Open-Secrets

Tag: true self

  • Ego Self

    Ego-selfWhat is the Ego Self?

    Is the ego self something we need to reject?

    The ego self is what most refer to when they say – me, I, me self, you, her, him, and etc. The ego self is the sense of self that most people have any awareness of.

    That awareness is usually very vague. Very few take the time or expend the energy to investigate what the ego self is. Exploring the ego self can be very challenging and painful – something not very appealing to people in general because it does not usually appeal to the ego self.

    Many people talk about or refer to – their true self. Most talk about a true self is really about a renovation of the ego self. Listening to talk about the true self generally consists of listening to the ego self babble on about an extreme makevoer.

    It’s easy to spot this. The give-away is that the self talking expects to still be around to enjoy the fruits of its rebirth. In fact, what really happens in transformation of the ego self is the self ceases to exist as we have historically known it. There is no self there to pat itself on the back and say – job well done, now let’s go and save mankind.

    Taking the position or viewpoint of getting rid of the ego self only results in more internal conflict and more resistance from the self. Do you really know of anyone who jumps for joy when you offer to annihilate them?

    The most productive and meaningful way to move toward what is real is with openness. Open-ended curiosity about the self, the ego self, who we take ourselves to be – is the way to align ourselves with the optimizing force of reality.

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  • Loss of Self vs. Self is Lost

    No-selfLoss of Self – What does it mean? What is lost? Is the experience similar to being lost?

    Buddhism and other non-dual teachings say there is no self to lose. Others say the self is an ontolgical reality that has various levels or degrees of manifestation including those bound and confined within the world of object relations and conceptualization.

    Many are seeking the True Self. Do they want to lose the False Self and find some notion of a new and improved self? I think this sense of wanting to find or be a true self is an inherent dynamic within the soul for authenticity, to be what one really is.

    It’s the concept of that “one,” the individual consciousness, that is in question here. The biggest misunderstanding, as I see it, is conceptualizing or reifying the notion of a true self according to one’s current belief structure.

    The challenge of “spiritual experience” is that it is mostly co-opted by the ego mind. Experience gets categorized and filed according to the past, the familiar and the comfortable.

    Loss of Self at the ego level is mostly terrifying as the mind interprets this as actual death or going insane or some other existential disaster.

    In fact, the experience of loss of self is liberating if one is able to relax into the experience. This involves letting go of the compulsion of staying one step ahead of one’s experience.

    Free-falling into experience as it unfolds without the immediate need to control or understand is challenging. What seems to help facilitate the process is a sense of loving curiosity that is more centered in the heart than the head.

    Looking at the world today, I can only see loss of a few zillion selfs as a positive thing. Indeed, the world might improve overnight if we forget the past and let the self go.

    Does loss of self mean loss of identity, loss of control, loss if the individual? What are your thoughts – experiences?

     

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