From b6fc27f96f74412df9b8f252473814817696ba670a722ce2ef38064e726c7ae6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Nicholas Johnson Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Subject: Convert refs: ego-traps --- content/entry/ego-traps.md | 7 +------ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/entry/ego-traps.md b/content/entry/ego-traps.md index 74cf8e9..8f6361d 100644 --- a/content/entry/ego-traps.md +++ b/content/entry/ego-traps.md @@ -2,10 +2,9 @@ title: "Ego Traps" date: 2020-08-02T00:00:00 draft: false -makerefs: false --- # The Ego -Before I get into ego traps, I need to explain what the ego is. I made a post previously about the self[1]. But, for this post, I'm going to give a simple definition. Ego is the sensation of "I". Ego is your idea of yourself. When asked to describe yourself, the ego is what you're describing. The ego is your "persona" that you display not only to others, but that you yourself believe. It's incomplete. This has to be true because consciousness can never be an object of itself. +Before I get into ego traps, I need to explain what the ego is. I made a post previously about [the self](/2020/05/02/the-self). But, for this post, I'm going to give a simple definition. Ego is the sensation of "I". Ego is your idea of yourself. When asked to describe yourself, the ego is what you're describing. The ego is your "persona" that you display not only to others, but that you yourself believe. It's incomplete. This has to be true because consciousness can never be an object of itself. Notice that I don't say it's inaccurate, just incomplete. You can never know exactly who you are. This is because, as far as we know, systems can't simulate themselves. It always leads to infinite regression. Let's use a computer system as a thought experiment. @@ -50,7 +49,3 @@ Your sensation of identity takes the form of the thoughts you don't know you're The fundamental game of being is like the game of hide and go seek. We hide in the thoughts we don't know we're having. They become who we are. Then one day, something or someone wakes us up and we realize we were playing a game the entire time. This could take 10 seconds or 10 years depending on the person. But, the game goes on several times in a single human life, played out in a different way each time. Just imagine all the ways the game is being played across all of humanity. The game of being a good person and not an evil one. The game of seeking happiness. The game of seeking enlightenment. The game of chasing after something. The game of pretending things are serious, that you're not even playing a game. That's why we find the joker character so fascinating. He plays devil's advocate. While everyone is taking life deadly serious, he dares to treat it like a game. The Christian religion is an absolutely marvelous game. The stakes of the game are eternal bliss versus eternal damnation. Christianity is the version of the game taken to the extreme. Maybe I shouldn't publish this because I'm giving away a secret. I'm spoiling your opportunity to find out what it's all about on your own. As Alan Watts says, I've given the show away. The main idea I want to get across in this post is that if you want to stop playing "hide and go seek", if you want to stay found for a while, then you need awareness. And ego traps are the thoughts that pull you out of awareness, so watch out for them. - - -Link(s): -[1: /2020/05/02/the-self](/2020/05/02/the-self/) -- cgit v1.2.3