ego

[Adam Blatner]

Hi Cynthia, 
     I agree with your wariness about the objectification of the concept of ego. I see ego as a provisional construct arising from Freudian psychology, and also applied in new age circles to a tendency to overly identify with the boundaried self, among other elements. I think there's a confusion of over-identification with ego, ego-centricity, selfishness, narcissism, and ego as mediating function. It's an awkward word for nothing actual (in the sense that nothing in the mind---self, instinct, pure emotion, motive, etc. can be truly assessed in a pure state; they are abstractions, words, categories). 
        Nevertheless, I find the term often useful in thinking about ego strength, the different managing role components.
     On the whole, my thought is that we need to develop ego, help it become more mature, in the form of "meta-role" training (as I describe in papers on my website); this also implies role distance, not fully identifying with the boundaried self as the whole or the goal---which opens then to some transpersonal identifications and relations, too.  
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: CGayle 
  To: Ivo Banaco ; Grouptalk Listserv ; iagp-psychodrama at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 12:03 PM
  Subject: Re: The Spirituality political problem


  I watched the video.  I felt words on all sides were dancing around the issue.  My projection is she was really lamenting about her deep spiritual hunger, and she has been taking this "ego" as-something-negative-talk in as something wrong with her, b/c she's hungering for a deeper connection within spiritually and is not able to sustain it.

  Personally I have a problem with the ego-as-something-negative-talk that is so common in much new age theology or discussions.  God or spirit or holy sparks are everywhere, including in ego and the "small self".  Perhaps that is what the teachers were trying in a way to get to...but it is hard to talk about ego being a culprit without getting into a duality perspective (good/bad), rather than seeing ego as part of the complexity of wholeness. 

  Not sure how this relates to political problems except in that deep spiritual hunger, and disconnection from belonging, which is also a spiritual hunger, is a political issue...because these lacks...lack of connection with one's core within, lack of belonging in family and community and society...lead to the corruption of leadership and institutions of all sorts, religious, political, etc.  Moreno's core message.

  Cynthia Gayle
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