Ego is a good thing

[Ahriman]

Something I fear is that, at some point in my soul's journey, I will forget the importance of being rooted in the ego, and forget how I was burnt by spirituality in the past, and that I will then repeat the mistake I made when I was 19 and send myself back to square one.

Originally Posted by Ahriman

Something I fear is that, at some point in my soul's journey, I will forget the importance of being rooted in the ego, and forget how I was burnt by spirituality in the past, and that I will then repeat the mistake I made when I was 19 and send myself back to square one.

Being rooted in ego is the problem. Just examine your above quote. "I fear" is being rooted in ego. Craving and aversion.

Originally Posted by SpiritualFreedom

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.

Enough said. I see why ego appeals

Originally Posted by Ahriman

Something I fear is

That's ego - just sayin'...

Not that there's anything wrong with that of course. Enjoy le fruits.

JL

[BlueElephant]

There is always ego while in a body - does it cause pain & suffering, or does it make love and smile and imbibe trustworthy companionship, happiness and sincerity?

Does it uplift, does it cause anger and hatred to spread like wildfire?

[BlueElephant]

Originally Posted by Ahriman

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.

This is why there are trainings (cultivation(s)) in place to love God with all your heart, body/mind and soul and your neibhor as yourself.

and Namaste (Namaskar) I regard/ recognize the divinity in you. We love God The spiritual bliss and we learn to cultivate love for others, as God in some way resides in each being. Then the above trap will not happen.

Just some food for thought Ahriman and others.

[Jyotir]

It is not that ego is necessarily bad; there is nothing wrong with living a conditionally appropriate ego-based life.

The ego as a separative cognition is actually for a long time / series of incarnations developed and consolidated as an expedient for a stage in the evolutionary development of human beings that allows for “the enjoyment of life”. But that so-called “enjoyment” is and must be by nature necessarily fraught with the conditional ignorance that ego is and sees the world by - it is separative by nature - therefore creating more pain, suffering, confusion, and falsehood. That is a fundamental problem of ego, although mostly this is unconscious, including as evidenced by much discussion in its defence for those newly awakened and very accustomed to its apparent “benefits”. This difficulty includes seeing it and realizing it as the origin of dissatisfaction in life.

Ego is/becomes problematic in 2 ways:

1) in the aforementioned results of life lived in ignorance of Spirit, truth, Oneness - none of which ego by nature can be conscious of, as it is intrinsically an ignorant separative cognition of reality,
but also…

2) it is especially problematic when one becomes awakened and begins to aspire spiritually. Indeed it is the higher light of truth beginning to descend into the being which begins to reveal it as such, in which case the ego becomes, or rather is increasingly understood as a predominant impediment to the realization of truth, Oneness, Spirit because by its very nature as ignorant separative cognition, it cannot receive, know, and act in truth, since it is fundamentally a falsehood and a figure of the illusion that is part of the physical Nature.

Granted, it is very difficult to conceive of this, and certainly an arduous process
to let go of this long-lived perception and habit developed and perpetuated through many incarnations,
but that is the very challenge of a conscious deliberate spiritual practice.

~ J

[lemex]

Originally Posted by Ahriman

Something I fear is that, at some point in my soul's journey, I will forget the importance of being rooted in the ego, and forget how I was burnt by spirituality in the past, and that I will then repeat the mistake I made when I was 19 and send myself back to square one.

May I ask so I may understand. When saying in some point of souls journey, does this concern of forgetting apply to this incarnation or does this mean future ones in reincarnation. Obviously there is no concern of repetition in this one.

[Ahriman]

Originally Posted by lemex

May I ask so I may understand. When saying in some point of souls journey, does this concern of forgetting apply to this incarnation or does this mean future ones in reincarnation. Obviously there is no concern of repetition in this one.

Like you said, there's no reason I would forget what happened in my present incarnation, I meant that I might forget as another person (same soul) and that it would be problematic if that happened. Even if I didn't get burned again, and things worked out for one of my future incarnations, that poses a problem for my present incarnation, because it would mean my honoring of the ego would be a mistake, and nothing more than a tragic misstep during the evolution of my soul, and it would mean my present life is/was for nothing.

[Mystik]

For me it's more about controlling the ego rather than letting it control you and making decisions based on it. Typically I feel that anytime you do something that is to spite someone elese or get revenge then that is using the ego for bad and is to be avoided. If you train to run for a marathon and afterwards your ego is boosted because of that accomplishment I don't really see anything wrong with that unless you rub other people's noses in it. I remember once someone bragging to me that she could do calculus and because I couldn't(an assumption she made)that I was somehow dumber or inferior to her. That's also an example of the negative side of ego(imo).