ego
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)
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.comWe 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
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
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
Here Jung defines the ego as follows: “It forms, as it were, the centre of the field of consciousness; and, in so far as this comprises the empirical personality, the ego is the subject of all personal acts of consciousness.”2 Consciousness is a “field,” and what Jung calls the “empirical personality” here is our personality as we are aware of it
... See moreMurray Stein • Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction
The fire symbolized in Mercurius can be interpreted as the unconscious manifesting in our being through a vital impulse or élan vital that drives us toward our process of individuation, that is, toward the development of our authenticity, of the unique individual that we are. This internal force is not merely an uncontrolled energy, but an... See more
Alchemist • Carl Jung: Mercurius, the fire of transformative potential
Does the ego require a dying process, as the themes of myth and alchemy suggest?
Dr. 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
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