How to have "ego strength" without ego

[soaren]

It still doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.
 

I still haven't really accepted death yet, *I think that means I am not living in the moment*? Is that a "side effect" of that thinking?

 

Here's basically my issue - I don't see how one can have the resolve without ego. It still doesn't make sense to me. It seems to me that the people that have the most resolve in life are the ones most attached to their form.

 

Thoughts?

[thelerner]

hmnn, the target is important, you are not. 

the path.. your Way is important, you are not.

Be unconcerned with temporary gains and losses.

[SeekerOfHealing]

Forget about ego.

[Marblehead]

I just checked - my ego is doing fine.  I'm still the center of my universe.

[RiverSnake]

It won't make sense until you get there. Keep practicing. 

[Cheshire Cat]

[...]

 

Here's basically my issue - I don't see how one can have the resolve without ego. It still doesn't make sense to me. It seems to me that the people that have the most resolve in life are the ones most attached to their form.

 

Thoughts?

 

Have you read the work of Carlos Castaneda?

I think that the idea is to overcome the parts of your personality that prevents you from living fully (self-pity, fear of loss, desire to be exalted, etc...).

 

As for "Acceptance of Death and Dying", I think it's more like "I know that it's so, therefore I have nothing to lose and whatever happens it's no big deal. I can take more risks".

Edited November 25, 2016 by Cheshire Cat

[RiverSnake]

The intellect is a barrier to truth.

[dwai]

It still doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.

 

I still haven't really accepted death yet, *I think that means I am not living in the moment*? Is that a "side effect" of that thinking?

 

Here's basically my issue - I don't see how one can have the resolve without ego. It still doesn't make sense to me. It seems to me that the people that have the most resolve in life are the ones most attached to their form.

 

Thoughts?

 

once the Ego is either completely subdued, or better still, eliminated - the "will or resolve" you refer to won't be in play anymore (and realistically that resolve is a weak thing). It will just be happenings, as they are meant to happen. Actions will be without volition of an ego-self, as the ego-self itself won't exist anymore. 

 

Living in the moment, imho doesn't mean accepting death. It means there is no before or after. Just that every moment is that one moment. So in a way, birth or death won't have any relevance or meaning anymore. 

[Teddy]

Please do not try to live 'without the ego'. We have ego for very good reasons. Trying to live without it will just make you go crazy. If you succeed, you could end up catatonic, but you probably won't succeed, and it will just frustrate you. Neither of these options are good.

 

Ego is what gives people personality, and what makes life fun.

 

However, do see the ego for what it is. Recognise that it's all a game, and you'll enjoy it all a lot more.

[Kar3n]

ego, without Ego...

 

 

Simply put ego is what makes us get out of bed to go to work to support ourselves and our family. EGO, is what wants MORE, makes us be, to be frank*, self absorbed.

 

 

 

*fuck

[words]

Strong ego without ego. how to. well, by not taking it/(your idea of) yourself too serious. 

 

how can one have resolve without ego. more you see the ego for what it is (or isn't), more you realize it's not really the ego's resolve in the first place. Don't take my word for it, just check it for yourself. look into where does the resolve come from. not just a step back, like the branch from where it grew, go to the root of the tree.

 

something like...the ego's resolve is the donkey's focus on the dangling carrot and determination to reach it. but where does that want come from in a donkey, what's that wanting?

 

one could see ego as the function that makes us think that we think. the result is a nice feeling, the feeling of existing and being autonomous. being strong or weak, it's again, the ego's impression about itself, because it's only the ego who's concerned with stuff like that about itself. 

[Boy]

@soaren: Of course you can't have ego strength/resolve without ego. The trick is not believing you're an ego. Forget about other people. See post #5. Forget about post #7. Post #9 is important. Don't worry about death.

[Wells]

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Edited March 2, 2017 by Wells

[Daeluin]

In chinese medicine the heart is considered the sovereign, while the pericardium is considered the guardian of the heart; the heart protector. 

 

In many stories of life, it is common for what is true to be hidden and protected by what is false. It is not so at first, but may easily become so. What is precious and vulnerable becomes protected and guarded by the proper measures. The sovereign has its palace, the palace walls and guards, and the many ministers and policy makers and assistants in the governship of a large country. The sovereign is still the heart of decisions that are made, but in a complicated ecosystem the orchestration and effective application of governship become woven into a many layered tapestry designed to effectively deal with every possible outcome and harmonize any possible conflict.

 

All of these orchestrations allow the sovereign the freedom necessary to lead a rich and healthy life.

