What's right and or wrong with the Ego?

I'll focus on the facet of ego that is selfishness. Selfishness is good. You take care of yourself. Selfishness is bad. You take advantage of others.

Simply put, the ego is your idea of yourself. Everybody has ego, and acts from ego, but the world is such as to encourage egotism, especially in an age of individualism. But it is really just I, Me, Mine. I wouldn't over-complicate it too much. Being ego-less is simply being selfless. It is not that big a deal, although to the Ego, it seems enormous, of course. But that is just ego, doing what Ego does, which is worry about itself.

I'll focus on the facet of ego that is selfishness. Selfishness is good. You take care of yourself. Selfishness is bad. You take advantage of others.

Simply put, the ego is your idea of yourself. Everybody has ego, and acts from ego, but the world is such as to encourage egotism, especially in an age of individualism. But it is really just I, Me, Mine. I wouldn't over-complicate it too much. Being ego-less is simply being selfless. It is not that big a deal, although to the Ego, it seems enormous, of course. But that is just ego, doing what Ego does, which is worry about itself.

Actually, a world without egos does not have much appeal to me. Ego is us attempting to navigate though life based on who we believe ourselves to be. With so many Egos there will be times when we are followed, times when we are the followers, and times when we just seem to be getting into each others way. The beauty of Ego is that it is results based. Results change/Egos change.

Now, I can not say the same about ID -- ID is still too animalistic to be very workable -- good results with ID seem to be more accidental, less controlled, from the darkside of who we really are when we allow ourselves to think beyond Ego.

Lost1

The difference between selfishness and greed:
Selfishness is the concern of one's own interests.
Greed is the want of more [things] than the self needs.

Too much selfishness can lead to greed.
The ego with too much selfishness is bad.

Bravo! Don't get me started on the ego. I used to have one. Glad I got rid of it. The ego is living with all that is you from your own recognition of yourself. It likes itself and will not get rid of anything. If it did then it would not have so much to recognize. It just will not consider such a sacrifice because it thinks there is nothing worth sacrificing anything it is, for. I know how wrong that is and why I got rid of mine.

William

Is selfishness egotistical ego?
Is all egotism bad?
Is ego selfless?

Is a selfless ego actually serving itself?

I don't think ego is selfless. I think ego is self-ful.

What if we switch gears from egotism to egoism? Is self-interest behind all of our actions? I think it is for some, but is not for others. But then one might ask if altruism is actually a form of self-interest. Is a selfless ego actually serving itself?

OK, a Buddhist take on the argument.

What if there actually is no self to serve? If you are analytical about it, you will find there really is no self. The self is just a viewpoint from 'inside your head' which relates things to this particular body. That is why it is such a source of un-satisfaction. Self demands things, it has its habits and wants, but no matter how often you feed them, they stay hungry. Their nature is hunger. They want for the sake of wanting, like a spoilt child.

The aim of philosophy is to penetrate this illusion and learn to be useful, to be content, and to be of service, instead of chasing ego's illusory joys up hill and down dale. This was understood by all the ancient philosophies, eastern and western, but in the age of individualism, is taboo. The world wants you to be selfish, because it is 'good for the economy'. That is why we are trashing the planet.

I think ego means that you are partly conscious and partly unconscious.

Ego is the conscious part. I think this goes with the notion that unconsious stuff can be revealed. Then various folks offer ideas about it, looking at the ego as a kind of manikin-like mechanism that interacts with the world on behalf of the whole self. The ego is alive, though, like the whole self.

A person might identify completely with the ego, thinking that there's nothing else to them. Some say it's helpful not to do that... to recognize that one is influenced by agendas, fears, and what Jung called complexes.

So one idea is that parts of the self "want" to be recognized by the ego so that consciousness can help to find resolutions to situations instead of the self running around in circles, creating the same unfortunate situations over and over.

A person with a strong ego is good at sizing up situations for how they're interests are involved. People like that are more direct and efficient about expressing themselves and getting what they want. They make good lawyers and policemen.

A weak ego can make a person seem wishy-washy and passive aggressive, but on the other hand, the weak egoed person lives everyday with what some people experience only as a religious experience: a feeling of being unified with everything around them. They make good holy-people.

There's an ideal of a person who can be both. That's one of my projects for explaining what the overman is referring to.

By the way, Sometime, you always ask the coolest questions.

Strong ego, weak ego, and transcended ego, are all different qualities. I don't think the sage has a weak ego at all: s/he just treats his/her ego the same as everyone else's. The sage treats all equally, including him/herself. Which is why s/he is beyond ego. Not because of any weakness.

---------- Post added 04-04-2010 at 10:09 AM ----------

incidentally, that is just MY presentation of the idea. I don't want to lay it on anyone.:bigsmile:

PLEASE expand on EGOISM?
(sounds almost ecological)

When is the ego acquired?
At some age? What happens at that age?
Self-awareness gives birth to an ego?

Strong ego, weak ego, and transcended ego, are all different qualities. I don't think the sage has a weak ego at all: s/he just treats his/her ego the same as everyone else's. The sage treats all equally, including him/herself. Which is why s/he is beyond ego. Not because of any weakness.

incidentally, that is just MY presentation of the idea. I don't want to lay it on anyone.:bigsmile:

Big what if. Self is premiere primerially for others, their consumption not own satisfaction. Deluded to think the self can be selfless fire?

Sure. Babies are pure ID. Ego doesn't start to develop until the child is aware of itself as a separate entity. Have a look at an encyclopedia entry on a psychologist called Jean Piaget. He worked out a lot of that theory.

Yes it it aquired or is it intrinsic?
Yes self denial gives birth to a larger one?
Self control means training not hiding.

---------- Post added 04-04-2010 at 02:25 AM ----------

What is the ego?

Maybe if you never receive, you'll eventually have nothing to give.

Yes! Some mystic said the ego is the part of you that thinks you're all alone.

The ego is a part of the brain concerned with only itself. It's like a penis which is attracted to itself.

I think once self-awareness kicks in the ego follows.