ego
This aspect of Sol niger can show itself when consciousness becomes unconsciously critical. Alchemically, the heat is turned up too high, and the ego's skin is burnt, blackened, or tortured with stinging criticism, producing shame and threatening bodily integrity. Hillman describes a similar process of mortification-when the ego feels trapped or
... See moreDr. Stanton Marlan • The Black Sun: The Alchemy and Art of Darkness (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology Book 10)
the “I” in the dream is usually the least trustworthy part. Often at night our dream ego—the “I” in the dream—is confronted by figures that frighten, denigrate, or frustrate. Upon awakening, we tend to side with our dream ego and assume that the figures that have crossed us in the dream are mistaken or threatening. Usually, however, the new
... See moreJoseph Lee LCSW • Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams
The ego is like an overprotective mother in the extreme. Just as this hypervigilant mother will not let her child explore and have fun playing on the jungle gym for fear of getting hurt, your ego will not let you explore and have fun with life because of the perceived danger.
Russell Kennedy • Anxiety Rx: A New Prescription for Anxiety Relief from the Doctor Who Created It
Nearly every problem we face, whether it’s anxiety, conflict, addiction, insecurity, political division, or even the suffering passed down through generations, all comes from one mistake: we think we are the mind. We mistake the voice in our head for “me,” and then spend our entire lives defending, protecting, validating, and obeying it. The mind... See more
Damien Echolssubstack.comAfter formulating the second phase of the transcendent function, the bringing together of the opposites for the production of the third (the first being the emergence of the unconscious material), Jung adds another critical component. Though it may seem somewhat counterintuitive given the importance of the unconscious in Jung’s psychology, he
... See moreJoan Chodorow • The Transcendent Function
Our ego spends so much energy creating a fragmented identity—constantly categorizing, dividing, and keeping us trapped in dualistic thinking. Jung called this “directed thinking” (CW 7, para. 483), where the mind separates everything into binaries: self and other, good and bad, light and dark. This way of seeing the world reinforces our sense of... See more
Jennifer Leela • Carl Jung’s Path to Spiritual Awakening: A Journey Toward Wholeness
we might regard ego from soul's perspective where ego becomes an instrument for day-to-day coping, nothing more grandiose than a trusty janitor of the planetary houses, a servant of soul-making.
James Hillman • The Essential James Hillman: A Blue Fire
Under those conditions, the ego is primarily concerned with predicting every outcome of every situation, because it is overfocused on the outer world and feels completely separated from the 99.99999 percent of reality. In fact, the more we define reality through our senses, the more this reality becomes our law.
Joe Dispenza • Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
As the psychologist James Hollis puts it, “Your ego prefers certainty to uncertainty, predictability over surprise, clarity over ambiguity.8 Your ego always wants to shroud over the barely audible murmurings of the heart.” The ego, says Lee Hardy, wants you to choose a job and a life that you can use as a magic wand to impress others.