I don't know if I fit your parameters but I would like to share that I have read and been told ego ensures physical survival through the flight or fight mechanism. It's part and parcel of our existence in the physical dimension.

When we incarnate, it's the means to be sure we continue to exist so we can awaken to our life purpose, to quote the title of the book. It seems to fit because awakening isn't easy. So far, there are very few who have been able to awaken at will. Until recently, awakening has been limited to the dedicated few or those who experience life and death challenges. Basically, when they face their mortality, living doesn't become an obstacle anymore. All that struggle, all that insanity as Tolle calls it would make anyone commit suicide or make foolish choices to jump off buildings to see if we could fly. It's was meant to protect us along the way. Instead, it became the leader to our existence instead of the servant as it was intended. So now we must disentangle our true essence, our consciousness from the over grown ego.

And can I just say my new favorite word is "disentangle." I feel like I am weeding my soul as I discover the authentic me that was hidden within the chaos.

Thankyou, sparkledi for your objective response. You do fit the parameters. Many of your posts show a deep awareness. Having been through several of those life/ death experiences i (little i) have considered the madness of this world unbearable. Suicide does seem a logical response from that perspective. In moments of surrender, when the fight/flight response disappears, there is no ego. When it really doesn't matter wheather you live or die and you have detached from this world. A strange place to BE. Where do you go from that place. Moments of deepest depression then a calm with NO THING. Moments of intense awareness occur then disperse.

The ego begins to TRY to recreate the awareness again but is unable to maintain it. Moments without the ego come and go in the NOW. Yet more phsycologcial time creates room for more ego.

I understand by Living in the NOW, we evolve beyound the fight/flight response of survival. I understand why i'm here and who i am . NOW.
If you think you need to be patient at wait for more time to pass then you do. I am.... in this NOW but the awareness is not present.

I sense the concept of Karma prevents us from having the ability to hold the awareness. Paramahansa Yogananda decided one day, after many years of meditation with his enlightened teacher, he had had enough of Karma and transended it.

Have any of our beautiful old souls viewing these posts accomplished this?
Please share your knowledge of how you overcame this samsara cycle of birth/death.

There are many passive KEEPERS OF THE LIGHT who come this way

WHY DID THE FIRST EGO BEGIN IF WE WERE CREATED IN GOD'S IMAGE?
Why did the first desire occur to create the cause and efffect of the Karmic cycle??

Deep stuff i know.

Can anyone be stil enough and coneccted eonough to THIS NOW to answer. Not from a place of intellect......but from a place of knowing

THANKYOU

I look forward to reading the responses you receive.

In the meanwhile, I am prompted to share a quote I learned along the way. "We must not become so spiritually minded that we are of no Earthly good."

I know what it means to me, but what it means to you is probably much more pertinent.

Oh dear!!! It has been 8 hours since asking this question and either none of us are able to answer it, or those who do know are not sharing.
"if we are created in the image of God, why was the first ego , which is the creater of our karma, created?" I've been looking for an answer to this question for many years without finding an one.I would be most happy to hear any responses.

THANKYOU

I make no claim to being an "enlightened being" but it seems to me that you are asking a question that cannot be answered logically.

Similiar to:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I simply try to live my life "one foot in front of the other".

I simply try and do what needs to be done when it needs to be done and try to "see" a few steps ahead.

I am not saying that one should not seek out the answers to life's mysteries, on the contrary, I think that science is one of our greatest gifts.

I do know however that we can be easily fooled into "chasing rainbows" and "building castles in the air" rather than taking care of the business at hand.

My $.02

What would it be like being touched by a Ghost. Well thats the same thing God feels like because god is the Holy Spirit. Think about htat for a bit before you pound on Ghosts... I take offense but i forgive you. Were all going to be a spirit some day so why dont we embrace it. Nuff Said. Deb White

What???

Ego?? My idea of what the ego is.....what we grasp at in order to survive... with the minds Our Higher Power has blessed us with. A thought we realized we could conjur and chose to take it and run with it. Knowing we had the full power to create whatever thoughts we wanted. How we chose to use the Mind in order to create our Ego was up to us as opposed to Keeping our Essence and Being and Existing in the Present. I find the ego to be somewhat of a Test on Human Beings???!!!

