De-bunking my Ego.

xcerca wrote: This is just my opinion - The Universe can exist without us, it would just still be there... It is here when we are born, and will be here when we die. The ocean can still exist without fish in it... It would just be without us.. no problem. The thing that wouldn't exist without us, is just that, us, humans... plenty of species have gone extinct (in fact 99.9% of the species that have lived on this planet are extinct) - and the Universe still is here. We humans are just a tiny aspect of the universe. The thing that won't exist without us, is only us, our experience, and our perception of that experience.

"We" are not human beings. We are Spirit or Awareness. It's a mistake to assume that we were not around before human beings existed. The mind of God has always been, and the physical is nothing more than projected consciousness. It exists because we choose for it to exist.

Are you familiar with "The Observer Effect" ? It explains how waves become particles that appear as objects only when they are observed. Here are a couple of links.

www.vision.net.au/~apaterson/science/physics_quantum.htm

www.abundance-and-happiness.com/quantum-physics.html

In other words the energy being studied took form immediately based on the thoughts and beliefs of the scientist who was observing it ...

Most people believe that they are at the effect when the truth is they are the cause. That is why Miracles such as walking on water and turning water to wine are possible. When one has mastered the mind one may project the physical in anyway he/she chooses. Never think that you are a victim of the universe. You are the reason why the universe appears.

As humans we tend to grow out of our environment, we are reactionary beings.
We tend to respond to external input and if that's not there we are usually responding to our
internal input (which is there by the grace of the external).
The magic trick happens when the thought: "I am" arises and with that our Universe is
seemingly observed from a separate point of view.
Before this thought, which seems wholly evoked by the environment, there is no human
awareness in they way we are accustomed to now.
In essence, without that thought the Universe would not exist and be able to experience itself
through human awareness.
Any empirical evidence still needs to be interpreted by human awareness.
I would say it is unwise to try and determine which one of the two is the cause or effect,
it's the way it is.
With this thought a separate self is only implied, like anything which we can learn, attention
needs to be focussed to a point where a skill has become integrated.
It doesn't take a conscious effort to walk for instance.
Yet it seems somewhere we got stuck on keeping this "me" which has lived it's use by adult age
for the most part. As a species we keep conjuring up complicated stuff to create a need for this narrow attention span.If thinking is necessary one can, yet if it is not necessary we seem unable
to let this specific human conciousness enjoy the Universe without a specific "self" co-opting,
and thereby filtering everything that seems to be happening.

soffty wrote: Yes, ego can easily be offended, while having knowledge of ego allows us to take a step back and review. Assumptions are also typical of ego, although it is almost impossible to not assume.

It would be interesting to make a list of behaviors that typify ego.

"Men who want their women to be under control"...that pretty much describes all men. Ideally, a man would just not want her woman to go overboard too much, while not stopping her from being able to pursue her desires.

My ex wife is awesome. She was able to be self motivated and reliable. When I had my auto upholstery shop she was a salesperson and secured many huge accounts. Men love it when a beautiful woman calls on them to make sales calls, and when she is smart and knowledgable it is perfect.

I was unable to make time to focus on her on a daily basis. Having grown up with no love or even respect form my mother, and a distant relationship with my Dad, I was just plain pathetic at having a wife. Fatherhood was the same.

So, my opinion of male/female comparison is flawed. Let me restate...A good man and a good woman are both quite similar...while a flawed man and a flawed woman are not similar at all. Take ego out of the equation and we are all similar.

I think I may try to get donations to fund a electric shock study of ego. A man and a woman could spend a half day together three days a week and be able to shock the other if they saw ego in their partner. That would be fun!

Wade

I believe the nature of our future relationships are forged early on and this is maybe where 'ego' is born. Trying to be who others want us to be or protection from others all contributing to our character. It's complicated. I think it's only the aspects of ego that are harming us or others needs be addressed.

You know, many women are just as controlling as men. Trust me I've given birth to a couple of em.

soffty wrote: Yes. These intellectual perspectives and debates bring me back to where I began...this life. The ego is a complicated matter, but only as the experiences we have and actions/thoughts we create. I just do not consider ego a part of our idefinition/universe/origin...etc.

I see ego as part of this world and this life only. As the result of our existence, and I think we can harness the ego and its cause...and I think we will one day. I know the ego very well as I identify with it, and then can easily step out of it and look back at what I have done.

My ego is weak and introverted. It wants to be more than what it is, and if it would ever accept itself as it is, may blossom into something new. My ego is what happens when we are screwed up. I see ego all around me in others and it is much worse than mine, yet I cannot find the things that I love about simple humanity in myself. that is what makes it complicated.

Why is it not the result of being incarnated into this vibrating world? Where is the logic in these intellectual perspectives that are obviously from persons superior to me? Simplicity is not the answer?

Wade

I'm curious. Why do you say "MY ego is weak and introverted?" Why don't you say "I am weak and introverted?"

Gooseone wrote:
Any empirical evidence still needs to be interpreted by human awareness.

I think this statement hits the nail on the head. It's not only evidence that is interpreted by human awareness, it is Everything. It is how we perceive and experience life.

Gooseone wrote: Any empirical evidence still needs to be interpreted by human awareness.

Empirical evidence is the record of our direct observations. As we change what we observe by the mere act of observing it the "evidence" is nothing more than what we imagine. Hence, we experience our own dream. One of my favorite ACIM teachers once said

“It’s only a dream, you don’t have to worry. What you’re seeing is not true. It’s just something from your own unconscious mind, a projection that you’re viewing with your conscious mind and you made it up, and then you forgot that you made it up.”

Gary Renard, excerpt from the LEAP! movie

Perception = deception. The reason why the world seems real is because we take it all so seriously. Imagine the joy and relief when we realize that all the bad we thought we did, and all the horror we thought happened never really happened at all. Like the Prodigal Son who thought he deserved to be punished, God will only welcome us home.