ego
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.comOur 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
When your thoughts become your identity that is called ego. Ego is a case of mistaken identity. You believe that the illusory thoughts that come and go are your true self. Your true self is the dimension of you that does not come and go.
Dicken Bettinger • Coming Home: Uncovering the Foundations of Psychological Well-being
Process-oriented thinking gets around this problem by defining the ego as one of our possible observers. The ego is, to begin with at least, the "I" which identifies itself with the doings of the world.
Arnold Mindell • Working on Yourself Alone
The shadow is that which has not entered adequately into consciousness. It is the despised quarter of our being. It often has an energy potential nearly as great as that of our ego. If it accumulates more energy than our ego, it erupts as an overpowering rage or some indiscretion that slips past us; or we have a depression or an accident that seems
... See moreRobert A. Johnson • Owning Your Own Shadow
Jungian analyst David Rosen's work Transforming Depression contributes to our understanding of such a death process. In that book Rosen coins the term "egocide" to describe the symbolic death necessary to the transformative process, a process in which the psyche is pushed beyond its defenses. He states that symbolic death "leads to a ... greater
... See moreDr. Stanton Marlan • The Black Sun: The Alchemy and Art of Darkness (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology Book 10)
We use the term “ego” to signify the inauthentic “I” or self (with a small “s”) that develops to survive in difficult environments and to become acceptable to the conventional world. We view ego as the result of many inevitable adaptations to forces that cannot tolerate the authentic expressions of the Self—helplessness in a small boy develops into
... See moreSteven Wolf • Romancing the Shadow
EGO: The Ultimate Deity: Reflections of the Formation of the Self, its Madness, its Genius
jungian.directory
But ego is not a thing. Ego is a process. Ego is the ongoing act of identifying with thoughts, memories, desires, and fears. When this identification stops, the ego vanishes instantly. There is nothing to kill, cleanse, or battle. There is only a pattern of thinking.