Unconventional ways to study ego...

[The White Belt]

Obviously nothing beats observing the self, yourself.

 

But there are other ways to study ego externally that can be helpful;

I'd like to propose that reading shakespeare is a good way to study the ego.

Not only do you have some wonderfully written, high-conscious literature with a beautiful use of language, you also have a lot of 

big egos, a lot of self-sabotaging behavior, examples of power getting out of control, backwards rationalization and so on and so forth. 

King Lear, Hamlet, The Winter's Tale; these are all good plays to see how the ego is the devil in action. 

All the main characters in these plays are neurotic to the VERY BONE. 

Also this constitutes as high-conscious entertainment IMO.

If you are interested, i'd recommend buying the plays with modern English translations by the side of the Shakespearean text.

 

You can contribute your less-known or unconventional ways that you like to study the ego...

 

[Toby]

Iago in Othello is a pretty good display of aspects of the ego.

[The White Belt]

@Toby Sweet! Dispite it's popularity, I haven't read it! 
I like Leontes, in The winter's tale. He basically indirectly kills his whole family, just via his ego. 

[Joseph Maynor]

I need to take a deep dive into Shakespeare myself.  That's on my list of things to do in life.  I want to visit England and walk the grounds that he walked and breathe the air that he breathed first though.  I want to imagine what life was like at the time he was alive and what his life must have been like, and what his performances would have looked like.  I would probably even bring some of his writings with me to England and read them there.  That's how I do this kind of work.  I did this with Confucius -- I read him when I stayed in Taipei, Taiwan for 2 weeks, and it was amazing.  I would walk through ancient temples with the book in my pocket.  I would go sit in a pagoda and read for a while and drink tea, etc.  Taiwan is more ancient than China because it never went through Mao's Cultural Revolution.

I read Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle when I stayed in Athens, Greece for 2 weeks.  That was incredible.  I went to the location of Plato's Academy and saw the ruins of Aristotle's Lyceum.  I walked the Ancient Agora where Socrates , Plato, Aristotle, etc. used to hang out.  I saw the Parthenon, etc.  That was the best 2 weeks of my life so far.  

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[The White Belt]

@Joseph Maynor OMG. Just reading that, I am inspired, haha. 

I might have to do the same with Shakespeare. Stratford-upon-Avon isn't far from me at all.