Page last updated: Dec 3, 2021 @ 12:03 pm

In its most basic sense what is commonly refereed to as an “ego” is a concept of oneself – an aggregate of notions, ideas and perceptions about what one is – and it stems from a form of intelligence identified in this project as “identity-consciousness” – intelligence that thinks and perceives in terms of identities.

In other words, a concept of “self” as an identifiable “object” as separate from “others” along with ideas about self and others are a product of normal functions of the human mind that can identify and form perceptions of various objects within its operating environment.

Engagement in practices aimed at somehow eliminating the “ego” are futile in nature since “identification of self” as separate from other identifiable objects in the environment is integrated into the fabric of mind’s operation without which no perception of reality would be possible.

Fighting the “ego” can actually lead someone to a condition of insanity (some form of dysfunction of the mind – see page SANITY AND INSANITY) on the subject of (human) identities where an individual looses an ability to form rational concepts of self and others and so can loose an ability to perceive self and others in a clear and coherent (organized) manner.

The sense of being “trapped” in identities stems from inability to form and change concepts of self at will – that is, the lack of ability to create and assume identities of one’s choosing. Getting “fixed” in some web of concepts about self is a problem of mind’s operation and is resolved by engaging in exercises to ENHANCE an ability to form concepts of various identities – in effect taking over and mastering the mental faculty of “identity creation.”

THE EGO IS TRANSCENDED BY TAKING OVER THE PHENOMENON OF ITS CREATION

 

Creative Processing Questions

These can be asked on a repeated basis until someone has a major realization (example: What could you be? … Ok. What could you be?… Thank you. What could you be?)

– What could you be?

– How would you like to see yourself?

– What could __someone else__ be? (substitute “someone else” with target person identity: your mother/father/spouse/friend/employer… etc).

 

From considering specific identities, someone could simply be asked to list various identities one can think of:

 – What could someone be?

 

Another exercise is described on page SANITY AND INSANITY of observing different people in real time and describing them. Look at a person and ask: “What could you tell about that person?” This should be done with another person but could be done by oneself with limited workability since an important factor of communicating one’s observations to another is missing.