What is Ego?
The ego has been dissected both spiritually and in a psychoanalytic sense. It is often misunderstood and seen as a negative aspect of our being. However, there is so much more than what meets the eye. If you have been trying to understand what exactly the ego is, keep reading as we have broken down the meaning of ego, how it plays a role in our life and the difference between a healthy and a toxic ego.
Let’s start with the different types of ego.
What Are the Three Types of Ego?
According to Sigmund Freud, there are three types of ego: the id, ego, and superego.
The Id
The id is the primitive instincts that we are given at birth. It is biological and impulsive, all of our basic urges and needs come from this part of our ego.
The Ego
The ego meets the desires of the id in a socially acceptable way. It deals with reality and works to ensure that self-control is maintained. It is conscious and can often repress hidden desires that may be met with harsh judgment from others.
The Superego
The superego is ethical and holds all of the internalized moralistic attitudes that are developed from an early age. It consists of two parts, one is the conscience and the other is the ego ideal. The latter includes the rules and standards that the ego aspires to.
What Is the Role of Ego?
Overall, the main role of the ego is to protect us. The ego assumes responsibility for our impulses and our physical being. It is the rational part of our personality and is highly self-aware. As a part of our psyche, it plays a crucial role in our cognitive functions.
For instance, it is the ego that will warn us to not spend all our month’s salary at the bar because we have bills to pay. It warns us to not fall in love so quickly as we have been hurt in the past. It also tells us to stay in a job that we don’t like instead of following our dreams, to protect us from eventual failure.
All of our thoughts and observations about ourselves stem from the ego. It is where our judgment originates which is influenced by our conscious way of thinking. The ego sees the outside world as separate from the body.
What Is a Healthy Ego?
A healthy ego is not over controlling, and it takes some time to look at reality in different perspectives. Our perception of something and our reaction to it defines a meaning, not the thing itself. In order to have a healthy sense of ego we need to feel a connection to the body and soul rather than allowing the ego to dominate our lives.
What Is a Toxic Ego?
A toxic ego lacks control and wants to take over our lives. It can create a negative view of ourselves and the people around us. Harsh judgment and unrealistic expectations can come as a result of a toxic ego. Many people live their lives completely ruled by their ego, unable to follow their intuition in any circumstance. They end up living in fear and low vibration which keeps them stuck, and unhappy.
How Dangerous Is Ego?
The ego is only dangerous when we give it too much power. It can be detrimental to our wellbeing. A toxic ego can result in us becoming overcritical, hypersensitive, and out of touch with our spiritual self. We can make our lives miserable as well as impact the lives of those around us.
Can We Live Without Ego?
In theory, we cannot live without the ego. It is a part of us from the depths of our animalistic tendencies to part of us that is responsive and active. We need the ego to keep us from danger and preserve a sense of awareness.
Often many people will see judgment as something that is negative. However, it is crucial that we exercise this to help us recognize whether something is in our best interest or not.
What Is Letting Go of Ego?
To let go of the ego is to accept that there is more to it and decide to see the bigger picture. When we are open to the fact that everything is energy, we are one with the universe, and we are made from the same material of everything that is, we begin to connect to our higher self. This does not mean that we completely separate from our ego. We simply learn how to raise our energetic frequency, that allow us to listen to our intuition and higher knowledge.
How Can We Free Ourselves From Ego?
To free ourselves from ego and allow our life to be enjoyed and lived in a flow state, there are a few steps we can take. Here are some of them.
Find a balance
We must learn to live with it and forge balance. The ego keeps us out of harm’s way however we must not let it dictate our life. One way to view this is to see the ego as the earthly realm. We must have harmony between both aspects of ourselves in this world and the next.
Be open
When we let go of limitations and keep our minds open we can progress and remove ourselves from the clutches of the ego. It should not be viewed as something that is bad, rather that we need to find a new way to work with it.
Meditate
Meditation will help you develop your intuition. By learning how to listen to your intuition, you get access to a higher knowledge that will provide you the guidance you need at crucial moments in your life.
Raise your vibration
Do you know your energetic frequency? If not, check out the Hawkins scale to get a better understanding of where you are and then take action to raise your vibration. As you raise your vibration, you will be more in tune with the reality you live in, which will help you let go of the ego control.
Let me know in the comments below, what other steps you have taken to help you let go of ego.
Love and light x