 

And yet, just as an overly available sovereign might be vulnerable and exposed, and an overly taxed sovereign might be have a hard time maintaining their health, and overly protected sovereign may easily lose touch with one's kingdom, and thus the inner truth is separate from the outer body. 

 

In such a situation, where the inside is separated from the outside, the inside remains, yet the outside does not reach it, and yet still the outside is regulated by the existing regulations which are policed and judged based upon rigid parameters. These parameters meet with many challenges as the weight of the changing world rests upon their measure, and yet who is there able to truly and objectively decide the appropriate interpretation in application of their use upon ever changing circumstances? Who except the inner heart of the realm could ever truly know the proper course?

 

Thus when the true sovereign at the heart is hidden and unreachable, the changes are managed by the ministers and other wielders of power - power that is no longer checked by the sovereign. Thus these changers make change based upon what they deem appropriate, even without being aware of the whole, and thus the momentum of the country is steered by inherent bias.

 

Both the ego that comes from rules that do not connect to the center, in the role of the pericardium (heart protector), and the true sovereign (heart)  are associated with the phase of fire.

 

Fire and Water are the nozzles of creation, and together they have proclivity to merge profound vitality with divine inspiration, leading to the manifestation of the diverse realms within which we breathe.

 

Hidden within Fire and Water are the original true yin and true yang.

 

There are many layers of the expression of Fire and Water, but it is the deepest, most central layers of Fire and Water within any whole which connect to the original root. Thus the importance of the central Fire gains its gift of divine inspiration and ability to correctly govern the whole, from its relationship to central Water, for between them is dao. The many layers of Water may be seen in the many shapes and forms within the land - the central Water to which the sovereign is bound is the life-force of the land itself. The land and the king are one.

 

When usurpers rule and do not connect to the heart, how are they prepared to nurture the life-force upon which the entire kingdom depends? The fire that does not listen for the proper measure is wild and may easily and quickly damage the life force.

 

In alchemy it is said to control mercury with lead. Mercury represents the easily wandering, curious and spontaneous clever nature of the mind. Lead represents the essence of life and existence which is profound in its vitality and apt to carry and become weighed down. When lead and mercury rest upon each other, what is heavy becomes lighter, purer, while what is spontaneous and flighty, when faced with its own true essence of life comes to nurture and govern the wholeness of its soul.

 

Fire, Water, Mind, Body, Mercury, Lead - all of these symbols share a proclivity to rise up or sink down.

 

Within the momentum of creation, the light emanates out to rest upon the heavy of something external, even as the heavy draws in something external to unite with. In this way that which has been created merge with other creations and there is ever new creation. In this way too, there is the cycle of death and life.

 

To nurture a lasting whole, simply turn around creation, for what one seeks already exists within. When what was rising and what was sinking meet each other instead of something external, what seems to have been lost has now been found.

[Andrei]

In Ayurveda the Ego = Ahamkara. In Yoga they say you should dissolve the Ego, in Ayurveda they say you shouldn't, because Ahamkara is your Self, your immune system is what keeps you in one piece, one individual, one human, one organism, one body and one soul. Ahamkara is your soul basically so once your Ahamkara starts to dissolve you get sick and die. That's it, you're gone. 

[Kara_mia]

Interesting topic. From the Taoist view, what is Ego? can we say that Ego = Xing or in other words, mind?

[Kara_mia]

Or rather Ego=Xin or Mind.

 

I have heard that the problem of Ego and strengthening ego without ego just does not exist in taoist internal alchemy simply because in alchemy they do not work with Ego

[SeekerOfHealing]

Playing with shen like that you will go crazy and you will suffer in results of xin exhaustion on neurological level. Cultivation is not appear it segregating or framing thoughts.

 

"In human beings,

There is a need

To create order

Out of what is

Perceived to be chaos.

This ordering mechanism is

The mind.

As such, the mind seeks causes

To explain what it

Doesn’t understand.

Is the carrot the cause of the chicken soup

Or is it the chicken

Or is it the broth

Or is it the cook?

With the apperception that

Everything is perfect as it is, that

Everything causes everything else,

The mind, as fixer,

As judge,

As organizer,

Loses its relevance."

 

 

You just can not know things before experiencing them directly in cultivation stages, otherwise you will try to make up things in your mind all kinds of way. You need get off couch and cultivate and getting of couch not always mean doing something, entering cultivation sphere is really domain of Wu Wei.

Edited December 11, 2016 by SeekerOfHealing

[FondOfDao]

I think having ego is wrong anyway. Everyone should try to get rid of it as fast as posible.