Ego: the Journey Continues

This is a reply from a preivous blog on the Website, Esotericonline.ning.com...The reply was about Ego which was mentioned in the previous blog posted here. Enjoy!

Tris replied to one of my blogs and he gave me an alchemical process of clearing Ego but also notified me that Ego is not entirely bad. So I realized that maybe my words were misinterpreted or I failed to clearly write in the blog exactly what I meant. So with this post I will put all the energy towards explaining what Ego is and the processes of realization that come from it and how it is bad and also good.
First we have to know what Ego is. Now I will never give a text book definition, but I will give you an interpretation from what I have learned in my life and with coaching and helping others. Ego is the individual aspect of yourself that is molded by society, your environment and you experiences in life. I would also like to add that Ego is also your level of ignorance or in sense awareness.
Now, Ego can easily be seen as good. It creates our individuality; it provides us with our level of thoughts, imagination and creativity. It brings out our personality and really makes us the people we are today. So in a sense Ego is the ultimate learning experience. It is that which allows us to learn. I guess you can call it your level of learning awareness also. But see this good aspect of Ego can be exploited, misused, misguided, mislead, and even manipulated.
See you are not born with Ego. You are born with a clean slate so to say. In a neurological sense Ego is created like this. When an infant is born their brains only have a few amounts of wrinkling. This wrinkling is thought to be neural network pathways forming. When you are growing up and experiencing certain things and events those pathways start to become molded in a certain shape. Think of it like in electronics. The electrons always take the path of least resistance. So when your mind is forming these neural pathways they form in the easiest ways possible so that the signals can travel with the least resistance. Now imagine lightening in the clouds. The current forms pathways in the clouds under the path of least resistance. This is almost exactly how the neural pathways in the brain form. Think of those neural pathways as thought patterns or ways of thinking. When you keep thinking the same way you mold that pathway and your brain knows to use it next time because it has the least resistance.
So now we can see these neural networks forming. Well in every human these networks are all different. No one thinks the same way. Everyone’s pathway is formed differently. This can easily be attributed how we are brought up in life. Not one person, even twins will have the same experiences, thoughts, feelings or paths in life. That means that individuality will dominate. This biological sense of individuality is Ego. It is accomplished through a process, it is not who we are in reality, it is a product of our environment and can be changed anytime.
Now this does not mean that we can live without it and I think this is where people might have got confused in my blogs and I am sorry for that. Sometimes in writing, we are not the one really writing and just because I can understand it and see it in my mind doesn’t mean that someone reading it will understand it the same.
The point I was trying to get to with overcoming ego was to overcome this conditioned ego. The one you formed unknowingly and unwillingly. The one the society had a chance to manipulate. The one that has taken years of electromagnetic interference, the one that you question today.
Why? Well this Ego that you have formed allows you a limited perspective on reality. It only allows you to experience things in a certain way. It only shows you what it has been conditioned to know reality is. This is why drugs have a significant perspective change on individuals. It takes those bio processes and changes the pathways or receptors allowing the experiencer to have a different perspective on reality. Think if you didn’t need drugs to do that? Think if only it was a formularized conditioning that you did to yourself that allowed you to change the pathways in your mind? Well it is.
You might be wondering, why is Ego bad or in a lot of sense I use, evil? The reason is because ego is that limiting factor that holds you from attaining that which you seek; it is that voice that creates fear and doubt. It is that personality that always gets you in binds. It is that way of thinking that creates unsolvable scenarios for you. It is that which drives addiction. It is that which impedes your spiritual growth, and for a good reason. It is the tool, the ultimate measure of experience. It is that which protects that esoteric knowledge. For all knowledge is already contained within us we just must overcome the ignorance of this lower self in order to obtain it.
So like anything in the world Ego has its two balances. Good and Evil. It is the ultimate double edged sword. But we must also remember that in order to truly awaken that being within we must overcome our own ignorance. We must pass the test. We must control our minds to think the way we want to think, to experience the way we want to experience, to create the way we want to create and to grow the way we want to grow. This first comes with the realization that Ego impedes all the latter. Next comes with recognizing those moments in your life when any such Ego centered perspective comes through and when they do you make note and inform your mind of how you want it to change. Essentially you are breaking habits. You are changing patterns of thought. You are retuning yourself to a different level, in where you can think on multilevel of perspective instead of a very narrow band.
So I have given a few hints on how to overcome this side of ego that we find undesirable, Tris gave the Alchemical version which I recommend every read. In every great metaphysical and religious sect you will find versions of how to do this, but one thing I have learned is that we are not all the same and that all the information in the world that is right at our fingertips is only that, information. When I read a book on how to meditate I keep in mind that this was how this person does it. I am different. I can take their method and make it work for me. Recently what I have realized is that no book, person, sage, religion, philosophy or instruction can show you how to do anything, they only can give examples of how they did it. The real answer to all your questions is inside you. You already know how to overcome the fears and doubts. Some of you are scared because it will create a dramatic life change. Some of you are weary as for addiction runs your life and escaping the pains and sorrows of it are something you are not ready for yet.
My best recommendation to anyone is to gather the will power, cleanse the temple completely, retrain your mind to fit within your goals and aspirations, and listen to your heart. In this process on whatever way you work it out for you, you will find where your real priorities in life lay, you will find that thing that truly impedes your growth.
Always as before if anyone is interested in private sessions I am available. I hope that my words inspire and motivate many and with others I hope it allows you to obtain your goals in life. As for me, I am a student as well as you, I am figuring out this great mystery as the time goes by I was just luck enough to be raised with a perspective that taught me the box never existed.
As Remco would say, Hugs to all, in all light and love may peace be with you.
Joshua