"Do People Really Not Understand Ego?"
Summary
TLDRThe script discusses the difference between thoughts, emotions, ego, and consciousness. It explains that the ego is the sense of 'I' or 'me', while thoughts and emotions are separate functions. Though tricky to observe, the ego can be witnessed just like thoughts and emotions. Consciousness is the ultimate observer that experiences all of these, remaining unchanged. The ego does not observe itself when dominant. Through practices like mindfulness, one can become more aware and look beyond the ego to pure consciousness, where there is no infinite regression of observers. This allows one to understand the ego more objectively.
Takeaways
- 😀 The mind has different parts that can observe and act on each other - thoughts, emotions, ego, awareness, consciousness
- 💡 Thoughts and ego are not the same - you can think without ego
- 🧠 Ego relates to a sense of 'I', 'me', 'mine'
- 👥 Comparisons often involve ego - judging the self relative to others
- 📝 Egoless states are possible - like when jumping into cold water, you just exist without identity
- 🔍 Consciousness can witness ego from a detached place, not from ego itself
- 😖 The more ego dominates, the less self-awareness someone has
- 🙏 Reducing ego via mindfulness helps mental illnesses related to unhealthy ego
- 💪 Ego doesn't observe itself
- ⚛️ If you transcend thoughts, emotions, ego - you find completeness in pure witnessing awareness, not an endless regression of 'observers'
Q & A
What is the difference between thoughts and ego according to Dr. K?
-Dr. K explains that thoughts are the function of thinking, while ego is the sense of 'I' or 'me'. You can have thoughts without ego, but ego involves identity, possessiveness, judgments and comparisons which require an 'I' statement.
What does Dr. K say the ego is, in Sanskrit terms?
-In Sanskrit, the word 'ahamkara' means the sense of 'I' or 'me'. The ego involves a quality of possessiveness, mineness and self-concept.
What does Dr. K say is the root issue in narcissism and borderline personality disorder?
-Dr. K explains that both narcissism and borderline personality disorder involve an unhealthy ego. As awareness increases, the symptoms of these disorders tend to improve, indicating the central role ego plays.
How does Dr. K explain the difference between the ego and the witness consciousness?
-The ego cannot observe itself objectively, while the witness consciousness can observe the workings of thoughts, emotions and ego more objectively. The witness is the experiencer, while the ego is part of what is experienced.
What is Dr. K's analogy about jumping into cold water in relation to ego?
-Jumping into cold water can create a temporary egoless state, where one is simply present and aware without judgments, identities or thoughts. This exemplifies an experience without ego.
What does Dr. K say is the problem with understanding others?
-Dr. K explains that we each only experience our own lives directly. The challenge in understanding others comes from not being able to directly experience what they experience.
What does Dr. K say is the endpoint if one looks beyond the witness consciousness?
-Dr. K states that if one can move beyond thoughts, emotions and ego to pure witnessing awareness, they will find that there is no infinite regression. The witness consciousness is the endpoint.
Why does Dr. K recommend checking his ideas yourself?
-Dr. K humbly acknowledges he could be wrong in his ideas and interpretations. He recommends people explore these concepts themselves through inner work.
What is Dr. K's central distinction regarding the ego?
-Dr. K's main point is that the ego is not the same thing as thoughts or awareness. It is a distinct part of the mind that can be observed just like thoughts and emotions.
How does Dr. K relate narcissism to lack of awareness?
-Dr. K notes narcissists lack awareness of their own egotism. As awareness increases, narcissism tends to decline, indicating the role awareness plays in mediating the ego.
Outlines
😌 Ego vs thoughts - Defining ego as identity and thoughts as separate
Paragraph 1 explains the difference between ego, which is a sense of identity and possessiveness, and thoughts, which are just mental activities without a sense of 'I'. It gives examples of ego statements using 'I' versus just having thoughts. It also talks about being able to think without ego and describes egoless states.
😊 Examples of ego vs thoughts and other components of mind
Paragraph 2 continues explaining ego vs thoughts using more examples like unconscious actions that don't involve ego. It mentions other components of the mind - emotions, memories, intelligence. It also alludes to the observing consciousness beyond the mind.
