A Simple Explanation of Ego vs. Self

A recent telephone discussion with my brother, Bill, brought up the common confusion surrounding the terms "Ego" and "Self."  People often use these terms interchangeably, without defining exactly what they mean. This can easily lead to misunderstandings. Bill suggested I write an article defining the distinctions, using the Simple Explanation. 

This article will clear up the confusion between what people call that part of themselves they identify with as their "self." In other words, when you peel away the external stuff, who are you? When you say "I", what is that "I"? What is the difference between being "selfish" and "selfless"? And finally, is having a strong "ego" a bad thing? How is "ego" related to "selfishness"? 

According to the Simple Explanation, our bodies are comprised of countless units of consciousness (UCs) that are all working to keep us alive. Every particle and molecule, every cell and body organ from your skin on in, works to keep you alive and functioning. Every piece of you knows how to do its job, and all of your pieces coordinate their work to keep you up and running. When any part of you breaks down and no longer does its job, it either has to be replaced by fresh parts through cell regeneration or by other means like surgery. When major parts fail, your physical body dies.

This diagram shows how your body is comprised of countless units of consciousness (UCs) that work to keep your body alive and running smoothly. "You" are not only that sole person you usually identify yourself with, but also every particle, molecule, cell, and organ that makes up your body. The "Ego" is the "mind" that  arises from and watches over the billions of parts that make up your physical body.  The "Ego" is only aware of the needs of your body, not the needs of others. The "Self," on the other hand, is a singular unit of consciousness attached to your body, like the raja riding atop an elephant. Unlike the "Ego," the "Self" identifies with the Universal Unit of Consciousness rather than the body. The "Self" is a perfect singular fractal of the Universal UC and is oriented to the Universe at large. Your "Self" is interested in others and works according to the Golden Rule.

The reason your Ego appears so "selfish" is that it is entirely concerned with you and your body's needs. The Ego is your organ-level consciousness. The Ego helps you translate the body's physical needs into action. The body's organ systems have their own "mind," and that mind is your Ego. Does your sexual organ system want sex? The Ego will bring that about in the most selfish way. Does your digestive system want food? Your Ego will make sure it gets food in the most selfish way possible. Does your nervous system crave excitement and stimulation or perhaps quiet and rest? Your Ego will make sure it gets it. The Ego's job is to care for and feed the body whatever it wants, and too bad for everyone else. That's their own Ego's job to take care of their needs, not yours.

The Self, on the other hand, is other-oriented. The Self reflects the character of love called "Agape" in Greek--Godly love. The Self is like the raja riding atop the elephant. It is not the elephant and all its moving parts, but rather a singular unit of consciousness: "me," "I." The Self is a perfect fractal of the Universal Unit of Consciousness that ties our entire universe together into one organism. Your Self is akin to a single cell of the Universe itself. Your Self's job is to connect to others, following the law of the Golden Rule.

The Simple Golden rule states  "In order for units of consciousness to join and work together for the greater good, they need relevant information (including shared meme chords), they need to be willing to channel coherence from the metaverse, and they need to love one another."  

"Selfless" love comes from your "Self" fractal, which is a perfect reflection of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. This is the true meaning of being created in God's image. The Self's job is to reach out to others with information, assistance, and love in order to work together to build something greater than oneself. This is the Simple Golden Rule.

"Selfish" love comes from your "Ego," which is a by-product of your body's organ systems. The Ego's job is not to reach out to others, but to take the best possible care of you and your body. Its focus is on you, not others. Romantic love arises from this organ-level Ego. Your Ego feels good when someone else pays attention to you and your Ego wants to spend more time with them. Casual sex is an activity arranged by the Ego at the sexual organ level, with no strings attached. Ego's job is self-centered.

A strong Ego reflects the intensity of your body's needs. A weak Ego is less aware of the body's needs. Selfishness without awareness arises from the Ego. The Ego is amoral other than taking care of its primary duty of taking care of you. 

Spiritual teachings emphasize dethroning Ego from the top of the elephant and placing God on the throne. In truth, the Self may continue to sit on the throne atop the elephant because the Self is a pure reflection of God and as a reflection of God it is inherently Selfless and loving. 

Notice that our human concept of "God" occupies the same niche in this Universal hierarchy as our Ego occupies in the Human-level hierarchy. Using analogical reasoning, our universe is a reflection of the collective choices (karma) and memes (beliefs and narratives) of every entity in the universe. The personality we humans call "God" also reflects this Universe's karmic record and memes, as It organizes and instantiates those patterns on behalf of Creation. This "God" is not identical to the Metaversal Universal Consciousness because of its necessary involvement with this material Universe. The Metaversal UC exists in a limitless, undifferentiated state of pure consciousness, unaffected by the affairs of this Universe.

