other one aspires to raise spiritually. The description given by Sogyal Rinpoche in the work "The Tibetan book of living and dying" explains the thousand marvels of this discovery: "Two people have been living in you during all your lifetime. One is ego: talkative, demanding, hysterical, scheming; the other one is the spiritual being, hidden, whose wise and low voice you have heard and only paid attention in strange occasions."

EGO OR THE SOCIAL MASK:

The small word "ego" has had several meanings. For the Freudian school it is "the unconscious aspect aware of the psyche that decides between the basic instincts of “id” and the morality of the “superego.”

Very academic definition. This model's stereotype is usually a male. The person with problems of ego is considered that he/she is boastful, selfish, scornful, conceited and, in general, unpleasant, or also, the person devoted to hatred, malice and destruction. Ego has also been considered like something which is inside of us, controlling our daily life, pressing us so that we show a "good image."

Attention: You can be altruistic and kind just to appear nice before others... and that is also ego.

For the purpose we follow, we suggest another definition of "ego": Let’s "consider ego like the idea that each one of us has about ourselves. That is to say that ego doesn't constitute but an idea, an illusion, but an illusion that exerts great influence." Nobody has seen ego. It is rather a ghost that we accept and controls our life. The problem is that keeping this illusion can prevent us to know our true self, our spiritual essence.

We say that ego is a disposition of erroneous thinking that tries to present you as you would like to be, instead of how you really are. In essence, ego, the idea of oneself, the mask, the role that we are playing; supposes a distorted way to affirm and live our existence. This social mask (ego) loves the approval, it wants to control situations and people, and it relies on power because it lives in fear.

SUGGESTIONS TO OVERCOME EGO AND REACH A HIGHER CONSCIENCE:

The following suggestions will help YOU to contact ego and overcome it:

* Try to know your ego and determine when your ego influences and dominates your life. Ask yourself: Am I listening to my false me or to my spiritual me? As you go acquiring conscience of your ego, you will be able to get rid of self-centeredness and enter in a higher conscience.

* Start counting the frequency you use the pronoun " I " if you are not centered in your own person, you will be overcoming your ego.

* Start considering your ego like an entity that accompanies you and it has a purpose. It is invisible and it is always at your side.

It is trying to convince you that you are separated from God, of your superiority to others, and that you are "special." Ego wants you to feel insulted when you receive an incorrect treatment, when they insult you, when they don't caress you; offended when you don’t get what you want, hurt when you lose in a competition. First acknowledge this entity. Then notice how it is working on you. Lastly, you will be free of it.

* Listen to the others and do not focus always in yourself. During the conversations, concentrate on what the other person is saying and what the other person feels. Then respond with a sentence that starts with "You" This is called active listening. It is a way to hold back ego and allow that your spiritual self participates.

* Resist the habit of allowing that ego controls your life.

The more you refuse to allow that your ego controls your life, the sooner you will fill the space that was occupied by the demands of your false self.

* Practice daily meditation or silence your mind to undo the illusion that you are separated from the universe and that all the souls are extensions of the energy of God. You will start treating others as you would like to be treated. You will feel connected with everything and everybody.

* Try to erase from your mind the word "special". Special implies “better than”, or “more important than”. It denies that God inhabits in each one of us. We all are special to the eyes of God; therefore, nobody needs to be labeled as "special”. There are no favorites. Nobody is relegated.

We all are One.

* Write a diary. Try to describe what benefits you receive when your feel offended. Everything that offends is a work of your ego. Do not pretend that the world should be as you are and not how it really is.

* Give more from yourself and request less in exchange. Leon Tolstoy, passed from being an egotistical being to be a servant of God, after learning many lessons and going through tribulations. And he wrote the following thing: "The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity." Be the one who caresses. Be the one who gives affection.

* Remember every day that the highest cult that one can give to God is to serve humanity, and by means of that act your spiritual self will be complete.

* Put an end to the external search of freedom and know the taste of authentic freedom, which is the communion with your spiritual self.

The authentic freedom doesn't need anything to demonstrate its existence. Only being genuinely free will you be able to love, because love doesn't exist without freedom. The false freedom demands that you have at hand something that gives faith to your existence.

USEFUL PHRASES

'You cannot cut off the free will of others, not even from those who want to disturb, because it's against the laws of the game. Then,if God grants Free Will to all beings, unfortunately He cannot stop giving it to those people who destroy and disturb the path of Light'

' How to overcome the ego and integrate the selves? By enjoying Service... When enjoying Service one does not require any other type of enjoyment, because one enjoys thinking of the others. One is no longer the main actor, not even as a supporting actor. One enjoys giving. and it doesn't mean to be deprived of one's own enjoyment. A Spirit of Light enjoys debating. And this is not ego.'

'Wisdom, as wel Goodness, is not imposed but proposed. But remember that humanity is like a chain, where any link support the other. If you ascend, all mankind will ascend. If you fall, we all will fall. That's Why you're so important to everyone.'

'Do not listen to a message that conditions or imposes dogmas. Pay no attention to those words that hurt sensitivity.'

'Every human being on the physical plane plays a certain role (male, female, father, mother, son, dentist, painter, agronomist, teacher, etc..) Death is only the act when one lowers the curtain. The character ends, but not the actor who played that role.'

'When people are attached to old religious texts they do not advance ... In the words of the Master Jesus with his wisdom, "you cannot put new wine in old wineskins." When most people do not advance, they move backwards, and the worst thing is that they end up dragging others while they fall.'

