The Path of Life - [Level 2] The Ego

7/29/2019 The Path of Life - [Level 2] The Ego

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The Path of Life:

Level 2 - Ego

A Codger-Shire Row Production

local.saint, 2012-2013


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Preface

We are using the term Level to describe each ebook, in order to moreeasily identify it. The word level is familiar to all who speak English as, A

position on a real or imaginary scale, of amount, quantity, extent, or quality.

We will see, as we progress through the various subjects, how the

accumulation of knowledge and wisdom can feel like progressing through a

series of levels.

Of course, there is only ever one moment, which is now. Past and

future, can only exist in the mind. We should use our past memories (with

caution!) as a means for reflection, and view the future as a group of

possibilities.

Now, is the next step. This moment, is our step on the Path. Just as

you walk in the physical world, your mind (consciously and unconsciously)

decides where to take those steps. Also, we want to remind you that we are

merely guides pointing in a direction or providing the signpost that allows for

YOU to make decisions and make your own way. The information in these

Levels provide the necessary tools to push aside the things in your life that

prevent you from living how you really want to.

The results of decisions which you continually decide determine the

outcomes of future possibilities. We maintain that you are in control of your

own consciousness, and we are not telling you how to live your life. We are

reminding you that you are on a Path of Life, and giving you ways in which

you can journey further along it. We do not

maintain that we know all or that every

other source of wisdom is wrong. We do

not even maintain that everything said is

the Absolute Truth. We are merely

humble guides allowing you theopportunity to read, and show an

interest in yourself so that you can

discover, and then create with the

added knowledge you receive from these pages. Welcome back to your Path!

You are co-creating! Shall we proceed?


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Level 2 is on the Ego (as it has been labeled), or Identity but we will

also discuss consciousness briefly. We will introduce the idea of

consciousness to those who do not know what it means, or are just slightly

familiar with the term. We will use it in this Level as a means to communicate

the subtle ways in which we experience our life. Consciousness can also have

a much more profound meaning, but we are using it here to describe our

awareness: Being conscious of something, is being aware of it. It has also

traditionally been used to describe the nature of our minds.

Conscious mind, (being that which we are aware of), and

unconscious mind, (that which exists within us but we are not fully aware

of) are terms used to differentiate the two very basic states that our mind

functions from. The relationship with consciousness is an important one to all

conscious beings. Most of our daily activities in life are done by the greater

intelligence that is our unconscious mind. The proof is in your everyday life.

In later Levels we will discover the truest form of consciousness and how wecan use it to create our Path. For now, we will speak of consciousness as

awareness and how we actually experience it subjectively.

Thanks for joining us, stay strong on your Path. It is all you have. It is what

you have. It is Life itself. Since YOU know you are on it, the progress of

Levels will serve as reminders of our nature and allow the time in between

to become valuable learning experiences along the

way. Try to incorporate the lessons that you learn,

along the way, in your daily routines. Feel free to re-

read any Level as a refresher, if you encounter a

situation in your life that reminds you of the topic.

They do not necessarily need to be read in order, but

we have presented them this way to make sure that

we build a strong foundation of knowledge, and

smoothly transition forward as we place each stone of

wisdom in front of the last. Along the way we will

reinforce previous lessons, as well as look forward to plan a future route as

we build our Path of Life together!


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EgoThe I in team...

Every single person is on their own path. Although others are very

important factors of our growth, we all will reach the top of the mountain by

our individual way. We are who we are, and we will make no attempt at

telling you who you are. Only you have access to the full knowledge of who

you are from moment to moment. It is your inner world that you likely have

been conditioned to ignore yet it is this inner world where infinite knowledge

and creativity reside. We understand and admire that you may be skeptical.

However, how can you know what is there if you have not taken the time or

focus to look? Through reading about the Ego, and discovering the nature ofyour own, you can grow in understanding of whoyou really are.