Who knows the real truth...although I believe in the book he is explaining it to us....what does everyone think it is according to what the book says?

For me, our form is here for consciousness (god, energy, universe, unmanifested) to become aware of itself. Consciousness already expresses itself as various forms (the world, what can be seen, heard or thought).
It becomes aware of itself in the human vessel called "body". The awareness happens not at birth, but after the transcendence of the ego (the devil, sin, insanity). So, instead of calling the ego bad or arguing against it, or judging someone
because they are "egoic", it should be seen as a necessary step in the transformational process.

This might help:

For me, the ego has its purpose and is absolutely necessary in the transformative process . Ego (sin) is to enlightenment (heaven) as night is to day, or as falling off a bike is to riding the bike.

No falling, no bike riding. No night, no day. No ego, no enlightenment.

Beyond the ego is the source. The canvass behind the painting. No canvass, no painting. No source, no experience (world). No world, no enlightenment.

We are born (consciousness comes into 'the world'), we learn about the world and at some point, it becomes serious and 'heavy' as the EGO becomes strong. Suffering appears in various forms and intensity. It is there to show you who you are not. If you can break the karmic cycle (if you have 'had enough'), the realization process begins and becomes stronger with each experience of suffering. It is a realization that must be felt (gut, heart) beyond the words or descriptions. Once this happens, your power or essence becomes even more radiant.

The way I find myself describing it in words is, "I feel like a child again, but now I know it". And I feel connected to everyone and everything. This 'going back' could not happen if there were no ego. The ego, if you are ready, will point you back 'home' and you come back 'home' knowing you ARE home. Again, just being born is not enough. You have to 'fall from grace', and then recognize it (the watcher), in order to realize who you are.

Once this happens, once the ego has been transcended, your true self (energy, God, source, consciousness) can use the vessel we call 'body' to be aware of itself and to connect, dream (pray), experience the 'play' of life and use the tool we call 'time' to take intangible dreams (blueprints of the infinite) and bring them into the world (creation) and ultimately experience it for itself....for the fun of it.

Peace to All....Alex

Heres an outline of a child's reconcilation of the body and spirit.....or our fundamental animal nature with ability to think abstractly.

We are never more animal-like than in the first three years of life. All of our impulses are toward bodily self-preservation - just like every organism that has every been born. We are animals first. We like to think we angels with souls and take every opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the rest of life on this planet but the fact is, as infants we defecate anywhere and play with the excrement - we are incredibly narcisstic. We have no problem taking what we want and expecting the world to revolve around us. Our more competent parents indulge in almost all of our whims since we are so dependent. A baby is born with an innate expectation of experience (resolving the moot nature versus nuture debate). We expect to feel safe in the sense we develop normally in the context of safety. First, this expectation of safety comes on a physical level. Then it comes on an emotional and social level.


The development of the ego comes in three stages. First, there is a feeling absolute power and security in the child that comes from unconditional care. That parental care provides an all powerful ego - at least in terms of what little is expected from the child. This is a very important stage because it forms a core self esteem that is taken throughout life. Second, there is realization of our finitude and anxiety when we meet with physical hurts/limits (falling down, bumping our heads, not being able to feed ourselves) and social expectations (and fear of not measuring up). Finally a mastery of symbolic language and the social rules that allows us put that anxiety in our unconscious. That is, transfer of anxiety from emotional centers to higher cognitive levels. This latter development provides the social skills, self confidence and ego boundaries to "solve" the anxiety problem by repressing it or, at least, disassociating from it. Lets go into more detail.

At about a year-old, Infants experience an almost overwhelming world, a frightening place of unknown danger. Their discrimination abilities are still undeveloped and still see the world as it is - a world of giants whom they depend on almost all of their security and comfort. However, we still have many animal-like characterisits - alert and vigilant to the unknown, immediately satisfied or disatisfied, accepting of care and comfort - but also confused. Being born as an animal in a symbolic world is tricky road to follow.

To make this more concrete; first, a demanding body and unconditional loving parents make life easy. The baby is under the illusion of absolute power. He wimpers and is cared for. But then our vulnerability is realized with minor accidents. But more subtly, there are social conditions and consequences made on his/her care. We are made socially vulnerable as the world turns out to be more complex (rule bound) then we have been led to experience.