If you would like to behave like a less "selfish" person, that is, if you would like to put others' needs ahead of your own from time to time, you need to realize that your Ego is only looking out for #1. The good news is that your Self is waaaay more powerful than your Ego. The struggle is not between you and God and the Devil. Your struggle is between your Self and your Ego. You must realize that your Self already reflects all of the characteristics of God, including loving, selfless behavior. Don't let your body's meat dictate your actions.

"I" am not my Ego

My Ego is not really "me," even though that's who I usually think I am.

We think of the mind and ego as ourselves, but this is the delusion. Yes, the "me" package reflects our personalities, but "I" am much more than the meme bundles and karma of this personality.

Nor am "I" my mind. My mind is a tuning device that scans for and locks onto "my" meme bundle. The Ego feeds on the memes tuned in by my mind. My mind is directed toward its preferred memes by my karmic record. Ego is not a conscious entity. Ego is only a construction--a garment cast over; a vessel containing; the shadow outlining, "my" self's Unit of Consciousness (UC).

Underneath the garment of "me" resides a perfect fractal of the originating unit of consciousness, my Self. "I" am a Unit of Consciousness, identical to the universal UC.

"I" have the choice at every moment of time to either identify with "me" and my bundle of memes, or to identify with the universal unit of consciousness and the bigger picture that transcends personal identity.

• The Egoic "Me" is selfish, competitive, single-minded, short-sighted, meme-bound;
• Transcending Ego, "I" reach out to others with love, help, and information for the betterment of all.



Here is a more detailed definition of "I" from my article 9, "Who Am I?" 

For most people, the answer to "who am I?" is that I am my self-aware sense of "me" encased in this body of mine. This Simple Explanation theory says we are that, but also we are the things we love and hate, plus the record of our actions in this world, overlaid upon our UC. Think of a UC as a perfect echo or wave form "shaped" exactly like God's mind. You might say our universe is populated by exact echoes of God's primordial UC. The UCs are all identical--they're all reflections of the God UC. What makes "me" different from "you" is the pattern of my meme bundles and karma that overlay or filter out my UC.

The Self UC is a perfect reflection of the God UC. But "I" (the subjective sense of "me") am not that perfect, because of my meme attachments and karma.

 

Shed Unwanted Memes Here! Now!

As defined in the article "Memes and Chords of Memes," memes are the cultural expressions of societies. Every discrete cultural concept, mythology, or icon you can think of is a meme. Indeed, each and every concept that a person can know and name is a meme, even self-concept. According to the Simple Explanation, the memes we believe in and cling to are like theads draped over our souls, obscuring our perfect Self UC and interfering with our awareness of here and now.

If my Self UC is a perfect fractal expression of the primordial Universal UC ("Holy Ghost," "Kutastha Chaitanya," "Purushottama") then my personal meme bundle is the garment woven by my mind out of life's experiences ("avidiya," "maya"), and sustained by my Ego as personal identity ("Ahamkara").



Self UC





Self UC Clouded by Memes

The article "Bundles of Memes" explains that once you acquire a meme, it becomes part of your unique vibratory bundle. If you do not wish to continue holding that meme in your personal bundle of strings and chords, you need to detach that meme from your bundle.

• Some memes fall away of their own accord through disuse.
• Other memes must be consciously detached and laid aside.
• Some memes are pernicious; addictions are their behaviors. 
• Emotionally evocative memes such as victimhood or jealousy are difficult to detach due to the intense synergistic coupling of thoughts and emotion.

In the worldly course of events, unwanted memes must be detached through an effort of will, either through conscious disuse or by acquiring a competing, more desirable meme. Therapies such as EFT may help.

Within one's spiritual tradition, memes may be surrendered to one's Higher Power through prayer and meditation. Serenity is achieved as memes are discarded.

Here, now, you may lay down that unwanted meme. If you find yourself accidentally carrying it around again, lay it down again. If you notice yourself invoking that meme out of habit, good. Lay it down again. You may need to lay down some neighboring memes as well, if their vibrations are invoking that pernicious meme in you. No need for dismay or despair. Onward and upward.

The Simple Explanation's Golden Rule: Reaching Out With Love

This could be considered the central takeaway message/motto/meme of  the Simple Explanation:

Your job is to reach out to others with love, aid, and information for the betterment of all.

 

This goes for all Units of Consciousness, from sub-atomic quanta up through cells and organs to organisms and beyond. Every physical manifestation links up with others of its kind (atoms link together to make molecules; molecules make cells; cells make organs; organs link together to make organisms; organisms link together to create societies, and so on) to become the building blocks of the next level of hierarchical aggregation.

