Reality is the fundamental ground for ego, egoism, and the egotistical self.
Really, what is the ego? It’s certainly not something we can touch like our body or car.
The ego is fundamentally a constructed sense of self.
The ego is ‘that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world.’ – Sigmund Freud
So, the ego is the “known,” familiar self compared to the id, the unconscious. The known self is developed through interactions in the world – which create “object relations” in the mind. These interactions (experiences) include body sensations, internal and external.
We’re born with no ego self because we have, as yet, no capacity for self-reflection or conscious memory. We spend the first few years of life with our bodies and psyches constantly bombarded with sights, sounds, and sensations. We become identified with the body, external and internal.
Along with this, we’re constantly being referred to as ________ (fill in your name).
Here’s the ego clincher
When we’re born, whatever it is that we are (however you see that) – it is extremely sensitive and impressionable. A newborn’s body is much more sensitive than an adult, a 12-year-old, or even a 3-year-old.
We are like silly putty. We take on a sense of self coalesced from millions of impressions, experiences, and interactions with the world. Our thread of memory brings continuity to this sense of ego self as our self – “we own it.”
What’s at the core of Ego, Egoism, and the Egotistical Self?
Ego and Self-Reflection
Not the activity of thinking about our feelings and behavior and the reasons that may lie behind them, but the very foundation of that capacity – to see, know, and recognize ourselves. It’s me that’s thinking. It’s me having a feeling. It’s my logic.
As egoism – my morality and beliefs that are most important – is better than everyone else’s.
This can manifest as egotism – the practice of excessively talking and thinking about oneself because of an undue sense of self-importance.
Ego Self – the knowingness of you (self-reflection) as the you, you have always known yourself to be. The self-reflection is happening 24/7 – so we don’t note it as a process of self-reflection.
Here’s the Really Big Question About Ego
If the ego is a false self, a constructed self – a case of mistaken identity through identification with our impressions and history – then what does that point to?
It ALL Starts with Awareness
What are the necessary elements for experience?
- Existence/Beingness
- Awareness/Perception
- Knowing/Recognition
- Individual
It’s so basic we rarely think about it – as individuals, we are central to our experience. We are the organ of perception, a locus of individual awareness, recognition, and cognition.
A cosmic field of boundless awareness or consciousness is not enough for experience. There must be a vantage point, individual consciousness, within the omnipresence of perception and experience.
And this leads to…
One of the basic building blocks of how the ego self forms is object relations.
Object relations are a reflection of basic awareness and knowing. An object relation happens in the mind – not the boundless field of pure awareness or consciousness.
According to object relations theory, the development of ego structure through the process of separation-individuation happens primarily by means of the internalization of object relations through the formation of inner images of self and other. The “object” is generally the human love object, and an object relation is simply the relation between self and object, usually an emotional relation. – A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
Object relations are based on mental images and constructs, but they, too, have the same three elements:
- You, the vantage point
- An Other (person, object, idea, feeling, etc.)
- The experience between the two (emotion, thinking, reactivity, etc.)
So, the roots of and capacity of ego, egoism, and egotism lie in the very fabric of reality – the essential capacities for awareness and knowing.
The Diamond Approach has a wealth of knowledge regarding all things ego because it uses psychological exploration and inquiry to access spiritual states.
Four of 19 Topics:
- Body Ego
- Ego Activity
- Ego Metabolism
- Ego Death
This article is based upon the writings of A. H. Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach.