My Ego and Everybody thinks they are "the one"

Ok, I'm gonna take a bit of a risk with this thread and I hope at least some other people are honest enough with themselves to realize maybe they have this issue as well and not think I'm a big jerk. Hopefully?

I wanna talk about the ego. Some of you who have studied Theosophy or other systems may think of the Ego as the causal body or the higher self. Some others may think of the ego as the part of us that isn't especially bad, but is our everyday mind and personality that we need to let go of in times like meditation and when trying to contact our higher self. Some of these things are connected, but for this thread I'm referring to the everyday use of the word that people use when they talk about someone being arrogant, having a big ego, etc.

This part of myself is something I struggle with more than many things in my spiritual development. No matter how much I try to be humble and follow the many teachings that say we are all connected and we are all one and I should not judge others, and so on and so forth, if I am really honest with myself, I'm constantly wanting to be and even thinking I'm better than other people in various ways. As a healer, I want to be "the one", the guy who revolutionizes healing throughout the world, who makes the big discovery, who heals the world, eliminates disease, is praised by everyone for doing such great things, who has all the answers, who sounds wise and wonderful and teaches people amazing insightful things.

On the other side of this, I have made some big mistakes in my life that I often hate myself for, and beat myself up about it. So logically I know that I'm not at all better than anyone and with the tiniest twist of fate or situation I could be in any of the worst situations people end up in and get judged for - homeless, addicted, abusive, a criminal, ostracized for my race or gender or sexual orientation, or any number of things.

Ideally, I should not be in either one of these mindsets. I should not be thinking I'm better than anyone, and I should not be thinking I'm worse than anyone and beating up on myself. They are probably both ego related.

Anyway, my point is that I think this is one of the biggest hurdles to spiritual development in general - constantly working to understand and deeply integrate the idea that we are both brilliantly special and completely insignificant in the big scheme of things, WITHOUT either hating ourselves for the bad things or putting ourselves "above" others for the good things.

Maybe I'm wrong in thinking that most healers and spiritually-oriented people, particularly healers and spiritually-oriented people, have this within them on some level or another to think they are a better healer than the next person, or that they are more enlightened than the next person and therefore people should listen to them more than others, and so on...but(and this is still my ego talking) I kinda hope I'm right so I don't just sound like an arrogant jerk.

Anyway, it's late and I'm just in a mood to blurt out things on my mind, so I was thinking about this...

Greetings..

Everybody has the potential to 'go there', to feel self important and wish for glory.. but, time, experience and clarity reveal that we are 'parts' of a whole, and it is by far more satisfying to experience the expansion of the whole than the expansion of the self.. as the whole evolves so do its parts, as a 'part' elevates itself, apart from the whole', there is a disconnect.. the 'self-important' perspective blinds the experiencer to others, distract by their own glory.. but, everybody has the potential to 'go there'..

Be well..

I have struggled with my ego and am never succsessful in entirely subduing it or eradicating it.

I am getting the impression that the ego is an integral part of who we are and has a reason for it's existence.

There is very much a tendency to recognise how the ego is an enemy and how on occasion it works against us and great lengths are gone to, to bury it away or hide it.

I would like to at length discover the ego's purpose, at the moment al I can conclude is that it is an extension to the instinct of self preservation. The instinct of self preservation being designed to protect mind and body, where as ego seem designed to protect ones pride.

So we cultivate our sense of well being as best we can I suppose.

[in progress]

I just read a book which was fantastic in addressing this kind of thing and other emotions. It was called "Soul Love" by Sanaya Roman. It calls these kinds of emotions "unevolved" and originating in the solar plexus. A visualization/meditation is given to help move these emotions into the heart center for processing/evolvement.

Everyone has ego issues of some sort. I think a lot of people feel like you ZeroPointField and I certainly include myself. I look around at what is being reflected back to me and sometimes it ain't pretty. The arrogant ego that you mention is one of them.

Just love yourself as you are and realize it's part of the journey. We came down here to work with things like this. There was probably a time you didn't realize this about yourself so you've come a long way!

[God-Like]

Originally Posted by ZeroPointField

As a healer, I want to be "the one", the guy who revolutionizes healing throughout the world, who makes the big discovery, who heals the world, eliminates disease, is praised by everyone for doing such great things, who has all the answers, who sounds wise and wonderful and teaches people amazing insightful things. .

There's nothing wrong with wanting that mate . Is the primary reason for wanting this because of the self Importance that will come hand In hand with It or Is the desire to be the best channel that you can be? In that respect one’s Individual achievements / Attunements will benefit the masses .

