View Full Version : What is the difference between intuition and the ego's necessity to know?
Fleur de Frost
13-10-2015, 04:36 PM
Sorry - totally aware that this is two questions in one day. Lots of issues arising this morning, apparently! :tongue:
There's a part of me that consistently believes it 'knows' something. One week, I'm so unbelievably sure of who I am or how the universe works. All my life experience culminates into one giant wave of understanding. Suddenly, I know my life path is to follow this route, or I'm inherently meant to act like this, etc. The next week, though, my consciousness shifts into a different state. I abandon the old thought patterns, shocked that I ever identified with them rather than the current ones. Aaaand the next week, it's back to square one.
I feel like (don't know yet :rolleyes:) there's a striking difference between our intuition and the ego claiming to know something. Where is the line drawn, though? How do we confidentially say, "this is what my intuition knows" and "this is what my ego needs to say it knows in order to feel like it's in control"? Is there a difference at all?
Thank you for your help! :)
adamm[]
13-10-2015, 05:13 PM
I think the ego was created when people started to overthink and over analyze and try to put a name on everything, especially things we cant touch, like thoughts or intuitions or "fake desires" as people say its the ego that wants this or that and its not really you that wants it..... then they keep building on these things until you get people running out into a field to pick a flower because their "intuition" told them to, and its the ego that wants a double bacon cheeseburger... *Mmmm* because bacon is tasty and therfore it must be your ego that desires bacon and not really you...
You are you, what ever you WANT to be, strong thoughts make you FEEL like this is what you should do or not do, ive had very strong feelings as well but it is YOU that generate those feelings.
I wouldn’t be too worked up with the ego, in fact i would ignore it completely, its too confusing and ive read it every which way, the ego is bad, it makes you want things you dont really need, it makes you need to know rather than play on intuitions... so the main idea is that people blame the ego for everything bad, and if you get too into it youll be one of those people that go to china and meditate all day, live in a 2 room hut and have nothing but rice to eat because you try so desperately to avoid this "ego" thing.
Mr Interesting
13-10-2015, 05:39 PM
Possibility?
But even then even having the question arise as to whether something is possible or not might tend to close the door to the impossible... which has even had the door disappear maybe simple because it's seen as a door.
Is there even a difference or is it simply that the communicative index is wider and less inclined to count off steps.
If anything I tend to see the connection as one of symbiotic as opposed to one of difference as the sense of self identification and discovery inherent in coming to new identifications is a quite pronounced and effective tool of what may be the intuitive.
To me then it's possibly more about how the identity is held alike how one might take a child into a supermarket. One possibility is holding the child close and not letting them range at all and ignoring pleas to go out and discover to make the collection of goods efficient and following that set of notes as to what is needed whilst the other extreme would be just letting the child go and forgetting them but then the chances of that child going out and getting lost and creating mayhem is then quite high... but might be fun too.
Somewhere in the middle though is the child is kept in sight and almost allows the fun of collecting from the list to be coloured by the childs play which in turn brings the child closer... but I don't really know. Maybe it's just each educating each with fun allowed in the middle?
The Back Seat
13-10-2015, 06:09 PM
Usually I can tell if I'm coming from intuition or ego by seeing how I feel. Usually my intuition comes during a state of relaxation and peace. Usually i can feel my chakras more when I am coming from intuition. My ego, on the other hand, seems to act up during times of distress and frustration. Also as I have become more spiritually aware, I feel that my ego wants to say it knows everything about spirituality, and that I am better then someone else because of it. I see a lot of this spiritual ego coming into play recently as spiritually is starting to become "cool". It seems that staying humble to the spiritual process is key to keeping the ego at rest. After I experience something spiritual, my ego sometimes tries to kick in and wants to tell everyone about it. It seems that the ego is the part of me that wants to tell others they are following the spiritual path incorrectly and that my own way is the correct way. The more I stay humble to my own process and try to understand the my own self, the less my ego wants to judge others progress.
It seems that the practice of understanding comes from intuition, while judgement comes from th ego. After all, who am I to judge someone else. For example, I see spiritual friends trying to tell others where they are falling short spiritually, before they fully understand the situation. It's not our place to judge others, but it is our place to understand others. Fate is what truly bares the roll of judgement. I find more and more that we can do a better job teaching others by example and not through judgement. We can understand someone's issue, then show them how we address that issue instead of telling them through the ego. Gandhi said something like, be the change you want to see.
Lorelyen
13-10-2015, 06:25 PM
The ego again.....oh dear...
:smile:
Cmt12
13-10-2015, 07:01 PM
Sorry - totally aware that this is two questions in one day. Lots of issues arising this morning, apparently! :tongue:
There's a part of me that consistently believes it 'knows' something. One week, I'm so unbelievably sure of who I am or how the universe works. All my life experience culminates into one giant wave of understanding. Suddenly, I know my life path is to follow this route, or I'm inherently meant to act like this, etc. The next week, though, my consciousness shifts into a different state. I abandon the old thought patterns, shocked that I ever identified with them rather than the current ones. Aaaand the next week, it's back to square one.
I feel like (don't know yet :rolleyes:) there's a striking difference between our intuition and the ego claiming to know something. Where is the line drawn, though? How do we confidentially say, "this is what my intuition knows" and "this is what my ego needs to say it knows in order to feel like it's in control"? Is there a difference at all?
Thank you for your help! :)
I recommend that you continue to ask yourself this question so that you can avoid getting sidetracked for the illusion of certainty and comfort.
The path of uncertainty leads to truth; the path of security and certainty leads to delusion.
loopylucid
13-10-2015, 07:01 PM
Sorry - totally aware that this is two questions in one day. Lots of issues arising this morning, apparently! :tongue:
There's a part of me that consistently believes it 'knows' something. One week, I'm so unbelievably sure of who I am or how the universe works. All my life experience culminates into one giant wave of understanding. Suddenly, I know my life path is to follow this route, or I'm inherently meant to act like this, etc. The next week, though, my consciousness shifts into a different state. I abandon the old thought patterns, shocked that I ever identified with them rather than the current ones. Aaaand the next week, it's back to square one.
Thank you for your help! :)
When you say its back to square one, does that mean these two states are always the same ones, your going back and forth between? Or is it many different ones?
Loopy
Cmt12
13-10-2015, 07:27 PM
I recommend that you continue to ask yourself this question so that you can avoid getting sidetracked for the illusion of certainty and comfort.
The path of uncertainty leads to truth; the path of security and certainty leads to delusion.
I want to expand on this a little more because I feel like this is a part of the spiritual development process that can be difficult to get beyond.
Getting caught up in delusions is an inevitable part of the process. The fact that you are aware that you have led yourself into delusions and that you are questioning your ability to decipher truth bodes well.
You have a desire for growth, a desire for more, while at the same time uncertainty about how to know which direction to go. As long as you can stay in this space (even as uncomfortable as it may be), you are giving yourself an opportunity to find the next step in order for you to progress - which is to humble yourself and pray for guidance and the ability to decipher truth.
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