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Although its bases are in themselves relatively unknown and unconscious, the ego is a conscious factor par excellence. It is even acquired, empirically speaking, during the individual's lifetime. It seems to arise in the first place fromt he collision between the somatic factor and the environment, and, once established as a subject, it goes on developing from further collisions with the outer world and the inner.
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I have suggested calling the total personality which, though present, cannot be fully known, the self. The ego is, by definition, subordinate to the self and is related to it like a part to the whole. Inside the field of consciousness it has, as we say, free will. By this I do not mean anything philosophical, only the well-known psychological fact of "free choice," or rather the subjective feeling of freedom. By, just as our free will clases with necessity in the outside world, so also it finds its limist outside the field of consciousness in the subjective inner world, where it comes into conflict with the facts of the self. And just as circumstances or outside events "ahppen" to us and limit out freedom, so the self acts upon the ego like an objective occurence which free will can do very little to alter. It is, indeed, well known that the ego not only can do nothing against the self, but is sometimes actually assimilated by unconscious components of the personality that are in the process of development and is greatly altered by them.

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In Freud's theory, the ego mediates between the id, the super-ego and the external world. Its task is thus to find a balance between primitive drives, morals and reality. Although in his early writings Freud equated the ego with the sense of self, he later began to portray it more as a set of psychic functions such as reality-testing, defence, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.

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The Buddhist doctrine of egolessness seems to be a bit confusing to westerners. I think this is because there is some confusion as to what is meant by ego. Ego, in the Buddhist sense, is quite different from the Freudian ego. The Buddhist ego is a collection of mental events classified into five categories, called skandhas, loosely translated as bundles, or heaps.

If we were to borrow a western expression, we could say that "in the beginning" things were going along quite well. At some point, however, there was a loss of confidence in the way things were going. There was a kind of primordial panic which produced confusion about what was happening. Rather than acknowledging this loss of confidence, there was an identification with the panic and confusion. Ego began to form. This is known as the first skandha, the skandha of form.

After the identification with confusion, ego begins to explore how it feels about the formation of this experience. If we like the experience, we try to draw it in. If we dislike it, we try to push it away, or destroy it. If we feel neutral about it, we just ignore it. The way we feel about the experience is called the skandha of form; what we try to do about it is known as the skandha of impulse/perception.

The next stage is to try to identify, or label the experience. If we can put it into a category, we can manipulate it better. Then we would have a whole bag of tricks to use on it. This is the skandha of concept. The final step in the birth of ego, is called the skandha of consciousness. Ego begins to churn thoughts and emotions around and around. This makes ego feel solid and real. The churning around and around is called samsara -- literally, to whirl about. The way ego feels about its situation (skandha of feeling) determines which of the six realms of existence it creates for itself.

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Ego, in psychology, is that part of the self system that coordinates and integrates all of the personality aspects into one cohesive whole. Ego also mediates between the person and the outside world and is responsible for self-regulation and self-control meaning control over the instincts and impulses. It is capable of delaying rewards and feedback if it is mature. Ego is tuned in to all aspects of self-preservation including defense of the self-image or self-concept. It is conscious, in a limited sense compared to the Higher Self; but, nevertheless, it is awake and in touch with external realities and many of the internal ones. When the identity crisis has been safely navigated, the ego maintains a center of self-sameness and continuity over time. It is that part of us which, in waking life, recognizes ourselves as the same persons we were yesterday and the day before. In that capacity, it is connected to the memory bank.

Unfortunately ego, itself having been generated in association with parental training, is primarily invested in maintaining the false self. The false self, you will remember, is basically the self-image and personality that are constructed out of feedback from whoever is raising the child. It is called the false self because it is not the whole Self. Parts of it are hidden or repressed by ego. It is composed of those aspects of the personality that are "allowed out," so to speak, those parts of ourselves that are judged to be acceptable to others. You could think of ego as being in cahoots with the agents of socialization, so it protects and maintains whatever aspects of the self that are compatible with the norm. Both ego and personality were raised together like siblings in the same family. So they share the same values and outlook on life. The parts of self that are "out of sync" with ego's and personality's shared reality are relegated to the dungeons of the unconscious where they languish in solitary confinement. However, ego is essential to mental health because, by definition, one who does not have an ego or adequate ego strength is psychotic. A person without an ego is awash in chaos, at the mercy of the unconscious in all of its ungroundedness, archetypal and raw energies. Consciousness can be a place of intense terror and disorganization without an ego's mediation. A psychotic person cannot defend him/herself against invasions by others or the environment, so is likely to be incredibly anxious.

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Ego in Eastern traditions is that part of ourselves that maintains the illusion of separateness and duality. As such, it is the major obstacle to enlightenment because it keeps us distanced from the dynamic Ground or the Ultimate Reality. Its major characteristic in this role is ignorance in the sense of ignoring something. It has forgotten who it is and has become attached to all manner of worldly objects, ideas, attitudes and people. All of these stand between the individual and unity consciousness. We become invested in satisfying our desires and wants and protecting our self-centered projects and agendas. Buddhists see ego as the source of suffering, cultural illness and neurosis.

In Yoga, ego is that part of self that wants its own way, wants to control everything and is unwilling to surrender to a higher power. It is the main obstacle to enlightenment because it rigidly defends the status quo and blocks access to higher levels of consciousness. In fact, it is generally unaware that there are realities beyond its own experience. It tends to be self-important, self-centered and selfish. What it wants is central to its attention and focus. And it wants its own way, wants to control everything and is unwilling to surrender to a higher power. It is the main obstacle to enlightenment because it rigidly defends the status quo and blocks access to higher levels of consciousness. In fact, it is generally unaware that there are realities beyond its own experience. It tends to be self-important, self-centered and selfish. What it wants is central to its attention and focus. And what it wants is what it was taught to want during its formative years. In our society, it is also likely to be materialistic, greedy and power-oriented.

Obviously there is some overlap in these two sets of definitions. But you want to be careful to understand that, in talking about ego death or getting rid of ego, we are not advocating destruction of the ego that maintains sanity in the psychological sense although there may be times when one feels that way. The best way to remember the distinction between legitimate ego and the ego that needs to be destroyed is that legitimate ego's roles are integrative while the dispensable ego is controlling, self-centered, and self-willed.

This being said, we shall proceed first with an outline of the psychological development of ego, then follow with the eastern teachings on ego. After dealing with the theories, we will look at how we can work with the ego toward higher levels of consciousness.

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fresh313 said:
skorp went wrong with that avatar. im gonna have to put u on ignore now skorp old buddy.

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I think there is a way to make avatars not visible like how you can do it with the signatures, which I did a while back for the same reason.

My daughter comes around a lot when I am reading here and I can't have her mind warped looking at porn at age 9.  I'm going to have to turn of my avatar view feature off or put you on ignore too skorp.