Perhaps If you become the best channel that you can be you will be such an individual who will do such things .

There was a period of 10 years where I kept silent regarding my realizations / experiences and I pretty well kept my self to my self I didn’t read of other peoples experiences or Interact on a spiritual nature really within anyone . I was In a world of my own so to speak . I felt the journey was for my eyes only . In a way how could anybody understand what I went through and realized from one realm of existence to another .

The more I was grateful and humble within my self work / journey the more I came to know myself .

For some reason things changed and I started to venture out In to the world and became members of development circles healing groups and such likes and In an Instant I realized the ego, the judgement that arises In others on such occasions .

The energy needed to defend one’s self or the energy needed In order to be heard . People thought I was immensely shy at first but I kept largely quiet and still am to a degree . I use the forums In a way to express myself without the barrage of noise that occurs within conversation . It makes my head spin . So I am grateful to be In expression whist my heads remains In a non spinning motion .

I think many find the more outward / public an Individual will become the harder It will be to feel grounded . Like a footballer that scores a goal In front of 100,000 fans lol . I know a few that have found It like this and I spoke to a fellow healer that was on the t.v last year and he agreed .

Perhaps It’s a test In a way . I would say to a degree It Is inevitable that an individual that has great abilities will find themselves within the public eye at some point . It can make or break an individual . It can sway an Individual where he or she becomes seduced by the limelight . Perhaps the cave at this point Is more alluring .

x daz x

Originally Posted by ZeroPointField

Anyway, my point is that I think this is one of the biggest hurdles to spiritual development in general - constantly working to understand and deeply integrate the idea that we are both brilliantly special and completely insignificant in the big scheme of things, WITHOUT either hating ourselves for the bad things or putting ourselves "above" others for the good things.

Very good point, and I struggled with that for many years. All I can say is one reaches a point in their development where a kind of self-understanding of soul takes over. My experience is that we learn to love and accept ourselves as we are. We come to understand who we really are and what we're capable of, and we learn to both celebrate our brilliance and forgive our inability to be that at all times.

Here is something I read a while ago about ego from Deepak chopra.I can't remember the name of the book,but I made some notes.

"If we look at ego without without prejudice against it,this level brings identity into being,not all the external things that ego drives us to pursue,it gives us stories and models to identify with.Ego also gives us knowledge about identity itself,what it means to be human:I can not know who i am without family and society. It can bring us closer to wholeness through sense of one humanity,need for self respect,dignity and inner worth."

Also personally I think jealosy and envy are different.Envy can give you a great drive to try to become the best.Even if you don't become the best,doesn't really matter.It is the process that matters. Don't beat yourself for wanting to be the best.
And if you are looking to be the best to get accepted by other people,I guess only time and self discovery will help,so you can find inner satisfaction,but even then It's not the worst quality.Allowing yourself to feel those feelings and process them ,and having patience,is the best advice I can come up with.

Ego is often incorrectly equated w/ an imbalanced ego, but ego is really just our sense of self. Ego/self is entirely OK. W/o the ability to perceive individuality we would miss out on valuable learning we are doing.

Interesting discussion on how our spiritual view of ego being demonized is rapidly changing paradigm:
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazin...nce.asp?page=1

In “How to Expand LOVE”, pg. 108- 109, the Dalai Lama states about ego, “A strong ego is needed, but without becoming egotistical. You need a strong will to achieve the good. To make a wish that you become able to help all beings throughout space, you need a strong self; with a weak self such an intervention is impossible. “

Ego is the portion of our extended energy field that is here experiencing individuality. It’s very different from HS. Multidimensions.com has some very good information about these levels (self, HS, Twin flame, I AM Presence), the Ds, & our journey through them.

There are many teachings that have gotten it wrong about the purpose of self/ego. Oneness isn’t about becoming an undifferentiated one, negating our individuality, but appreciating that we are all rich vital threads in the tapestry of humanity & the Universe. Many of these teachings that criticize ego/self are widespread, but being often repeated or published doesn’t make them correct, but just rampant.

Those who are energetically savvy who don’t want us to progress spiritually & be empowered are very invested in presenting an authoritarian view where we are steered to disrespect self. They have done this very successfully & cleverly for centuries.

