what is the ego made from?

[isabel]

they say "you are not your thoughts and feelings" that never made sense to me

but it would make sense to say that thoughts and feelings create the ego

the thought "I am angry" and the feeling that goes with it creates an image, idea, or sense of an angry person, an ego

so the ego is made from or created by thoughts and feelings

is it right?

[Mason Riggle]

@isabel sounds about right. Often 'ego' is defined as 'identifying' with thoughts and feelings. 

Organisms think, and occasionally, one of the thoughts they have is 'there's a separate 'me' inside 'my organism' who's aware of the thoughts'.. but that's just more thought. 

[Tim R]

@isabel My first instinct would be to tell you that the ego is a thought, attachment, i.e. identification. 

But I feel that this is already saying too much.

The ego is not even a thought

[gettoefl]

ego is the way of creating two out of one, duality from unity, all thoughts and feelings do this, they create two where there is one

take boredom, its polar opposite is excitement ... mind fluctuates between these two dualities

the one is equanimity, this is boredom and excitement transcended, everything is fine everything is well everything is unfolding beautifully

[Etherial Cat]

I would say energy.

There is both a rigidity to it in the form of structure and then there is some sort of tainted consciousness content in it.

At least, this is how I picture it.

[Nahm]

You. 

[zeroISinfinity]

3 minutes ago, Nahm said:

You. 

Who is my gf then? 

[tries to hide  confusion] 

[zeroISinfinity]

Just to keep my dog away and safe from Enlightenment stuff. That makes me suspicious hmm... 

Edited March 25, 2021 by zeroISinfinity

[Rilles]

I would say its identification with perception... But I dont know how this identification happens... If I did I would be Awake

[Waken]

Well, if you look for the ego, you won't find it (as a thing). I think I read in Conversations with God something like "the ego are the ideas you have of yourself", which sounds about right to me

[Sempiternity]

If you use the analogy of reality being a first person video game, and everything on the screen being consciousness. Lets say the 'main character' had an inner dialog that you hear. He's thinking about things, thinking about his feeling of being say cold, or lonely, or suffering about something. What would those thoughts and feelings be made of? What would the main character be made of?

Edited March 25, 2021 by Sempiternity

[Dazgwny]

I remember an awakening experience I had and the point where the ego reconstructed itself. It was insane. Like everything happened in two’s. I went from this non dual single as though I was everything, to going from one separation, and then everything sort of was going one two one two one two, I was the one, then whatever I looked at became the two. This happened with everything I was aware of in consciousness if that’s the right way to frame it, including likes and dislikes, it was like yes or no yes or no to everything, everything that I personally knew existed in this world. But it was going at a mega speed, like if ya just flick through every page of a book or something from start to finish. I was totally aware of how my ego had been constructed down the years over time, but this happened at ultra speed, the whole thing reconstructing in a matter of seconds, 20-30 something like that I don’t know, as if before my very eyes. It was so powerful it was unstoppable, just happening like a building erecting itself super fast. I understood in that moment how powerful of an illusion the ego is, and why it’s so difficult to break through it. In a sober state I’ve never managed to do it, not through meditation or any other means. Only through the use of psychedelics have I been able to. It truly is an amazing construct the ego, genius at work

[Leo Gura]

Ego is a state of consciousness.

Ego sits much deeper than thoughts, beliefs, or feelings. Which is why the ego doesn't go away simply if you stop thinking for a while.

[Jodistrict]

If you observe closely enough you will notice that there isn’t just one ego but most people have more than one ego or personality.  They protect us from anxiety and strong emotions and are triggered by different situations and contexts.  For example, you may have a Mr. Careful that obsessively plans to avoid errors and mistakes, but when that fails and the moment of crisis arises, Mr. Panic is activated and screams and breaks things.  If you can get them to talk to each other, they can work out a more balanced strategy.   The behavior is highly automatic, so is mostly unconscious.  The thoughts are automatically generated and repetitive with no new insights.   We are numbed out by our ego defense mechanisms.  They protect us but at the cost of not feeling alive.  It is like walking through life in a hazmat suit.  While under the toad, my defense mechanisms deactivated and I felt all the repressed emotions of years all come up at once resulting in a cathartic experience.  I felt an aliveness I have never experienced before and a strong conviction that the reality I was experiencing was more real than my waking life.  I felt what is was like to not be numb.

[Breakingthewall]

the ego is you, the person, the i. the separate individual who becomes aware of himself and distinguishes between himself and what he is not. We usually call ego to the social  ego, the concept we have of ourselves, our place in the group. but it has more layers. the last is the being that has to survive. without ego there is no separate you, you are the reality. there is no difference between life and death

[Moksha]

Consciousness is everything, and every nothing. It encompasses all, including even the ego. Without the ego, how else would Consciousness be able to forget itself, and find itself, within relative reality?

It is all Consciousness, in different states of Self-Awareness.

[ilja]

@Etherial Cat show me

[Megan Alecia]

From human consciousness. Animals have no ego. 

[ilja]

@Megan Alecia lies

3 minutes ago, Megan Alecia said:

Animals have no ego. 

 

[Megan Alecia]

@ilja ?