The conditions of care, at first, are simple and physically direct. Our parents will instill safe motor behaviors that remove us from immediate dangers (the electric sockets). The amount of the anxiety developed during this stage is proportional to how much care and attention the child receives and his/her disposition. However, we are reminded of dangerous realities all the time, that is certain.


Soon, parental upbringing soon turns to more stringent emotional control and symbolic behavioral requirements. In this last stage, we all learn that words (symbols representing the world NOT that world as it is) are as potent as physical power, primal demands and crying for care. The child soon learns that NEGOTIATION (using developing symbolic processing ability) is vital to his survival. Manipulating symbols in a society ruled by its cultural symbols is now the main aim.


As the child's developing ego and abstraction ability progresses and his realization of real death develops, the child literally displaces the earlier body-felt anxiety and rationalizes that into the ego. He/she puts it the background of consciousness. The ego's symbolic processors takes on the role managing this anxiety from our emotional centers (from the amygdala to the executive functions of the cerebral cortex?). We don't FEEL this primal anxiety of existence. Becuase we have replaced reality with symbols of mastery we can function normally (if putting on the blinders of repression is normal). At this point, a childs goal is to gain social status by developing self esteem and self confidence. They emulate those that show some mastery of the universe - something very desireable for survival. The begin to identify (with a big I) with their first heros - the parents. This Heroic Impulse is infused throughout society.


You can see this progression in our own children too. First the child is dependent as your pet for food and comfort - mostly getting what they want from infantile demands. At this stage they have sensible fears of real objects that can cause harm, such as dogs and strange people. But then they realize they must perform certain physical demands (holding the spoon right). Their care is contingent on some approved behavior. The next step goes onto the emotional control realm where tantrums are turned to attitudes engendering polite behavior - all of this approved behavior being culturally specific.


Eventually, once the function of symbolic speech is developed, we demand that the child holds certain agreeable BELIEFS to gain our support. Once the childs abstraction ability is fully developed he/she tends to IMAGINE the boogey men under the bed or closet or even develops imaginary friends which boost his/her self esteem and confidence. At this point, stick & stones AND words can both defend him and hurt him. He is on the road to becoming a fully symbolic meaning-seeking creature within a symbolic-driven society. He begins to build his own self esteem by constantly comparing his/her treatment with others through the cultural signs of his status. Children are almost ridiciously narcisstic. They are critically and minutely aware of unfairness and what that may mean to their inherent worth (Bobby got a bigger scoop then me!). Of course, this is extrapolated into the crass materialism and status seeking purpose of our culture.


A childs self esteem project within a culture is complete when only selected words or authority figures will hurt him. He has formed boundaries around his society constructed self through attack and defense - nevermore seeing the world as it really is. This entire development serves to bolster the power of the child to play successfully in the arbitrary "human symbolic game" called culture.


In a way, the child's drive to independence and higher self esteem is automatic. He raises himself. If he/she doesn't find it within a family he/she will find it in street gangs. To be human is to reconcile the instinctive with the symbolic through developing self esteem and social status. The parenting needs only be "good enough". The childs drive to self esteem will be found in whatever form the society allows it be expressed. The amount resilience in some children is amazing. But not all have the constitution (genes, biochemical imbalances, that lead to moderate traits etc.) or moderate environment to negoitiate the path.


A person's strong self expression towards life and transcedence may not match the prevailing cultural norms. This person will seek fringe groups for self esteem or go underground, and lead a double-life if need be, expressing his self in hiding.


To take this to extreme levels of pathology for illustration; the a person that sees the world as it really is - seeing through the arbitrary nature of the culture - without symbolic dependence on abstract immortality concepts - has a hard time getting along. They may creates all sorts of fetishes (compulsive hand washing, paranoia, weird sex, or needs to control others) to control his world and thereby protect and gain life. These are necessary props for a weak belief in his inherent security. On the other extreme level, the schizophrenic so abstracts and imagines all the possible ways in which he could possibly transcend the world through symbols - they imagine they will become suicide bombers (with the promise of 72 virgins in heaven) or pretend they are masterful characters like Napoleon, jesus, birds (or other convienient immortal) and/or develop alternate realities.

