Quote:
Originally Posted by Honza
How do you see the relationship between the ego and the "I". In the West the ego and the "I" are often seen as the same psychological thing. In the East it is slightly different, whereby you can have the universal inner "I" which is very different from the outer ego.
I am slowly coming to understand that because of my fear of ego I have actually supressed my own inner "I". I was equating all "I" with ego. But in fact I am learning that there is a healthy "I" and there is a ego "I".
There is also the findings of modern psychology which understands that suppression of various parts of the ego causes illness. I think I may be a prime example of this case.
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Yes, sometimes the ego and I are the same thing. It depends on my state of mind or what I am filling my awareness with.
Of course, other times my mind is engrossed in something else, and I am nowhere to be found. I read a story about a free climber who said he liked to climb mountains without any safety ropes because it required his complete concentration to survive. He may start at the bottom of a cliff, and end up at the top and have no memory of how he got there, the "I" had been pushed out of existence for a time as his entire mind focused on the climb.
I tend to look at it as "I am ____." With the blank being the ego, the soul, a piece of music, anything, everything, or nothing at all.
The mind is like water, it takes the shape of the container it is poured into.