What is The Ego and How Does It Control Your Life Experience?
The ego is an almost conscious entity in and of itself.
The concept of the ego, as most people are familiar with, originated from Sigmund Freud in 1923. In his paper, The Ego and the Id, he laid out what has become a major foundation for psychoanalysis that’s still applied today.
To summarize (probably poorly), Freud’s concept of the ego was focused on the self – between the fun-loving and impulsive Id and the spiritual and ethereal Superego.
Freud’s take on the ego is not the origin of the word. It comes from the Latin, meaning “I”. In metaphysics, around the early 1700s, ego came to define the thinking – feeling – acting – self.
As I’ve studied and explored numerous avenues of mindfulness, conscious reality creation, and the subconscious and conscious minds, I’ve developed my own definition of ego.
But to properly define it, let’s look at how everyone is of 2 minds to begin with.
The conscious and subconscious minds
Everyone has both a conscious and a subconscious mind. (There’s a good argument for an Unconscious mind, too. But it’s almost entirely inaccessible to us, so not relevant here).
The subconscious mind is like your computer’s operating system. It’s always running in the background, both with regularly accessed data and old info rooted deep – and even sometimes forgotten.
Your subconscious mind is where your deepest core elements of who, what, where, why, and how you are, live. Specifically, your values, beliefs, and habits.
Your subconscious mind works by rote and routine, habitually absorbing information like a sponge. Much of what’s within is harmless. But old values and outdated beliefs, unchecked, can cause issues you’re your mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
But the subconscious mind can be looked into more deeply. Not be someone on the outside – but by you. And this is done via your conscious mind.
Your conscious mind is engaged when you actively take hold of it. Doing so is a matter of being mindful of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. That mindfulness is conscious awareness – and is a product of the here and now.
The conscious mind can only be engaged in the present. But when you do, you become knowing of your inner mindset/headspace/psyche self. That awareness puts you in control of your life experience.
But it also empowers you to dig into your subconscious mind. That’s how you actively change a habit, alter a belief, or add/remove/shift a value.
Because the subconscious mind can only be accessed by the conscious mind, when you are living by rote and routine – and not actively, consciously being self-aware – how do you function?
Enter the ego
This is where my definition of the ego comes in.
The ego is a construct that exists as a bridge between the subconscious and the conscious mind.
The ego is formed during a point or various points in your life when you are actively, consciously aware. At that time, you recognize and acknowledge certain of your values, beliefs, and habits – and form an identity there.
That identity is your ego. It’s how you project who you believe(d) yourself to be and also mirrors that belief back.
Note the added ‘d’ after believe. The problem with the ego, as a bridge between the conscious and subconscious mind, is that it’s not always ideally formed. For example, if you experience a terrible break-up, job loss, or some other awful thing – and assume blame – your identity might be as a screw-up, an unworthy, or a similar negative identifier.
What’s more, change being the only constant in the universe – who, what, where, how, and why you believe yourself to be inevitably changes, too. For example, you’re not who you were 10 years ago, despite similarities.
This is the problem with the ego – it’s often inaccurate, sometimes wildly so. When you’re choosing to walk any given path in your life, if you are not consciously aware of your ego, you might have unnecessary obstacles already placed in your way.
The power of mindfulness
Mindfulness, as I define it, is active conscious awareness. In other words, it’s actively being present, in the now, and knowing what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, what your intentions are, and what actions you are and aren’t taking.
Thus, Mindfulness is present, of the moment conscious awareness. And it is the only way to analyze the subconscious mind and your egoic identity. If the person you project to the world and reflect back at yourself is not who, what, where, how, or why you desire to be – conscious awareness is how you change it.
Accessing that actively is performed via mindfulness. It’s not passive, it’s active, and a product of the here and now.
If you are discontent with the who, what, why, etcetera of yourself, via mindfulness you can access your subconscious beliefs, values, and habits. Then you can do what you need to do, actively, here and now, to change them.
Once that’s underway, by mindfully being aware of yourself, you can change the bridge between your conscious and subconscious minds – your ego – and how you project yourself without and reflect yourself within.
Ego versus your true self
Ego is an artificial construct to express the immaterial of you to the material world.
Your body is the vessel for your heart, mind, and soul. In the words of Yoda, “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” Your true self is within you, and only fully known by you.
But when you’re not actively practicing mindfulness and being consciously aware, you have the egoic projection that you send out to the world at large. And if you aren’t being actively mindful, or examining your beliefs, values, and habits to see if they’re current, you likely believe you are your egoic identity.
If that isn’t ideal for who, what, where, how, and why you desire to be, you might have an identity crisis. That, in turn, can manifest itself as depression, anxiety, and other mental, emotional, and spiritual issues. In time, these can turn into physical issues, too.
Just to add one more layer of complexity – ego is a comfort zone. Not in the sense of being comfortable, but as a place of stability and unchanging. Because of this, the ego can resist change and cause resistance when you work on changing yourself.
When you try to actively change yourself, the majority of the resistance you’ll encounter will come from your ego. Why? Because it knows that it’s artificial, and change will impact it. And egos like things just the way they are, thankyouverymuch.
Your ego is a construct and not your true self. When you realize that, you become empowered to change it and face the resistance it will offer with the necessary tools to overcome that.
You are worthy and deserving of any path that you choose
I know that I write about the ego as if it’s a living entity. In truth, it is. Your ego was created at a specific point in time. Often, after its creation, consciously and subconsciously, you move on. But as it remains, it forms its own unique identity.
Hence why you are not your ego.
When you seek to change your life – such as choosing a given path – your ego will often resist via squirrels in the brain (or brain weasels, if you prefer) espousing your lack of worth. Niggling voices telling you about all the “what if?” potential for failure, and how you don’t truly deserve the goal of the path you desire.
In the words of Theodr Herzl,
“If you will it, it is no dream.”
When you see a path you desire to choose for your life experience, you are worthy and deserving of it. When your ego tells you otherwise and sets its obstacles in your path, know that the truth of who, what, how, and why you are is in your depths – not your ego.
Do the thing. Be active and take action. Work with mindfulness. Be here now. Kick ass, take names. And know that ultimately you’re worthy and deserving of a desirable, engaging, good life experience.
Can you see how your ego works and how it is not your true identity?
This is the five hundred and eighty-fifth exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – using mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
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