Does this apply to human UCs? Of course it does!

Your job is to reach out to others with love, aid, and information for the betterment of all.

When should you do this?

Now.

To whom should you reach out?

Well, who's there next to you? Who needs your help right now where you are? Is someone asking for aid or information?

What if I don't feel like helping others?
It appears to be a human truth that one can only find happiness through serving others. A me-centered life ultimately disappoints, as in, "I can't get no satisfaction."

Or, to put it in more general terms:



 It's the job of all UCs to join with others to collectively form the next hierarchical level up.

Personal Note: Eulogy for a tooth

Two weeks ago I took a bad fall on the street while walking the dogs and landed hard on my chin. Yesterday, the dentist pulled out a tooth that had cracked in two during the fall. As the dentist wrestled with the tooth's roots, I realized that this tooth was its own little entity, and that she had been mortally wounded in the fall. Unable to do the job she was instantiated to do any longer, it was time for her to go. Later in the evening I felt a sadness for the tooth's demise and imagined that Whoville was holding a wake for the dearly departed tooth. I looked forward to falling asleep so that my governing UC would be available to attend the party, maybe even give a brief eulogy. "She took one for the team," I'd say. "She is free now to move on."

Meme Share!

Here's a new term I've just thought up: "meme share."  Meme Sharing is what you do when you share a meme that is dear to you with others. If you look at the post called "Onward and Upward" you will see the first instance of meme sharing.

Sharing memes accomplishes at least three things I can think of:

1. revealing your important memes to others in the hopes they will pick them up and use them;
2. revealing your important memes to others so that others will know you better;
3. building communities through shared memes.

What types of memes can you share?

• mottos, sayings, and maxims, like "Onward and Upward" or "It's All Good"
• iconic artwork, photos, architecture, etc. that you admire
• favorite books, movies, songs
• favorite things, like Rocky Road ice cream, or puppies, or sunsets
• values that are important to you, like Justice or Liberty

Imagine that Meme Sharing could become another type of social networking. We could start it off here, at the Simple Explanation blog site. Wanna get in on the ground floor? Leave your memes here, under Comments. Just share one meme per posting, and tell us briefly why it's important to you and how we might be better off if we also adopted that meme.

9 Who Am "I"?

“I” am the aggregate UCs of my material body, from the subatomic particles to molecules to cells, all the way up through the UCs of the body’s organ systems.
     “I” am also the self-aware unit of consciousness generated at conception.Like all UCs, this capital-letter “Self” came into this universe as a perfect echo of God’s mind. The job of this Self UC is to oversee the body’s aggregate UCs and to join with other UCs to build things.
     “I” am influenced in my decision-making by many forces acting upon me as I approach the here and now. These forces include the karmic records and meme bundles of my Self and my body’s aggregate UCs, and the karma and memes of those around me. Despite these influences acting upon me, it is always within my power to make a free-will decision at any particular moment.

More Basics About UCs

These further thoughts regarding Units of Consciousness (UCs) were generated through discussions carried on in earlier "Comments," prompted by reader questions.

There are so many little quanta Units of Consciousness and atomic Units of Consciousness that, despite their very simple material expression (no brains, no blood for example) they still have a pretty firm grasp of the Universe because they are all over the place. But their responsibilities are very narrowly defined--a photon may only have one choice to make in its whole life, so that individual photon's Unit of Consciousness doesn't know too much about anything else. But, when you consider all of the photons in this Universe, together they know everything there is to know about optics and light. We do know from the latest science that photons, once they are twined with another photon, know instantly everything that their twin photon does, no matter how far away their twin has gone. Furthermore, the twin photon's choices affect each other, so if, for example, one twin goes right, their other goes left.

  

All Units of Consciousness are self-aware, self-governing, with free will. You don't have to reach any level of sophistication to be a governing Unit of Consciousness. Every Unit of Consciousness governs the piece of material they are attached to, irregardless of how simple or inert the material appears to us humans.

The human body has a governing Unit of Consciousness one step higher up than the Units of Consciousness that make up our body and its systems. It is this governing Unit of Consciousness that we think of as our self.  (See "Mud Up, Spirit Down" article) 

Every body has many, many, many Units of Consciousness. These Units of Consciousness govern the atomic and molecular structure of the body; above that are Units of Consciousness that govern each cell in the body (one Unit of Consciousness for each of 50-trillion cells); above that is a Unit of Consciousness for each organ--a heart Unit of Consciousness, a lung Unit of Consciousness, a sexual Unit of Consciousness, etc. Then there is the Unit of Consciousness that ties all of these subsystems together -- our governing Unit of Consciousness that makes the body's coordinated physical-maintenance decisions and interfaces with the world through the body's sensory and motor systems. 