😇 Witnessing awareness as the ultimate observer
Paragraph 3 explains that the witnessing awareness is the ultimate observer beyond the mind, emotions, ego etc. It is complete in itself and not infinitely regressive. To realize this, one has to go beyond thoughts, emotions, ego to the awareness and see that there is nothing beyond the witnessing.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ego
💡thoughts
💡emotions
💡consciousness
💡antakarana
💡narcissism
💡borderline personality disorder
💡mindfulness
💡meditation
💡self-awareness
Highlights
Thoughts and ego are not the same
Ego is identity - the sense of 'I'
You can think without ego
Ego involves possessiveness, me-ness, I-ness
The ego has a spatial location in the brain
You can have egoless states of pure existence
Beyond the mind is pure consciousness observing everything
The witness capability observes thoughts, emotions and ego
The more ego dominates, the less self-awareness
Reducing ego increases awareness and improves illnesses
Ego doesn't observe itself
Look beyond ego to find the ultimate witness awareness
There is an end point to the chain of witnessing
With no thoughts, emotions or ego, witnessing feels complete
I could be an idiot, so check this theory for yourselves
Transcripts
the ego is a part of the mind it can be
observed just like your thoughts just
like your emotions you can notice the
function of ego it's trickier it's
subtler but you can even notice any eye
statement that you make is is a thought
right and it's being sort of run by the
[Music]
ego why does everyone talk about the ego
as if they're not the ego that's doing
the talking everyone seems to refer to
the ego as if it's a as if it's separate
from the one typing or talking
just as a thought arises so do these
words I'm typing as well as the words I
speak it's like everyone is trying to
transcend this voice in their head or
whatever but the voice in the head is
what's creating these words I type as
well as the words I speak do people
understand this or have they just
created a super ego that thinks it's
separate from the thoughts and words
when reflecting upon what they've seen
when explaining to me it seems as if the
program has realized it's a program but
other people seem to think that the
words they write and say are not coming
from the from thought SL ego I'm not
referring to the awareness or
Consciousness that's observing all of
this just referring to the seemingly
large number of people who think they're
not an ego when communicating so if you
are confused because everyone's talking
about ego but isn't it just the ego
that's doing the talking no it's not hey
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how to raise a healthy gamer combines
the latest in Neuroscience research
along with a decade of clinical practice
check it out anywhere books are sold so
if you all want to understand this it's
very simple okay maybe it's confusing
but I think it's relatively simple the
first is that thoughts and ego are not
the same so we're going to use a lot of
Sanskrit here because I think Sanskrit
is a very very sophisticated language
and we run into this problem here with
English because English does not have
the language to specify these
differences so the first thing is that
this person says thought SL ego which
implies that thoughts and ego are the
same thing right so if you're using like
good slash right like that implies and
this is precisely this person's problem
I according to me is that they haven't
understood that the mind has different
parts and that different parts can
observe and act on each other so let's
understand that we're going to use the
Sanskrit phrase Anana so Anana is often
times translated as the mind but man is
mind such an unsophisticated
representation of it so antakarana
literally means internal instrument and
that is the best definition so if we
look at our lives okay there is this
physical body we have hands we have eyes
we have nose and all of these things are
designed to interact with the outside
world so I can pick up a pen so that the
hand is really interesting because it is
a sensory organ and is it it is an organ
of action I can affect a willpower
change in the external world with my
hands and I can get information from the
outside world with my hands the whole
body is an external instrument I can
taste things from the outside my body
will let me know whether this is healthy
or unhealthy because I'll get sick or
I'll feel good after I eat something so
we have this instrument that allows us
to connect with the external and then we
have this instrument that is internal
this is the an this is the mind now
let's understand so much like the body
has hands feet Eyes Nose we have five
senses we have many organs of action
right we can do things with our heat
feet we can do things with our hands we
can do things with our voice we can
affect change in the outside world with
many instruments that are part of the
body so what are the parts of the
antakarana the internal instrument so
the first question is thoughts and ego
because this is what this person is
confused about can I think without
having an ego absolutely right so if we
look at what is the ego the ego is the
sense of ey so an ego is something
that's me mine that's what ego is so
even in the west and the East we kind of
agree that there is a quality of
possessiveness there is a quality of
meanus there is a quality of Inus we
know there's this part of the brain
called the default mode Network which is
probably where this part of the Inus
lives we also know that the me has a
spatial location so I know this sounds
kind of weird but you
the Unice of you exist somewhere over
here you're not in a different room
right now you're where you are right and
that sounds kind of weird but we also
know that you can electrically stimulate
the temporoparietal junction of the
brain and you can trigger It Out of Body
Experience you can have an eye that is
outside of the physical location of your
body so there's a certain Inus so you
can the the function of thought is
separate from the function of ego so ego
is identity it's like who I am okay in
Sanskrit we have the the word aara which
means the sense of ey oress but you can
think about things without ego it is you
that's doing the thinking yes but you're
not thinking in terms of ego like I can
just drink this water there's no ego
involved in that right I'm just drinking
water and you can say but you're saying