The Ego is a state of consciousness or being, that essentially makes up

who we are, and how we view our environment. The ego consciousness is

typically our normal waking consciousness, since we are conditioned this way

by our environment. We learn, very early on in life, that people see

themselves as separate from everything else. As a child, we learn to see

ourselves as an individual entity, and that everyone and everything is

disconnected from us. In a way, this is true. We are physically separate on

Earth.

The ego relies on your memories (a.k.a. who you've been in the past)

to continue being the person that you were. The ego has also been used as a

noun for some time, when it really is just a construct of our consciousness at

a point in space/time. When used this way, it is describing who we are on a


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very physical, face value level. Through the emanation of perpetual

unconscious thought, memories, and judgment (classification/labels) the ego

takes its shape.

The ego is largely derived from survival and the instinct to survive is

deeply unconscious. These instincts often require fear to function. Fear

seems to take many forms, but is there really more than one fear? Fear is

physiological, biological, mental, etc.. The next Level will dive into fear and

attempt to inquire about our own fear. Observing our own fear can teach us

many things about ourselves. For now, we will discuss the Ego itself. We will

describe the Ego and how it works before we dive into Fear in a more in

depth way.

Most who speak of the ego in a New Age way will say it is a false

self.Thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) are needed to keep the egointact. That constant flow of thought keeps us behaving as we always have.

In other words, perpetuates the past. The ego has also beenportrayed as

being something that is bad or abnormal when it is really the most normal

part of the human condition. No one has been free of Ego completely. Even

the most spiritual beings still experience the Ego in others.

Conscious thoughts, words that we experience in our mental fields, are

needed for the Ego to have a voice. We experience thoughts in a mental

sound. We all hear voices and it has always been collectively taboo to think

of the voice in your head as not of your own. There is nothing ingenuine

about hearing any kind of voices in your mental space. That which exists

beyond ego is the field in which we experience the Ego. We do not normally

pay much attention towards our mental

thoughts. That is, because as long as we see

ourselves as the thoughts, we live through

them. Yet a deeper part of ourselves exists

beyond thought. This is our true selves. It is

not foreign to you, but the majority of people

will only experience it in an unconscious wayin times of great fear. Sometimes they will

experience it in great joy. But the moment

will fade and the thoughts return.

Have you ever thought about your thoughts? If you are unfamiliar to

this, give it a try. Listen to what thoughts arise. What thoughts do we need


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and what thoughts do we not need? This can be a difficult choice, but it is an

avenue towards Growth. Until we question what weve always thought weve

known, we cannot discover any other means of living. If we continue to live

through the past and through the Ego, we cannot discover what more to life

there is. The experience is YOURS. The Path is YOURS. But where did the

thoughts come from? If you pay attention to your thoughts, you will discover

the nature of your thoughts. This is the easiest way to transform your Path

into one that actually serves the deeper part of you and throws the Ego

aside.

The next step on your Path, as we are lovingly suggesting (with no

expectation for specific outcomes) is to listen to the thoughts that come into

your mind. Even if you only do this a little bit, it can provide a glimpse of the

essence of experience. You can easily experience life in a NEW way, a way

that is of our own making. This process has been called separation. As in,separating yourself from your Ego. However, since you have likely ALWAYS

been living from our Ego, you can take this step in a way that is comfortable

to you. It does not matter at which speed. Understanding of your own ego, is

basically understanding who you are. No matter how you go about it, if you

put any attention on your thoughts and see them not as who you are, but

who you could be. You will see that another part of your nature, that is often

called your true nature or true self, is the field in which you can decide what

to think. You create you. You decide where to step, where to turn, etc. just as

you do while driving a vehicle only every life decision no matter how

insignificant our everyday choices may seem.

The nature of thought is not one that can be absolutely understood.

Not even science has a complete understanding of thought. We do not know

how they work, why they work the way they do, etc. Our memories get

stored and used in thoughts somehow. This can be an unconscious process.

In other words, not one that we are aware of. We experience thoughts. The

thoughts often arise in response of something, and always as a form of

information. This information can occur as a mental image, concept, or

something else you may discover. For example, if we were to look at abanana that is brown or dark colored, a memory of learning that a dark

colored banana means a banana that is spoiling, then we would see that

association in this new banana. So we do not see the actual banana and all

of its intricacies, but the mental image/concept of a banana.