'There are many shortcomings in the spiritual teachings that are given because they create fear in those who seek true Path of Light.'

'Give Service to your fellowmen. - But if I have nothing to give! Financially I'm broke. - What do you mean that you have nothing to give? You have your time, you have your spirit, your heart to give guidance, you have your warmth to provide it! There you are serving! So, the secret is not to doubt, the secret is to serve unconditionally. It's easy to talk about Service. The challenge is to carry out an altruistic act. You have to serve till the end.'

'Jesus taught kindness and this was replaced by strict rules and dogmatic teachings. The Master preached Service, but today, those who believe they represent him behave as leaders who seek to be served. Love that comforts became a dogma that imprisons the spirit and it doesn't let him enjoy. The spiritual path does not mean a tyrannical practice, but peace, it means joy, it means to merge with the Absolute in unlimited ecstasy.'

'Investigating based on learning means evolution. And it's even better if you convey all that you have learned.'

'He who has more ego, desires to dominate, wants to control everything and he is the one who suffers the most. The only way that one can stop suffering is to be detached. But this can be misunderstood. Detachment does not mean to neglect your neighbor, but to have more to offer Service to others, because this is important. It does not mean "indifference", which is the opposite, "It means to have more time to give Love”'

'When you have no ego "you don't need" and when you don't need naturally you feel the urge to give... Besides, when having no ego nothing hurts you, nothing can offend you... It is absurd to think that we are only here to be happy by ourselves when so many beings are still suffering and need our help.'

'Everyone will be responsible for himself, from his faults. Each one ascends or descends from level by his own responsibility. One can descend by his own faults or ascend by his own merits. otherwise, it would not be mercy.'

'Indifferent people do not hurt, but they do not help either, and although they don't move backwards, they don't advance neither.'

'We have to realize that just giving is when one receives. We must be aware of the feeling of happiness and joy when living in order to give. That is Goodness.'

'Unfortunately there is cruelty, because they hurt other people. But they also hurt themselves... That's unconsciousness. What do you do for your planet today? Who thinks about the future? Why don't they create laws of birth control in regions where newborns do not survive due to the lack of food?'

'It is very difficult to be happy on the physical plane because the Ego "needs", and embodied people de not realize that they are not happy enjoying while "doing nothing", because happiness comes from Service. He who doesn't do anything, is tired. Service, on the other hand, produces joy.'

'A man is useful while he serves.'

'There are beings who still have a long way to reach the planes of Light, because they will always give in to temptation, giving priority to indifference and meanness and forgetting Love and Service.'

'It is very difficult to introduce new concepts into the people. Just like the communicating vessels, first you have to empty them before you can add new content. Keep in mind that new paradigms were always rejected.'

'Evilness disappears when the spirit realizes that only through Love, one is able to evolve'

'We must have certainty in Love. But to be certain in Love, you have to practice it everyday and be accustomed to Serving.'

'If I have a certain problem and I see that changing my mood, I'm feeling comfortable. The one who feels comfortable is your ego.'

'Sometimes, a misunderstood attachment makes that humans behave like fools and I know that one cannot change those who do not want to change. Human beings have to realize that just giving they receive. They must be aware that the feeling of happiness and joy means to give. That is Goodness.'

'Those who are seeking gurus or teachers have to find them in those who live in humility, and if they display even a pinch of pedantry or arrogance, they must flee from these false teachers as if they were a plague.'

'The human being creates his own pain: the struggle for power, greed, speculation, indifference. Some will say: "Indifference is a lesser evil." It's not true. Because when an embodied being stops worrying about his brother, he begins worrying about himself. And there the suffering begins. His own suffering and the one of the person who was ignored.'

'It doesn't matter who you were. It matters who you are now, an that you are devoted to Service, which is altruistic. They know how to spread the messages, because the real Service is to transmit Love, to be useful to the other, to serve your neighbor, take the place of the others. "It doesn't matter who I was , but who I am going to be.'

'As well as ethics is inherent to the Light, respect, in the first place and formality in the second place are inherent to Love. Therefore, he who is respectful and formal loves the others. Just like the water that wets because it is inherent to water. God gives His Love unconditionally because Love is inherent to God.'

'Don't stop sharing. If your ego makes you feel important, you won't want to be overshadowed. Open your heart!'

'Religion, as it is taught today, does not have much to do with the true spiritual pathway. The genuine religion can be found inside of the people, not in the temples that turn to put limits to the feelings of the people.'

'It's not enough to go to the temples just to pray, prayer is useless if it's not accompanied by Service.'

'When a human being is on a mission, he has to live that mission in a joyful way, with humility, patience, thinking that if he has not reached his goal, it simply means that the time has not yet come. However if we became arrogant during the mission we are not doing our job and the goal will be lost'

'Negative emotions such as anger, envy, hatred and many other mistaken feelings, only make the ego grow up. However emotional Love is also in what we called impersonal Love and that is a positive emotion, like mercy, charity, compassion, sympathy etc.'

'Most beings are going to ask, rather to give. And many will ask: "How can we give?". "How can we give to the Father?". Giving to your neighbor is giving to the Father, because the Father is in each one of us. So if I offered my Service to my fellowmen, I am giving to the Father, and the Father will be joyful!'

'The human being is spirit, the spirit is concept, therefore the human being is concept. It means that the man is a being who can be human by having ideas. Unfortunately, the reactive mind is a ballast so overwhelming, that human beings stop thinking and they live sleeping.'

'He who has the more knowledge is going to be more responsible, because he will have to give that knowledge for the benefit of those who want to learn.'