Spiritual Ego - The "shadow" Of Personal Growth?

[Mal]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on what a 'spiritual ego' is.

I suspect myself to have a huge spiritual ego, and I'm only just becoming aware of what it is, how it's keeping me trapped.

However, I would like to say that I would have never realized this if I had not given myself the opportunity to see my ego in action, on this forum.  So I see there benefits in being able to speak one's mind in the company of some very understanding people.  It's a bit like group therapy.

What are your thoughts?  

Edited July 15, 2016 by Mal

[Mal]

Here is what Aurobindo has to say about spiritual ego: https://auromere.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/spiritual-ego/

[Flicker_boy]

well, I know that fighting the spiritual ego won't help. For most part I just let it be and express and watch its shortcommings. Also trying to be very aware of when I have some theory or absolute idea I'm defending and/or trying to propagate and perpetuate them

[key]

Hmmm..

The spiritual ego, could it be just another form of expression?

"I see the relaity of my experience very clearly" your (ego's) understanding of this works is very high, you have knowledge and wisdom to help others, as well as develop yourself, you implement that knowledge into your daily life, moment by moment, you see the motions of your experience set into play, the workings of the mind, your understanding is deep and your experience is encompassing, your mind is able to pull apart any concept by the seams, any problem at its threads, you know you have the power to self actualise, because you out of many can see.

Every word we express in its essence is the ego's, the identity by which your human flesh must operate to survive will always be present, but having that identity know that it knows could be the 'spiritual ego' ? .It can always have a better understanding, more knowledge, better concepts, in the end to trancend is to move past all that. 

 

[99th_monkey]

@Kenya well said. :)a spiritual ego is the same thing as any ego, except it understands all this crap. everyone has heard the term "intellectual understanding" but when you confuse intellectual understanding with grounded experience you end up right where you talking about. it happens, all the time, and while frustrating, i think its a good thing, an experience that (if one is aware enough) to check off the list so-to-speak.  

[WelcometoReality]

@Mal In my experience it's the person clinging on to past spiritual experiences. In hindsight it might seem that these experiences happened to someone but that is just thoughts. "I am enlightened" or "I have had all these experiences" and "That makes me better than everyone else and let's me be a douche to everyone that doesn't know as much as me". I'm overexaggerating a bit 'cause it's not really a conscious thing but unconsciously that's what's believed.

[Mal]

@Kenya

Thanks Kenya.

Your reply is the most insightful. I never thought of it like that 

You actually thought about the question rather than approach it with programming.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Mal

[WelcometoReality]

@Mal Just a word of advice. If you at any time feel that you are right and the other person is wrong, if you feel threatened and have do defend your beliefs, you are identifying with ego. Just be aware of that and look out for those triggers.

[Mal]

3 minutes ago, WelcometoReality said:

@Mal Just a word of advice. If you at any time feel that you are right and the other person is wrong, if you feel threatened and have do defend your beliefs, you are identifying with ego. Just be aware of that and look out for those triggers.

This is nonsense.  The only way to drop beliefs is to be reactive and let them drop by themselves.  You read this in a book and have no idea what you are talking about.  You cant just drop something, there is nobody to drop a belief.

[Mal]

7 minutes ago, WelcometoReality said:

@Mal Just a word of advice. If you at any time feel that you are right and the other person is wrong, if you feel threatened and have do defend your beliefs, you are identifying with ego. Just be aware of that and look out for those triggers.

There is nobody to "be aware",that is just your ego splitting off parts of itself.  Youre clueless

[psychoslice]

How can there be a spiritual ego, the ego is nothing more than an illusion, it sounds like an oxymoron. 

[key]

6 minutes ago, psychoslice said:

the ego is nothing more than an illusion, it sounds like an oxymoron.

Yet the ego exists; that is the oxymoron.

[psychoslice]

37 minutes ago, Kenya said:

Yet the ego exists; that is the oxymoron.

Yes it exist as an illusion, just like the appearance of water in the desert, its there but in truth its not there, its an illusion. 

[key]

@psychoslice 

The illusion is believing you're a human being walking around in a body experiencing the external world with free will.

The ego exists, just not as you think it does.

[MarkusR]

@psychoslice How can you say the dessert isnt just an illusion as well? Whatever we experience with the minds eye is never truly what is there, its all just interpretations. So is the ego real? It is real enough

[30secs]

I remember from Leo's video "Rant against Morality", the Ego has a shadow on it. Example of my ego, "I want to be healthy, so I should not eat junk foods". The shadow of my ego is "I really want to eat junk foods in the first place" but because my Ego wants to be healthy then  I moralize my self.  We hear a lot about Ego, and people above asking well it exist or not since it's just an illusion, yes it exist but it is illusory in nature. Simple as to say I exist as an illusion.

[Mal]

On 16/07/2016 at 7:20 PM, WelcometoReality said:

@Mal  "That makes me better than everyone else and let's me be a douche to everyone that doesn't know as much as me". 

 

1 hour ago, Piotr said:

I think some of you guys confuse awareness with knowing that you are doing something. True awareness is a silent 'What the fuck am I doing', but there's no resistance in it, meaning it has to come spontaneously after the patterns exhaust themselves, so you can't DO awareness which is what I get a sense you're suggesting.

What you're describing is the other end of the same stick that people usually beat themselves with the 'right and wrong' distinction.

@Piotr

Piotr,

This is very insightful and thoughtful.  And you clearly understand this and have not just approached it with programming or something you saw on YouTube. 

What welcome to reality is prescribing is ego bashing ego.  Ego being the judge amd jury or itself and everyone around it. That's the spiritual ego I'm talking about. 

 

[psychoslice]

16 hours ago, Kenya said:

@psychoslice 

The illusion is believing you're a human being walking around in a body experiencing the external world with free will.

The ego exists, just not as you think it does.

How do you see the ego in its existence ?.

[Mal]

16 hours ago, Kenya said:

@psychoslice 

The illusion is believing you're a human being walking around in a body experiencing the external world with free will.

The ego exists, just not as you think it does.

You have been paying attention 

[Mal]

20 hours ago, psychoslice said:

How can there be a spiritual ego, the ego is nothing more than an illusion, it sounds like an oxymoron. 

The ego is an illusion, you're right.  But when boundless energy identifies as an individual self, that self creates ideas, and those ideas are obviously real.  Damn real.  So we could say the ego is true, it's just not absolutely true.

Now, the one who 'choses' to be 'aware', that's not boundless energy, that's just the identity looking at it's own activity,  awareness is choiceless, it's not run or controlled or brought on by anything, certainly not an idea of suggestion to "look"