you're saying you're drinking water but
yeah but that could be unconscious too I
could just drink the water so we have
thoughts we have emotions and then we
have the ego so the ego is anytime you
have an eye statement that is the ego so
I am good at this I am good at that that
requires a judgment of a an identity
compound anytime we make a comparison
involves the ego because I cannot say
that you are taller or shorter without
me being taller or shorter so you can
make comparisons to non-p people that's
not ego but anytime you make a
comparison to someone else that involves
the ego because you can't say that
you're taller or shorter unless you have
an identity and so the ego is a part of
the mind it can be observed just like
your thought thoughts just like your
emotions you can notice the function of
ego it's trickier it's subtler but you
can even notice any eye statement that
you make is is a thought right and it's
being sort of run by the ego and we know
that we can exist with egoless States so
really good example of an egist state is
if you ever jump into a body of water
that is a little bit cold for a moment
you're just pure existence you're not
fat or thin you're not silly or smart
you're not successful or a failure
you're not poor or Rich for a moment you
just jump into the water and then you
exist fully in that moment you're not
not paying attention you're not thinking
about video games or distracted or
anything like that you're fully present
right there for just a flash of a second
but you have no sense of identity if you
really pay attention you'll find this
and so this is the ego and it's not the
same as thought it's not the same as
emotion and then we sort of get to this
this ultimate idea which the person kind
of alludes to in in their post right
which is um I'm not referring to the
awareness or Consciousness that's
observing this that's what's ultimately
at the end of it okay is that there is a
Consciousness the act of witness
observation or experience is ultimately
like what's even beyond the antakarana
so the antakarana or the internal
instrument or the mind has thoughts it
has emotions it has ego has two other
things some scars like memories and it's
got a a location of sorts called the
chitta it's got a space where all these
things interact and then beyond that is
pure Consciousness and so when this
person says it seems to me as if the
program has realized it's a program it's
not the program that realizes it's a
program it's the Consciousness that
realizes that there is a program running
so you have a witnessing capability
which can witness your thoughts can
witness your emotions and can witness
your ego but the witnesser itself is
doesn't have any ego qualities because
it is just the screen on which
everything else is projected right so I
don't know if this makes sense but like
you know you can have a lot of pixels on
the screen but the TV itself doesn't
change everything all of the images that
are projected on the screen can change a
lot your thoughts can change your
emotions can change but that Which
experiences has never changed that's the
you your body has changed your mind has
changed but you have not changed what
makes you you what makes you you is
you're the one who experiences every
moment of your life this is why it's so
hard for other people understand you
because they don't experience the other
parts of your life if everyone could
share experiences everyone would
understand each other the whole
challenge in life is you're the only one
that experiences your life and yet you
are always experiencing it you don't get
a break from it for even moment this
quality of experience is the most
fundamental thing and that is what
observes the ego it isn't the ego
observing the ego and there's a very
simple way to understand this so when
someone is behaving egotistically do
they know they are behaving
egotistically not at all y'all get that
the more of their head that someone has
up their ass the less aware they are the
ego dominates the mind it is dominates
the antakarana and as it dominates the
anara you lose awareness narcissists
don't know their narciss that's the
whole problem how do you demolish
narcissism you raise awareness as they
become more aware the narcissism reduces
literally if we look at things like
dialectical behavioral therapy which is
regarded by many as the best
evidence-based treatment for borderline
personality disorder which is a cluster
B personality disorder and the cluster B
personality disorders also include
narcissism so what do BPD and narcissism
share they share a very unhealthy ego
that's the root of it unhealthy in
different ways and so mindfulness helps
both so the more we move away from the
ego the more that the symptoms of these
clinical illnesses improve and so ego
doesn't observe itself okay and now if
if y'all are really paying attention
some of y'all may ask the question okay
but you know what is it so if if the
witness or the experiencer can observe
the ego what is it that observes the
witness and the cool thing is people may
say is there a witnesser Beyond
witnesser right so I witness my life but
is there something beyond that is there
something beyond that is it basically
like turtles all the way down and the
answer is no there is an end of the road
and the witnesser is the end of the road
but you can't understand that until you
get really good at looking beyond the
anara to your awareness until you learn
how to move past emotions thoughts and
ego to what it what is experiencer and
then you try to look beyond that you can
keep looking and then you'll find the
answer it makes sense once you find it
right there's just one it's not like the
TV is pixels on another TV which pixels
on another TV right so this is what it
kind of looks like but no this it it it
isn't infinitely regressive so and the
way that we know that is because if you
actually get rid of the antakarana if
you stop all thoughts all emotions and
all ego and you are just witnessing in a
raw way there's nothing Beyond it that's
full it feels complete it's you have to
experience it but by all means go
looking for something Beyond ego and I
mean beyond the witnesser and prove me
wrong go for it right this is just once
again the ego of me oh my God my
experiences must be generalized to
everybody I could be wrong I could be an
idiot in fact I am an idiot so check it
out for
[Music]
yourselves
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