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Thoughts are very important to our growth process, of course. This

step we are pointing to once again, is to discover your thoughts. Just become

more aware of the thoughts as they come up. Who you really are, will discard

the ones you no longer need. Trust in yourself, just as you have trusted in

your Ego. You cannot lose your mind. Only through unrealistic

thought/perception can you lose your sense of reality. The space that

thoughts occur, is the mental conscious space. This space is a field of

possibilities. A place ofquietpeace. Happiness comes out of peace. You

cannot be happy in a stressful state. This is emotional, mental and biological.

Take the step towards giving it attention. If you are open to it, you will be

able to become more aware of your thoughts, which allows you to recreate

your thoughts. Essentially, just changing your perspective on any stimuli that

you receive, will change the thought that is associated with it. You can

choose to nag, complain, or resist the natural flow of life. You can also choose

to go with the flow and knowing you are able to control your reaction.Responsibility is the Ability to Respond, typically implying responding in the

best way, or the Highest Good.

If we are to transcend our typical negative

habits we can open new doors and brighten the

darkest of places. The difference could even be in

the words we use in our daily lives. The way we

say it, the way we feel about it and express it. We

can also become conscious of how suffering in all

its forms comes into our lives. The nature of the

Ego is pleasure/pain, superficial love/fear. In Level 3 we will climb deeper into

the Ego and its nature of creating suffering for ourselves.

When we explore our own ego and pay attention to ourselves we can get a

bit uncomfortable. Sometimes when facing our own truth, our own reality, we

get self-conscious. Of course this is necessary but this is how the discomfort

may arise. We may not like some things that we see. However, it is important

to know that you have more control than you might think. We keep our

reality the same by staying within the same frame of mind. If we want toknow ourselves we have to turn our eyes inward. You cannot find who you

truly are in the outside world, but how we interact with that world can reveal

many personal truths. While observing thoughts, even if you just catch a

glimpse it is important to not judge your thoughts. First, we must accept that

the thought was there. If the thought is analysis of a situation, thing, etc.

then we have a choice to see it in another way. Most of us will find that our


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thoughts might even be accurate conceptually. However, we often choose to

see only fragments of reality. This choice is largely unconscious, as we began

doing that earlier in life and havent corrected it. There are often many more

things to consider when it comes to looking into a situation. There is always

more to the story.

Who Am I?And who are you?

This Level is ultimately about answering that question. When we

answer it from a place of impulsiveness we may rattle off many nouns or

roles that we take on in life. We may even answer with beliefs. The key to

self-discovery is to not answer with words. The answer to Who Am I?, in all

of its glory is to answer with just your mere presence. That is who you are on

this Earth. We are not attempting to demerit any roles we take, but to point

out that who we are can be found in the silence. It is found in the silent

awareness or the space between the noise. Our true spirit reveals itself when

we are without thought. In other words, our whole organism is at peace and

in a state of looking for threats. If you are comfortable with an exercise take

a few deep breaths. Feel the air come in and out. Then ask yourself Who Am

I?, but if any thoughts arise let them pass. Wait for that silence. That

awareness, consciousness, that observes the breathing is our true self. You

may want to sit with your spine straight or lie down. You may want to

completely relax your whole body before trying this.


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We are emotional beings and often times we do not settle the issues

that create the emotions. The emotions often cycle back through and seem

to repeat throughout our lives. We will get confronted with similar

experiences that we are not prepared for because we

havent inquired into why we are getting upset, angry,

agitated, etc. We want to feel good and okay. We will

experience an emotion and that emotion can take us

over and we act through that emotion. We are

speaking about this ego precisely for this reason. The

ego mindset is actually a lower consciousness and a

lower self-awareness. Keep in mind, we are not making

the assumption that being in a lower consciousness

state makes anyone inferior, its merely a less subtle

frequency. It is the ego, the emotional baggage, andthe continuity of both that keeps us from realizing this

true nature.

