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Contributed by an ex-tipper, thank you!

An ex-tipper wrote: "I just love Eckhart Tolle! I have been reading his new book entitled " A New Earth " and thought I'd take the opportunity to write out here a sub chapter called Pathological Forms of Ego. I'll leave it up to you to decide who it may be describing!"

Excerpt: "As we have seen the ego is in it's essential nature pathological, if we use the word in its wider sense to denote dysfunction and suffering. Many mental disorders consist of the same egoic traits that operate in a normal person, except that they have become so pronounced that their pathololgical nature is now obvious to anyone, except the sufferer.

For example, many normal people tell certain kinds of lies from time to time in order to enhance their image in the mind of others: who they know, what their achievments, abilities and possessions are, and whatever else the ego uses to identify with. Some people, however, driven by the ego's feeling of insufficiency and it's need to have or be "more", lie habitually and compulsively. Most of what they tell you abut themselves, their story, is a complete fantasy, a fictitious edifice the ego has designed for itself to feel bigger, more special. Their grandiose and inflated self-image can sometimes fool others, but usually not for long. It is then quickly recognized by most people as a complete fiction.

The mental illness that is called paranoid schizophrenia, or paranoia for short, is essentially an exaggerated form of ego. It usually consists of a fictitious story the mind has invented to make sense of a persistent underlying feeling of fear. The main element of the story is the belief that certain people (sometimes large numbers or almost everyone) are plotting against me, or are conspiring to control or kill me. The story often has an inner consistency and logic so that it sometimes fools others into believing it too. Sometimes organizations or entire nations have paranoid belief systems at their very basis. The ego's fear and distrust of other people, it's tendency to emphasize the "otherness" of others by focusing on their perceived faults and make those faults into their identity, is taken a little further and makes others into inhuman monsters. The ego needs others, but it's dilemma is that deep down it hates and fears them.

Jean-Paul Sartre's statement " Hell is other people" is the voice of the ego. The person suffering from paranoia experiences that hell most acutely, but everyone in whom the egoic patterns still operate will feel it to some degree. The stronger the ego in you, the more likely that you will make life difficult for others. But of course you won't be able to see that. It is always others who seem to be doing it to you. The mental illness we call paranoia also manifests another symptom that is an element of every ego, although in paranoia it takes on a more extreme form. The more the sufferer sees himself persecuted, spied on, or threatened by others the more pronounced becomes his sense of being the center of the universe around whom everything revolves, and the more special and important he feels as the imagined focal point of so many people's attention. His sense of being a victim, of being wronged by so many people, makes him feel very special. In the story that forms the basis of his delusional system, he often assigns to himself the role of both victim and potential hero who is going to save the world or defeat the forces of evil.

The collective ego of tribes, nations, and religious organizations also frequently contains a strong element of paranoia: us against the evil others. It is the cause of much human suffering. The Spanish Inquisition, the persecution and burning of heretics and "witches," the relations between nations leading up to the First and Second World Wars, Communisim throughout its history, the "Cold War," McCarthyism in America in the 1950's,prolonged violent conflict in the Middle East are all painful episodes in human history dominated by extreme collective paranoia.

The more unconscious individuals, groups, or nations are, the more likely it is that egoic pathology will assume the form of violence. Violence is a primitive but still very widespread way in which the ego attempts to assert itself, to prove itself right and
another wrong. With very unconscious people, arguments can easily lead to physical violence. What is an argument? Two or more people express thir opinions and those opinions differ.
Each person is so identified with the thoughts that make up their opinion, that those thoughts harden into mental positions which are invested with a sense of self. In other words: Identity and thought merge. Once this has happened, when I defend my opinions (thoughts), I feel and act as if I were defending my very self.

Unconsciously, I feel and act as if I were fighting for survival and so my emotions will reflect this unconscious belief. They become turbulent. I am upset, angry, defensive, or aggressive. I need to win at all cost lest I become annihilated. That's the illusion. The ego doesn't know that mind and mental positions have nothing to do with who you are because the ego is the unobserved mind itself. In Zen they say: " Don't seek the truth. Just cease to cherish opinions." What does that mean? Let go of identification with your mind. Who you are beyond the mind then emerges by itself.'

Woooh! that was a lot of typing! So rich I find these words. Clear and very illuminating on some of the dynamics that from my perspective were central in the founder of tip."


( 4 comments — Leave a comment )
Jan. 9th, 2006 04:14 pm (UTC)
Ordered cosmologies ( see http://yoism.gaiahost.coop/wiki/index.php/Ordered_cosmology
) attempt to address issues arising with the ego within a framework of safety, since spontaneous transpersonal awareness can cause tremendous shock to individuals.

Jan. 15th, 2006 10:39 pm (UTC)
Fantastic cosmology
And when a cosmology is designed and controlled by an egoic charismatic, the danger is multiplied and results devastating. To seek transpersonal awareness is one thing; to be controlled is another.
Apr. 1st, 2006 08:57 pm (UTC)
Hi plumtree444,
harrahsaharrah referred me to you. I am in process of moving to Seattle area with my son.

I also have some unfortunate run ins with cults, so your user info fascinates me. Ordo Templi Orientis as I one time became involved with someone who is centered in that. Before that I was born to parents in a commune. I am NOT in any cult right now.
The OTO folks dont like me much though.
Apr. 5th, 2006 12:24 am (UTC)
Contact me...
Hi there,

Contact me privately at plumtree444@yahoo.com.

( 4 comments — Leave a comment )

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