The governing Unit of Consciousness isn't always paying attention to the body or even doing its job of conscious decision-making. The governing Unit of Consciousness may be preoccupied with thoughts or songs or emotions and so the self isn't making any here-and-now decisions, but leaving decisions to the body's aggregate Units of Consciousness. Activities like driving a car, having sex, eating, or taking a bath can all be carried out by the body's organ level Units of Consciousness without governing supervision or awareness. 

The Big Bang took only moments to pour all the potential Units of Consciousness into our Universe. Scientists tell us that all the particles in the Universe were formed in moments, and that the initial transformations and organizing of particles into more complex shapes took under a second. We're discussing Units of Consciousness, not particles, but we already know that every particle is associated with a Unit of Consciousness, or to put it another way, every essentially identical Unit of Consciousness expresses itself as a particular instantiation of matter. According to Yogic philosophy, the matter is only in illusory projection of the Unit of Consciousness's individualized consciousness.

Units of Consciousness never evolve because each Unit of Consciousness is already a perfect replica of the original Unit of Consciousness (the one that emerged directly from the metaverse). What changes is the sophistication and abilities of the matter that limits its expression in this 3-D world. 

As the material becomes more complex, with more complex and massive attachments, the Unit of Consciousness that has chosen to govern that aggregation of material focuses its attention to that level of decision making. If there is an atomic-sized grouping, then there would be the number of Units of Consciousness involved in that grouping as a physicist would expect to observe. If that atom joins up laterally with other atoms to form a molecule, then at the here and now of the new molecule's instantiation, a Unit of Consciousness focused on making decisions on behalf of that molecule enters the universe. This would be what I refer to as the molecule's governing Unit of Consciousness.

A Simple Explanation of Meditation

Scientific research has proven that the brains of regular meditators function differently than those of non-meditators. For one thing, more information travels through the meditator's corpus callosum, uniting left and right hemispheres.
For another thing, meditators recover more quickly from emotional upsets and startle reactions.
For more information on this topic, you can watch 17 minutes of a good documentary provided through Canadian Television:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3LtQH4Etjo

What is it about meditation that causes these effects?

The general process of meditation involves sitting quietly and stilling the mind through concentration. Various schools of meditation encourage concentration through a variety of techniques--attention to breathing, uttering a repeated mantra such as "Lord" or the word "om," focusing on the "third eye" between the eyebrows, or upon love and heartfelt connection beyond oneself. Any method that quiets the mind's chatter will do. Interior silence must be achieved. The goal is relaxation, a sense of perfect peace, a feeling of bliss, or union with God. 

Quieting the mind's chatter during meditation achieves two things.  First, it allows you to temporarily lay aside your meme bundle and briefly unite with your governing Unit of Consciousness Self; secondly, interior stillness provides the empty space needed to go beyond the boundary of your personal Unit of Consciousness (UC) to perceive the reassuring sheltering presence of the universal unit of consciousness. Spiritually oriented meditation techniques refer to this transcendence of personal identity as recognizing the essential Oneness of All, or as approaching the Throne of God. 

Here's what I think happens to the nesting toroids during meditation:

This first drawing represents our nested universal space. (Please click here to review this concept if you need to.) 

The red center represents the material universe; the white arrows represent proto-energy radiating into our universe; the beige is our governing UC; the yellow is the universal unit of consciousness, known as God.

During ordinary consciousness, our Self is engaged in the material-based world. According to Yoga philosophy and energy healers, an observable red current of life-giving energy (prana) runs upward from the base of the spine. Since our toroidal model indicates that matter and energy are generated from the center zero-point of the conscious universal field, our human bodies must occupy our personal UCs thusly:

This illustration represents the human chakra field drawing universal proto-energy (ananda) through chakra one at the base of the spine.

During ordinary, matter-bound consciousness, human awareness is  entirely trapped within the mind's perceptions of the material universe. These matter-bound perceptions include both processed sensory stimuli(touch, taste, hearing, smell, sight) and thought ideations in the form of meme chords and karma. In this state, the Self's governing UC can only occasionally influence the "mud-up" mind.  You could say that in the ordinary state, the matter-bound mortal is "out of phase" with his or her Self UC.