The Who Am I? question is the biggest question we can or ever could

ask ourselves. You can easily find your true self by answering that question

with silence and awareness. You are capable of evolving your perception. Our

self-concept can easily be changed by changing our thoughts consciously. We

will explore this later on. However, know that you CAN change. You can

better your life in each and every aspect. The only limits you have are the

ones you set yourself. The Ego, however, keeps us who we were. It keeps us

in the past trying to go into a future we cannot possibly know. At first, when

looking into the Ego you may not see any change or improvement. You might

even see that you are unhappy with yourself in a few ways. This is where we

can start. This is where we look into ourselves, in our own comfort and

timeframe, and start to progress. The Path is yours.

It is unlikely that you are used to looking into the subject of yourself or

even reflecting back on an experience in your life without the emotional

attachment of the outcome. This is a bad habit we all continually create forourselves. When we are faced with an experience, our first step is to analyze

it. Most of the time we are not analyzing it, but emotionally reacting to it.

Replaying it over and over in our minds. When we are emotional, we often

miss key facts or truths in the situations. Weve all done something that we

completely regret when angry. Of course, even a negative or pessimistic


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attitude can lead us down a Path that

doesnt return us any love or real

happiness.

By condemning our emotions we are

only fueling the fire. We do not want to

reject any emotional reactions. If you

simply notice that you reacted negatively

and could have chosen a different way

that would be more profitable for your

well-being you have already made strides. It is important to simply notice

that you are having that experience. We do not want to judge ourselves or

feel guilty. Become aware of our behavior and how our emotions can create,

whether it be good or bad. Good or bad, negative or positive, these are

associations we are quick to label things with. This is a black and whiteassociation. When you react to something and immediately label it bad and

possibly get upset you miss out on an opportunity to see what positive you

can make of it. We often do not have control over whatever we are presented

with that we call bad. If we were to look deeper into the situation and the

truth of the moment we may be able to experience the bad thing in a whole

new way. There is always more to the story. Also, many things we label bad

can lead to things we label good. In reality, things just are. It is what it is.

Scientists recently discovered that the brain has plasticity. This term

and concept has become scientific verification that you can change your

mind, literally. You can change the way your physical brain is constructed by

simply thinking differently or learning new skills. It was long thought that

people were hardwired to simply stay how they have always been. We now

know we can change our mind/thoughts and as a result change our own

brain chemistry for the future. This implies that we can essentially change

who we are.

The ego phenomenon relies on staying the same. The ego has long

held its grips on humanity, but the ego was likely an evolutionary step. Thenext step in Evolution is to transcend this ego. To transcend ego, you cannot

be stuck in ego. An ego perspective is seeing life from the perspective of

only yourself. When we perceive that we are being attacked

(mentally,emotionally,physically) our survival instinct kicks in. We

accumulate many memories in our early vulnerable years. These memories

are stored in our cells. As we go through life, we carry these memories with


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us. Psychoanalysis usually points to our first few years of life for reasons why

we may have mental/emotional baggage. Considering most of our memories

were formed in our past we may ask why we even need them. Are our

memories serving us for the present moment? Or for the future?

Memories are stored in us like hard data on a computer. When

something in our environment is new to us we often need to associate

something we do (at least think) know. This helps us understand our

surroundings on a face value level at least. The memory gets stored

(possibly with sensory information included) and it will get used when we

experience a similar situation again. Our

unconscious mind is an intelligent source of

information. Scientists believe our

unconscious makes up roughly 90% of our

mind. The unconscious mind is like our harddrive. It accesses memory like software and it

gives us familiarity with whatever situation

we are presented with. When weve done

something over and over (ie. riding a bike)

we can perform that task without actually

bothering our conscious mind. That is we can do the task while focusing on

something else. Since the unconscious relies on memories and the

unconscious also makes up 90% of who we are then we instantly become

interested in the unconscious. In order, to change who we are (or better

ourselves) we need to look at the unconscious. The unconscious manifests in

your conscious mind. The conscious mind is the thoughts that we can hear

inside our head. The unconscious mind is where our script has already been

written.

