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Ego good or Ego bad
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SCThornley
Posted 2006-06-29 10:06 AM (#57123)
Subject: Ego good or Ego bad


What is the official Yoga attitude on this?

Can there be a healthy humble ego?

Is the ego something to get rid of, or is it something to develop?

i'm thinking that the Ego is getting a bad rap in the American Yoga scene but i'm also thinking that this is certainly up to debate.

Can your Ego identify with the infinite? If so, then that would be a good yoga fit, right?

If Ego is in union with Soul then that's good in a yoga sense, right?

So, is that possible?

Can the Ego and the Soul coexist? I believe they can if the Ego is properly developed.

Thoughts, Counterpoints, Arguements, Criticisms?
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*Fifi*
Posted 2006-06-29 10:27 AM (#57129 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


Humility and service to others curbs an inflated ego.

I think practicing yoga maybe put a person in touch with spirituality but it is still centered on the self. Before someone tells me that I'm unhappy or ignorant, let me remind you this is just my opinion. I don't think it's bad to cultivate self-awareness but I don't think it cultivates productive humility that touches humanity, which is the antidote to self-centeredness. It might be humbling to practice headstand but how does that help the world?
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tourist
Posted 2006-06-29 10:30 AM (#57132 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad



Expert Yogi

Posts: 8442
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The ego and the soul must co-exist. At this stage we need them both. I think pure egolessness only comes when we merge with the Divine in samadhi, which for most of us is not imminent.
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flipcat
Posted 2006-06-29 5:03 PM (#57162 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


It is recently that I have been pondering the ego as a necessary evil (of sorts). I liken the journey to self-realization to a caged bird where the ego is the cage. Within the cage, the bird feels safe and secure but isolated and restless. Although the door of the cage is open the entire time, the bird is unable to find freedom until it develops the capacity to understand how to escape. Likewise, the ego is a necessary by-product of free-will.
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SCThornley
Posted 2006-06-29 5:12 PM (#57165 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


but i'd still stand up for the humble well developed ego

like a parent sticks up for their child

not all egos are developed the same, nor with the same values
i'd really like to see what Mr. Neel Kulkarni has to say
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Debby
Posted 2006-06-29 5:49 PM (#57167 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


SCThornley - 2006-06-29 8:06 AM

What is the official Yoga attitude on this?

Can there be a healthy humble ego?

Is the ego something to get rid of, or is it something to develop?

i'm thinking that the Ego is getting a bad rap in the American Yoga scene but i'm also thinking that this is certainly up to debate.

Can your Ego identify with the infinite? If so, then that would be a good yoga fit, right?

If Ego is in union with Soul then that's good in a yoga sense, right?

So, is that possible?

Can the Ego and the Soul coexist? I believe they can if the Ego is properly developed.

Thoughts, Counterpoints, Arguements, Criticisms?


According to Freud (now this is digging back to a Psych I class) the ego mediates between the id and super ego.

Another question I could add to your list is if you can't be separated from your body, mind and soul then you can't be separated from your ego or what's the difference?

I think we all know people who are "old souls", kind, loving, genuine. Don't they have an ego?

Deb
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GreenJello
Posted 2006-06-29 6:37 PM (#57173 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


I think this might be a problem of labeling. According to my understanding of yogic lore, the ego is the third subtle body, so it's not possible to be rid of it any more than it's possible to be rid of your pinky.

However, in the west, the ego doesn't quite mean the same thing. Here it's usually used in a negative sense to indicate somebody who's full of themselves, or otherwise deluded. This is bad.

You need the ego to encourage yourself to get up and go to work in the morning. This is good.

You don't need the ego to think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread at work, since that's going to cause problems. (Unless it's true )
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tourist
Posted 2006-06-29 7:04 PM (#57180 - in reply to #57173)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad



Expert Yogi

Posts: 8442
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Its true - the ego is an essential part of the psyche. We use ego to mean "full of oneself," "self-serving" or "too big for one's britches" as they used to say before Freud There are of course, egomaniacs. But the rest of us just need enough ego to be able to say "I am me" and know what we are talking about
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bipinjoshi
Posted 2006-06-29 11:20 PM (#57199 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


In my openion ego can not be classified as good or bad. It is the intencity of ego that matters. Each one of us have ego is varying degree. It is something like this - assume that you have a big room with a small candle. The light exists but its intencity is very poor. Slowly you started adding more and more candles to it. Slowly the intensity of light increases and the same room becomes well illuminated. Similarly, reducing the intencity of ego is what we should try. You become truly egoless in the state of Samadhi.

