civver_764
Deity
This is a topic I've been thinking a lot about for several months now. By "ego" I mean in the spiritual sense of the term, ie, the sense of self that exists within our minds. This article provides a pretty good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_(spirituality)
So what are your thoughts on this? Do you think this is an accurate representation of what goes on in our minds? Are we actually unconscious of our true nature? Do our egos make us act in dysfunctional ways on a daily basis?
To me it is obvious that it does. Even observing this forum it's obvious. We frequently allow ourselves to "get offended" by the mere posting of an opinion, which seems to serve no logical purpose. Almost every argument consists of one person or both desperately holding onto viewpoints even when shown to be faulty, or on the other hand adding insults and belittlement when showing holes in someone else's argument. A large majority of the time a state of hostility is created. But why? This can't be something a rational person would want, yet there is something at play which leads us to create these states. I find myself doing it all the time even though I can see that it makes no sense. It all boils down to our identification with our egos -- how we perceive ourselves, our opinions, our beliefs, and the temporary satisfaction and feeling of superiority that our egos feel in an attempt to be "right."
Because really, if we were acting rationally, we would never take offense to anything on this board or feel the need to let someone know how wrong they are. It's illogical.
I could provide countless more examples from everyday life but I won't to keep this short. I just wanted to have some discussion on this and hear what everybody had to say. And also in regards to meditation/other spiritual matters, does anybody else practice it? I still consider myself very new to all of this and so I would really like to hear from someone with more expertise on the subject.
So what are your thoughts on this? Do you think this is an accurate representation of what goes on in our minds? Are we actually unconscious of our true nature? Do our egos make us act in dysfunctional ways on a daily basis?
To me it is obvious that it does. Even observing this forum it's obvious. We frequently allow ourselves to "get offended" by the mere posting of an opinion, which seems to serve no logical purpose. Almost every argument consists of one person or both desperately holding onto viewpoints even when shown to be faulty, or on the other hand adding insults and belittlement when showing holes in someone else's argument. A large majority of the time a state of hostility is created. But why? This can't be something a rational person would want, yet there is something at play which leads us to create these states. I find myself doing it all the time even though I can see that it makes no sense. It all boils down to our identification with our egos -- how we perceive ourselves, our opinions, our beliefs, and the temporary satisfaction and feeling of superiority that our egos feel in an attempt to be "right."
Because really, if we were acting rationally, we would never take offense to anything on this board or feel the need to let someone know how wrong they are. It's illogical.
I could provide countless more examples from everyday life but I won't to keep this short. I just wanted to have some discussion on this and hear what everybody had to say. And also in regards to meditation/other spiritual matters, does anybody else practice it? I still consider myself very new to all of this and so I would really like to hear from someone with more expertise on the subject.