Suzan Carroll notes about our SELF or entire energy field, “It was this “SELF” that chose to send a fragment of its total Essence through the 3D Matrix of forgetfulness to see if it could “do it on its own” as an “individual body.” ... this “new” group form is not a “herd mentality” but is, instead, a group mentality in which the sense of individuality is not lost. Instead, “individuality” lives in “unity” with Oneness.”
http://www.multidimensions.com/Super...awakening.html

Trust that you can make a huge impact on the world in many ways. Being placed on a pedestal & lauded about being “the one” is a fairly outdated Piscean era thing though. We are ALL “the one” as each & every one of us has an important role to fulfill. It is OK to feel special. Everyone should.

Judgment is an interesting word. Like ego, it is often discussed as if all judgment was harsh inappropriate criticism & not OK, but judgment is really just the ability to reach a conclusion. We would be in a really big fix if we didn’t have the ability to reach a conclusion. Like self/ego judgment is neither inherently good or bad. It is a neutral mechanism.

Move past the self flogging of hating self. It’s not productive & is HIGHLY limiting. If you now realize that other options might have been more productive choices in the past, that is OK & positive learning. Give your self a pat on the back. What would be problematic is if you hadn’t had that realization & hadn't learned from past experiences.
We are all here to live & learn. Enjoy the journey w/ gusto.

Don’t be intimidated by a mythically perfect goal of what you feel we should be as this is likely to be a powerful limitation. We can have a goal of how we want to improve self w/o feeling inadequate. We’ve had loads of messages from organized religion that we should disrespect self, that we are inherently flawed (sinners). We are NOT. We are exploring individuality under specific circumstances to learn more. Learning & improving self doesn’t mean we are flawed. It is highly positive that we are progressing. We continue learning & expanding through all of eternity. It's an ongoing continual process. Each place we are in is OK & is a vital part of our learning process.

Shift from looking at life’s choices as ‘bad’ or ‘mistakes.’ They are just choices. If one choice doesn’t prove to be productive, we have limitless options to make another choice.

Everyone is on their journey & will process it as they need to, so don’t waste time in grading the progress of others’ journeys or ranking your self in comparison to them. We are all on the same journey a precious few steps apart. The only journey we need to be concerned about is our own.

Oneness isn’t about being insignificant at all. It is about realizing our importance & partnership w/ the Universe. Some religious teachings have promoted that we are to be humble & are nothing in comparison to the greatness of the religion’s deity. These teachings are designed to keep us from connecting w/ our divine energies & to keep us disempowered, feeling separated & inferior from the other energies in the Universe.

Those who consider themselves to be more enlightened than others can be counted on to not truly be enlightened! The more we learn the more we realize we have to learn.

Newbie→Lightworker→Wayshower-
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh....php?p=150153#

Greetings..

The concept of Ego is a contrived description of a perfectly natural aspect of Wholeness.. the use of the concept as a tool for manipulating awareness is much more insiduous than the necessity of an identity (ego).. typically, we use the word 'ego' to describe the 'we' we wish we weren't, a scapegoat of a concept where we dump our undesirable traits, but.. people are generally very willing to take ownership of their desirable traits, though.. before Freud popularized the concept of 'ego', we were actually more mentally healthy, holistic..

Be well..

Originally Posted by TzuJanLi

...

The concept of Ego is a contrived description of a perfectly natural aspect of Wholeness... we use the word 'ego' to describe the 'we' we wish we weren't, a scapegoat of a concept where we dump our undesirable traits, ... before Freud popularized the concept of 'ego', we were actually more mentally healthy, holistic...

While much of the Freudian view of ego still hang on in general culture, decades ago the psychotherapy profession moved past Freud’s meaning of ego.

One of the necessary steps in meaningful energetic/spiritual development is to take 100% ownership of all of our energies, even the ones we aren’t keen on.

When ego is viewed as something that is beyond our control, generating undesirable thoughts & behavior, this sets up a very disempowering dynamic of our energies for us. While it may be handy to have a ready scapegoat (ego) for the repository of that which we know is undesirable, it is hugely disempowering to imagine that some force (ego) is out of our control & causing us to act in an undesirable manner.

It was a trendy & most unfortunate fad in some New Age circles to promote the idea of ego death. This is a good example of a idea that got woefully off track as it promoted the idea that self/ego wasn't OK.

While the self/ego is expanded to encompass a larger perspective as one expands consciousness & we move past the sole perspective of individuality, the process isn’t about eliminating ego/self & replacing it w/ our multidimensional SELF. As we naturally expand dimensionally we will get to a place where our perspective shifts from primarily individual to that of group consciousness.