Got Ego?

[Son Goku]

From my understanding so far, "Ego death" isn't really a death, but a shift from 'the center of everything'- to its better place as spontaneous function, wherein Awareness will replace Ego as one's 'center of everything they do and think'.

 

People are scared of loosing the association of ego as 'the center of everything'. If during a spiritual experience or exercise one approaches a taste of loosing this association, it can be scary as hell. Like being hung over the side of the empire state building by your ankles by gangsters that you owe money. A real sensation of fear- because "ego death" is a threat to every conditioned habit you've ever collected, the ego thinks its alive and though it isn't really, its taken the steering wheel inside the cockpit of your mind, and doesn't want to die!!! Funny thing is the only thing thats dying is our toxic over association with our individuality, not the actual individuality- which is both immortal and an illusion.

 

p.s

Theres' alot of bullies posting here (taobums.com), yes. But please keep in mind that its just a reflection of something painful going on inside them.. it might be cool to understand that.

 

 

this seemed to me like a topic worthy of its own thread, so i guess we'll just see how that goes.

for you, rain, ANYTHING!

no, seriously.

i hope this post will also clear up any ambiguity relating to the term 'liberated' that i used in the 'mixing practices' thread.

i think the concept of "ego death" is one of the most misunderstood spiritual concepts to be imported from the east. it's a problem encountered most often by dabblers (like most of us) who treat eastern thought like a spiritual buffet and pick up words and phrases without a contextual foundation with which to understand them.

 

to put it as simply as possible: a good, strong, healthy ego structure is profoundly important- especially for the spiritual aspirant.

 

to drive a car, to take a shower, to use the toilet, to interact in commerse, even to move about effectively in any space, requires a functioning ego. immagine the idea of grocery shopping while in a state of devastating non-dual spiritual awakening. how absurd the notion of buying food- after all, you ARE the food! and the floor, and the lights, and the people in the grocery store who are looking at you like you're on drugs. you're the shopping carts, too.

 

the goal is to properly train the ego to know it's place and to willingly, happily embrace it's essential function as the servant to the continuous spirit. the skills and gifts of the ego are NOT to be denied or extinguished; rather they are to be offerings to the most high. this is one of the reasons why i believe that genuine service to others is our highest earthly calling.

 

one of the most important ways we strengthen the ego as adults is through self-discipline. it's implicit in the term: to have self-discipline is to become your own disciple. the ego's place is as the powerful, faithful servant, carrying out our true purpose without reservation. this, i believe, is a fundamental trait of truly enlightened beings.

so. children...

i think it's important for children to have a solid egoic foundation in order to develop mentally and emotionally, and to be able to interact (not just act) with their environment in a healthy, funtional manner. i believe profound spiritual experiences can hinder a child's ability to build a strong and healthy foundational ego structure, and this hinderance can potentially retard or even prevent the child from achieving psychological maturity/stability. in a BEST-case scenario you could end up with a spriritually gifted adult who has the phycological maturity of an adolescent, or, worse, a sociopath with clear cognitive & emotional deficiencies.

if i had not wrestled with identity, need for acceptance, and existential anxiety as i child, i could never have accomplished the well-integrated spiritual work that i have thus far. the basic fundamental struggles of children, including the struggles with fear and uncertainty, are ego-building and serve to give the child greater strength and resilience as they develop into adulthood. if i might borrow from SFJane's analogy: the mundane struggles (especially the existential ones) of childhood can be like the psychological push-ups that give us strength and character later in life.

 

for a child's spiritual consciousness to be liberated from the ego structure, BEFORE the structure is fully intact, is detrimental. i think it would take some truly skilled parenting or the guidance a master with experience with that phenomenon for the it to be otherwise.

 

that's what i think. i don't have kids, and i could be wrong. but that's what i think right now.

...i can already feel Lin Sifu rubbing his hands as he prepares to respond. lol!

[rain]

great post Son Goku. thank you.

 

did you emphesize the words *profoundly important* and *interact*?

[Son Goku]

great post Son Goku. thank you.

 

did you emphesize the words *profoundly important* and *interact*?

 

Thanks rain. Hundun's original was like that, but yes somehow...

Edited July 31, 2008 by Son Goku

[Sunya]

Edited August 1, 2008 by mikaelz

[Sahaj Nath]

The Essential Ken Wilber pgs 31-35, original chapter from One Taste

 

 

he's a little fast & loose with the facts here, but i love where he's coming from.

 

 

i was seeing things in a very similar way, but he did a much better job breaking it down. he even tweaked my original understanding a little.

 

good stuff.