Comments on: Ego Thinks, Therefore, Ego Is

By: Matthew Williams

Matthew Williams — Fri, 16 May 2014 10:39:30 +0000

Sandy,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and thought provoking comments on the Ego! Wonderful information regarding the Buddhist and Integral Theory’s views on Ego and Ego defenses. Moving away from our negative reflexive Ego habits is an arduous task and one that entails three steps forward, two steps back. As always we must forgive our two steps back movement and not over-celebrate our three steps forward. After all, it is the path and not the destination that offers us the greatest reward.
Thank you so much for providing this additional information both for me and for other readers!

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 16 May 2014 07:11:53 +0000

Excellent article – it is as how I understand it to be from theoretical studies and also from practical experience – this article is a great way to present the information…….

However, just one small comment re the words “These tools show us that the Ego is a reactionary rather than (True Self) primary process. The Ego is a reflex and nothing more. We may not be able to stop the reactions of the Ego, but we can certainly attempt to direct our awareness elsewhere.

We can start the process to stop/reverse the (negative) reactions of the ego…. these on-board negativities are called ‘shadow elements’ in Integral Philosophy terms… and are called samskara (deep habit patterns) in Buddhism. Negativity has intensity (also called colour or klishtas in Buddhism) and so the aim is to bit by bit fade the intensity of constantly arising infraction…. we can slowly but surely delete, delete, delete unwanted and unhealthy ‘shadow’ with repeated awareness and meditation/contemplation and Consciousness Transformational research pathways that can also assist by providing anchor points and directional pointers.

By: Patty Barnett

Patty Barnett — Sun, 11 May 2014 23:56:15 +0000

This is very interesting, thought provoking. I will need to think about this…….