Ego is a good thing
 

I know the general consensus on these forums and in the spiritual community as a whole is that ego is bad and should be reduced/avoided/destroyed, but I think this is just extremely narrow-minded. Your ego is what allows you to enjoy life as it is, it's what gives you that good feeling when you receive praise, or that satisfaction you feel after eating a whole pint of delicious ice cream, and it's even active when you play or cuddle with your dog. Ego is what seperates life from death, it's what makes us glad to be alive in physical bodies, so that we can experience all the mundane realm has to offer. Ego keeps us grounded in reality; a good example of this is when you fall asleep and dream a dream, and eventually you wake up back into the reliably solid mundane realm, which is especially fortunate if you were having a bad dream. Ego allows us to discern truth from fiction, an important tool for setting boundaries in order to reduce the likelihood of being hurt or used in some way. You know when you're dreaming, and then you wake up, and it's like the dream never happened? Well I think the afterlife will be just as fleeting, and I certainly don't think it will offer the kind of permanent vacation a lof of people are looking for. Nothing is ever that easy, and life is not so simple that you can merely discard your ego, without even knowing why you're really doing it, and expect everything to be okay. The ego is to be cherished, or at least respected. Own it. Make the most of your ego while you still have one, because you don't know what comes after this. You might just end up regretting all the time you spent engaging in anti-ego discussion and activities.

Very good post and finally an alternate view about the ego.

It certainly is a good thing especially when it's flexible :smile:

From my perspective it's neither good nor bad. It's that function of mind that produces the feeling of an embodied self. It's the seat of mistaken identity (mistaking self for Self), of spiritual amnesia.

Well said...

Personally i don't plan to spend the rest of my life being in the 'now' and reaching deep states of meditation for nothing.
Our time here is not unlimited,so better try to make it worth.(whatever that means).

There's always the risk of accessing states of bliss/ecstasy while meditating (or doing something similar) that "spoil" you so to speak, that numb you to the mundane reality of your present situation, in such a way that you might find it difficult to appreciate mundane living after experiencing those states. I tried to escape the "mundane matrix" when I was 19 by meditating and not eating, and got burned badly. It's been 10 years and I still haven't fully recovered.

I agree with you 100%. The Ego is a good thing and Being selfish is a good thing.

You have to always seek & fulfill your own desires, wants and needs always selfishly without any guilt.

If a relationship doesn't fulfill your needs, you cut it off, and look for a better vibrational match for you.

Without any guilts.

Otherwise you will be unhappy & misarable


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There is some things you said incorrectly.

Ego is just your consciousness personality, memories, identification and awareness.

Ego is not your physical body. You're not your physical body.

You are an inmortal consciousness using temporal bodies, to project the awarness in a specifique dimension, time and form you want to experience very temporarily.

Ego is the personality, identity and desires of that inmortal consciousness that you truly are.

You're not a mortal human.

That ego will remain inmortal

Good posts guys.

I can sympathize with what you say here (and everything in your first post), and I applaud you for the courage to start this thread.

'Ego' is our sense of self, our means to identify and differentiate, and being able to relate to others. In some traditions it is, like with communism, about a neglect of self and viewing everyone ''equally''. Anyone who says they love a stranger like me equally as they love their pet or family member or best friend is not very trustworthy to me. A human functions with an 'ego'.