During meditation, the source from which the body draws energy shifts from chakra one at the base of the spine to chakra four--the heart. Yoga philosophy characterizes the heart as the door between the material and spiritual. When the mind is perfectly still, the heart swells with love and with joy. We propose that during meditation, the human goes "in phase" with pure consciousness, uninfluenced by perceptions of and opinions about the material world. This phase shift brings the mud-up mind into full contact with not only its own  governing UC but, with practice and patience, the individualized UC resonates entirely in phase with the universal UC.

At that stage of advanced meditation, when one's personal identity unit of consciousness becomes one with the universal unit of consciousness, the seventh chakra at the crown of the skull channels unimpeded information and coherence directly through the "top" or aligned metaversal funnel. At the same time, the personal toroidal space is entirely in phase with the universal UC and "pressed" directly against the coherence boundary, stimulating an unparalleled sense of love ("Divine Love"). Also, universal proto-energy pours through the "spiritualized heart" at the core of the meditator, bringing an unrivaled sense of bliss to the meditator.

One technique meditators employ to achieve this advanced state of love, bliss, and awareness is to balance their ascending (chakra one) prana with their descending (chakra seven) spiritual energy (mud up, spirit down) so that they meet at the (chakra four) heart center. Perhaps this model's simple explanation may help with that endeavor.

Mud Up, Spirit Down--A Simple Explanation of Bodies and Souls

Prior to reading this post, please acquaint yourself with "Start Here: A Simple Explanation--Basic Principles" in the column on the right side of the screen.


"Mud up, Spirit down" was a seminal idea that came to me a few years ago as I was mulling over the relationship between our bodies and our souls. Turns out it's nothing new--it's another way of describing what Yoga philosophy calls chakras, from the first chakra up to the seventh chakra.  It's also a classic dialectic of Christianity, as in: "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

I'm currently diagramming the nesting toroids that inform our Universe. This diagram will appear in a post we'll call "A Simple Diagram of the Toroidal Universe." It pertains to this discussion. Watch for it.

Meanwhile, here's a Simple Explanation of "Mud up, Spirit down."  What I think of as "me" is made up of a governing unit of consciousness (UC)(my immortal "Self") and many, many other UCs all aggregated together to form my physical body. Each of these UCs is a perfect replica of the proto-UC--what we refer to sometimes as "God's Mind" or the "Holy Spirit."  What I was pondering was this: if all these UCs are instantiations of perfection, then why aren't we perfect?  Answer: it's the mud. Our UCs are tied to these "material" instantiations and so have become localized in time and space, ergo are no longer omniscient and omnipresent but only so many pieces of matter, or "mud." Each UC, from sub-atomic particle on up, performs the job it instantiated to do, whether that be holding a hydrogen atom together, respirating a lung cell, or making a baby.

While our bodies are made of mud, our governing UC--our "Self"--is pure consciousness. Our Self UC is associated with the aggregate UCs that make up our mortal body, but the Self is immaterial and therefore immortal. It's the Self UC that people refer to as souls, or spirits. This Self UC is, indeed, perfect. But it lives with these other UCs that cloud its perfection with concerns of the mud UCs.

We are held in  suspension between the affairs of the mud and the flesh UCs and the governing wisdom of the Self UC, which is directly informed by the metaverse (or God).  Hence, "Mud up, Spirit Down."

Model Refinements Underway

I'm currently working my way through Swami Sri Yukteswar's little book, The Holy Science.   In this book, the Swami proposes his explanation of the same topics this blog considers. I'm mapping his concepts onto our Simple Explanation. Happy to say, the Simple Explanation of the Science of Yoga is coming along quite nicely.

This week I have come to realize that the model needs an expulsive force to balance the implosive force of coherence/love. On the material level this will be expressed as the forces of physics. On the psychological and spiritual level this will be expressed as prana and joy, but also turning from higher level awareness and clinging to delusion.

In Comments at Ch. 9 we are considering the nature of self.   And we're currently talking about entropy in Comments at Ch. 12.

More on all this later...

The Simple Explanation continues to prove useful in discussing a wide range of topics. Through these discussions, the model develops. Join the conversation!

9 Who Am "I"?

     “I” am the aggregate UCs of my material body, from the subatomic particles to molecules to cells, all the way up through the UCs of the body’s organ systems.

     “I” am also the self-aware unit of consciousness generated at conception.This capital-letter “Self” came into this universe as a perfect echo of God’s mind. The job of this Self UC is to oversee the body’s aggregate UCs and to join with other UCs to build things.
 
     “I” am influenced in my decision-making by many forces acting upon me as I approach the here and now. These forces include the karmic records and meme bundles of my Self and my body’s aggregate UCs, and the karma and memes of those around me. Despite these influences acting upon me, it is always within my power to make a free-will decision at any particular moment.