The Path of Life:

Level 2 - Ego

A Codger-Shire Row Production

local.saint, 2012-2013

Preface
We are using the term Level to describe each ebook, in order to more easily 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 the opportunity 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?

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 we can 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 reread 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!

Ego
The 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 of your own, you can grow in understanding of who you 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

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 ego intact. That constant flow of thought keeps us behaving as we always have. In other words, perpetuates the past. The ego has also been portrayed 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 way in 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

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 a banana 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.

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 of quiet peace. 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 to know 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

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.

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, and the 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 for ourselves. 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

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 white association. 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. The next 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

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 hard drive. 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 presence we 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.

Transcendence
Breaking 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

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 them pass 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 our past 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

this series. The importance for this is obvious. Nothing in your world 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, and cannot 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.