One must be careful not to over intellectualize. It is easy to distract ourselves with questions that satisfy our rational and scientific minds. We can argue and discuss and philosphise on many levels. However, I believe that when Tolle discusses ego, he is making a simple fact that we must recognize. What motivates our actions? It is coming from me or the greater source. I think that asking "why ego" is a distraction and prevents one from asking deeper questions that may be more difficult to answer. I don't mean to treat your question lightly. It is one I would have asked. However, I suspect it will lead down a dead alley. It might benefit you more to look at the existence of the ego in this present moment.

The Ego was created to take care of our body or "form" on Earth, that is the main purpose of the Ego, our true formless self needs no protection and is our authentic self. the ego takes what is learns in the world of form from parents, teachers, environment etc. This allows it to "get buy" in the world of form "things". Rise above the ego and know your true formless, loving, auhtentic self. Any time you are in fear you are in ego.

I beg to differ - from a mother who has witnessed, we are born with our egos. My children's basic personalities showed up THE MINUTE they were born... and truth be known, probably before that. Their basic, fundamental Being was there from the beginning and remains today. The difference now is my children are "socialized". (Anyone read The Four Agreements?) Many things are necessary to live in a society. Many levels of survival must exist for a society to exist. I agree with other posts that the ego is there to save us from ourselves. Survival of the fittest...it evolved...and rightfully so. The problem lies in quieting that ego so God may speak to us. I read a great book - Zero Limits by Joe Vitale....It's very different because ending that chatter is monumental but achievable. Only then will you hear the Word of God. POI

Well sparkledi is your ego enjoying these responses in this NOW

Hi Chrisbell. You said, "Except those that live closest to humans. Humans have evolved so far away from our connection to the now. " May I say to you the NOW is in your midst? I do not mean to be cute or funny by that remark. Could it be that we have fallen into the trap of living in an illusion. When you were born were you in the NOW? Probably more so then, than you are today. That goes for all of us. Stop and think about it. I have a grand daughter who is 4 years old now. My wife and I baby -sat the first 2 years of her life, 2 days a week. It wasn't till she was about 18 months to 20 months she started to say a few words and develop a little personality. Then one day I saw her sitting quietly where she shouldn't have been, not that she could get in any trouble, but she knew she was playing with something that she shouldn't have been. And I caught her. She looked at me in the strangest way with a forced smile on her face. And immediately I said to myself, "MY GOD, SHE HAS JUST GIVEN BIRTH TO HER SELF" Of course by SELF I meant her ego.

What I am getting at is when a human being comes into this world that child is totally in touch with the NOW and sees the world just as it is. The mind of the infant comes into the world with a pure state of attention. It sees, smells, feels and so on. But the child knows nothing. There are no intellectual thought patterns, there are no memories that words can be attached to. So, there is no sense of psychological time. The quality of that child's mind is filled with the FLAME OF ATTENTION." Attention is the foreground in the infants mind. The child is totally in touch with the world as it is.

As the child gets older and learns how to talk and learns more words it learns how to express its experiences through its thoughts. The child begins comparing one thought of one experience with that of another, and lo and behold, that gives birth to desire, and desire gives birth to the ego. So, what has happened where this mental activity takes place? Have you not created the concept of "THE FUTURE?" The more experiences we have, the more desires take place within our thought processing.
They can be desires of joy that we want to continue, or the desire to run from pain or sorrow.

But equally important, there is something else that has occurred in the maturing individual. And that is, the content of memory, which you call the EGO, has taken over the foreground and pushed that, "FLAME OF ATTENTION" into the background. So now you look at the world in a different way. Now the world as you think of it becomes more important than the world as it is. When we were infants we were in touch with the world as it is. Now we are adults in touch with the world as we would like it to be. And all of this creates the illusion of time, not chronological time, but psychological time.

Thus, we have created an illusion. That illusion is the fact that we have created a 'center' with our mind that must control our thinking, as if it was not created by thought itself. Does any of this make any sense to you? Observe how you think, how you react to your daily challenges. Give your complete attention to all you go through for a few days and find out what you can discover about yourself. It is fun and very rewarding.