If we want to transcend ego, then we want to look at our thoughts. You

cannot be stuck in an ego state of mind and look at your thoughts at the

same time. The thoughts are coming from ego (or our conditioned

unconscious mind in action). You cannot view the outside of your house, until

you step outside. By answering the question Who Am I? with silent presencewe are transcending ego. By consciously breathing we are at least glimpsing

the spirit in us all. Who we truly are, in essence, is the conscious

awareness. Reading that and knowing that are two different things. In order

to know it, you have to be it.


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TranscendenceBreaking free...

Plasticity allows for us the hope for change. This is where we will cease

talking about the ego and provide tips on transcending the ego. Doing this


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even just a few minutes a day can allow one to awaken to a world of

possibilities. We have mentioned conscious breathing and there are many

ways this can be done. There are meditations, yogas, etc. You can also take

on a bigger perspective. Seeing life from the perspective of an all-knowing

observer can also inspire seeing a need for improvement. This can be done

by simply imagining that you are like a fly on the wall in any situation. You

have to factor in just about everything. That is, cell movements, weather

patterns, or anything possible that may or may not have happened. This may

seem extreme, but this is how life actually happens. There are trillions and

trillions of things happening at any given time and/or place. We often dismiss

such involuntary processes or happenings because they do not catch our

attention or we may not even be able to perceive them.

Some may also find that observing others can allow them to see how

the conditioned ego is. Remember to let judgemental thoughts about thempass since you likely have similar ego thoughts. Our Ego state of mind often

supplies an Identity for ourselves. What do you identify with? Is that really

you? Where do you find your identity? Do you find it in the things around

you, the roles you play, or in how people treat you?

On our Path of Life, we all have an ego that developed and was

conditioned throughout the years with the help of a key misunderstanding of

Life. As children we were lucid and almost everything we came across was

new to us. As our young minds started to figure things out, we began to

accumulate more memories. For example, when a child receives a new toy

and has an abundance of excitement. They may play with the toy for a while,

but eventually they become bored with it. Similarly, as we get older we have

accumulated a lot of knowledge and things outside of our comfort levels we

may not explore. We become jaded on a very deep sense. The key

misunderstanding of Life that our own minds seem to facilitate is that every

moment is similar to one that happened before.

We all know on some level that every moment is new. Every moment is

a moment with infinite possibilities. Transcending the Ego and not letting ourpast dictate who we are and who we are becoming is in the new-ness of

every moment. Embrace the new. Embrace your Path. Embrace any silence

in your mind that allows for the space of newness. Embrace new light to see

things in a new way. It may only take a millisecond of conscious presence to

fully realize Inner Peace, your Higher Self, and the newness of every

moment. We focused mainly on YOU for this chapter as will the majority of


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this series. The importance for this is obvious. Nothing inyourworld happens

without YOU. You are the observer of your life. Therefore, the series aims to

speak directly to you so that YOU can facilitate new understanding.

This Level focused on transcending the narrator of your life story to see

that the narrator/observer exists within the space where your true self

resides. Future Levels will come back to the Ego or Identity because it is the

most important subject when concerning growth. It is THE subject in all other

subjects. Our focus is YOU. Since the author(s) do not know YOU specifically

and nor can anyone else truly know you on the depth that you can know

yourself we are always pointing to you. You will get what you put into it. This

series is a tool for you to use to rediscover YOU in an ever-evolving way. It is

a process, but each step can only be taken in the present moment. Once

again, we want to reiterate that this series is not THE way nor do we claim

that everything is 100% absolute truth about YOU. We simply do not, andcannot have all the answers. Only you can come up with the answers to your

questions. This series is meant as ONE way towards freedom, knowing

thyself, and growth on many levels. We do believe there are many ways.

This Level also focused mainly on pointing towards identifying the Ego.

The Ego creates however and we have left YOU to observe yourself in a new

possible way to see how the Ego creates disharmony and conflict in your life.

May you find a way to see the relationship of living with your own Ego and

keep a look out for Level 3 on Fear.

The Path of Life - [Level 2] The Ego

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