Edited by bipinjoshi 2006-06-29 11:22 PM
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judamom
Posted 2006-07-15 3:07 PM (#58766 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


You cannot know how delighted I am to see this blog. First I am reading the Yoga Sutra's (for the 3rd or 4th time) These are Sutra's of Patanjali--translated by Djwal Kahul and Alice Bailey. Anyway, they always refer to "ego/soul" and even though I was reading it I never stopped to make any connection and yet it always gave me a second of confusion as I had always kept the two entirely separate in my catagorizing of the 'parts of myself' I set up in order to understand "me". (This is all with tongue in cheek--as it sounds pretty silly trying to explain). Then one day I said, "Wait a minute! Can ego and soul be integrated or become one and the same?" From then on everytime I or anyone else used "ego"......I stopped and contemplated this. You know, I am not going to tell you what my conclusion was until you do it yourself and see what your conclusions are.......then I will tell you mine. If you do not respond......I will continue to experiment with the concept on my own. If you come to the same conclusion as I-----we could be on to something. Remember, Don Juan told Carlos Castaneda that "definitions change as knowledge increases" Juda
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SCThornley
Posted 2006-07-15 5:26 PM (#58774 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


the more fully i relate to the source
the more completely i seek the infinite and look beyond the obvious and gross physical world

the more i realize how very little i know
and so i ask

but the ego and soul, i think, may relate and have a more subtle relationship than i'd originally thought.

soul being permanent, always existing, ego being temporary and changing--at least that's what i think, right now

Edited by SCThornley 2006-07-15 5:29 PM
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tourist
Posted 2006-07-15 9:05 PM (#58783 - in reply to #58774)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad



Expert Yogi

Posts: 8442
50002000100010010010010025
judamom - when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. If orget who said that but I have a friend who quotes it a lot. It is true
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judamom
Posted 2006-07-16 12:36 AM (#58792 - in reply to #58774)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


Okay, let me tell you what I strongly felt. Everytime I concluded that what I was thinking was ego...and trying to see how ego and soul might integrate I was aware of putting down the thought. One day it dawned on me that the thought that I labeled 'ego' could possibly be an example of my highest self guiding me to my highest potential -------we defeat ourselves constantly and this seemed like what I was doing. I wonder if we are not at a place in evolution when we have to reevaluate much of our thinking. Things change. Did anyone ever read Ken Keyes book, The Hand Book of Higher Consciousness? He very carefully explained step by step what one needed to do and then step seven said "now forget the first six steps for they no longer apply once you get to that point in consciousness." For now, I will continue to play with stopping myself whenever I think my thinking or actions could be ego and see if it is friend or foe and can it be integrated to be a valued tool in being the best I can possibly be.
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naturally336
Posted 2006-07-17 12:33 PM (#58905 - in reply to #57123)
Subject: RE: Ego good or Ego bad


Hmm...interesting thread. Something that I spent a good deal of energy on trying to form an opinion on many years back, and for the last several years, I've been reevaluating my definitions of various labels. Not sure if I can articulate some of my conclusions, and they are admittedly still evolving, because there were several other concepts that went into it. In a nut shell, I came to the conclusion that for me, ego was not a bad thing. I mean if from a soul perspective we are all connected, and when not in physical form we're all part of the same cosmic soup, if this state was the "preferred" why would we incarnate to begin with? (I know there is a lot of room for discussion just from that statement, but I'm trying to keep it simple at this point and on the topic of ego) So basically I felt that there had to be a Reason for the development of individualized self and felt that it was probably best while in this plane of existence to not waste the opportunity and experience that fully. I mean if I was going to be looking at things from a soul perspective after death, I'd probably have plenty of time to explore that concept then. Sort of like if you go to a mexican restaurant, you order mexican not italian.

Taking that perspective, I can more fully appreciate myself, my life and those around me as the unique, creative beings they are. I also recognize and appreciate my own selfishness. But don't mistake that for thinking that means that I only think of myself. Rather I see it almost like facets of a crystal, of which I am just one face of. We're all connected and shine best when working in concert for the benefit of the whole. But I do no service to myself or others by trying to be anything other than myself. It would be like if I tried to make my foot be my arm, granted it could do some of the same functions, but it's not the most suited to it and being frustrated by that is just a waste of energy and cause of unnecessary guilt, anger, anxiety...

So I work on developing me, which arguably is all I can really do anyways.
Be Well,
Selena
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