The Hawkins Series: The Ego, Our False Sense of Self
This is post #1 of a commentary that seeks to recap a series of teachings on the nature of the Ego, from Dr. David Hawkin’s teachings in his anthology, Dissolving the Ego, Realizing the Self.
As you will learn in this post, an untrained Ego overtakes human consciousness, thereby shaping pessimistic personalities that self-perpetuate negative thinking and negative habits.
The Ego is the imaginary doer behind thought and action, powered by a compilation of unexamined habits of perception, reinforced by repetition and consensus of society, and powered by emotions.”
What you will learn:
- What is the Ego?
- Why is it so negative?
- How can we transcend the Ego?
- What happens when it fights back?
- Who is the Higher Self?
01— The Ego Construct
Psychology tells us that the human Ego is a carnal survival instinct. Its main objective is to form and maintain a “self-image” it deems necessary to navigate the outside world, i.e. where pride comes from.
The Ego is the carnal aspect of our minds ruled by thoughts, emotions, and material. Also referred to as the Lower Self.
The Ying to the Ego’s Yang is Spiritual Awareness (consciousness). Also referred to as the Higher Self… the essence of who we are.
Dr. Hawkins on the Ego’s construct:
- “The Ego develops a sense of ‘who we are’ by identifying with the body, the personality, its mental processing, and emotional investment.”
- “The Ego develops coping and survival skills we need to deal effectively with the outside world.”
- “The extreme of selfishness, Ego lacks all ethical principles, using the mind as camouflage and becomes hidden in its clever constructions.”
- “The use of the pronoun I as the subject [of all thoughts and emotions] is the most serious error — it implies I as the cause of all actions.”
- “Belief in ‘I’ or ‘me’ is a hindrance to realizing one’s true nature.”
The last quote casts a stark difference from Descartes’ claim of “I think, therefore I am,” which implies that thought is human essence, a dangerous claim that validates the most destructive, toxic human emotions.
By identifying with thought, we become the illusionary self that the Ego created. In Latin, Ego means “I” ... meaning every statement that begins with “I” or ends with “me” is the Ego speaking. After all, as a construct of the mind “I” doesn’t really exist — the antithesis to our spiritual essence.
All negative judgments, perceptions, and expectations are derived from “I”
All humans share the same responsibility of using intellect to see beyond our false sense of self. What distinguishes our personalities is simply the degree to which we’ve identified with “me,” “myself,” and “I.”
02 — Hard-wired Negativity
The human Ego is born into conflict. It, therefore, continues to use fear, doubt, defensiveness, etc. in order to perform its function of “helping” us navigate the outside world.
Identifying with the Ego’s negativity validates our most destructive thoughts, emotions, and fears. To “survive,” the Ego fulfills strong desires for gain, sensation, excitement, advantage, prestige, and pleasure of manipulating people/circumstances.
While it is the root of all human suffering, the Ego is not inherently evil. Despite what psychedelic culture says, “killing the ego” is not the path toward spiritual enlightenment, even if it were possible. The Ego is not bad.
What's bad is identifying with the Ego and its negative thoughts. Indeed, it sustains itself by creating conflict, seeking victimization, passing judgment, attaching labels, etc. It cannot survive on positive thinking.
Dr. Hawkins on the Ego being rooted in negativity:
- “Ego can be an inescapable source of endless suffering and loss.”
- “Enamored with itself, the Ego secretly loves and clings to the position of victimhood, and extracts pleasure from (addictive) suffering, and all levels lacking integrity: pride, anger, desire, guilt, shame, grief, etc.”
- “One mechanism it uses to protect itself and disown painful feelings is projecting them as thoughts onto other people.”
- “Ego clings on to emotionality and pretends to think that it has no other choices. It disowns responsibility and places blame instead.”
- “Ego’s addiction/survival is rooted in the secret pleasure of negativity, which cannot be abandoned until it is first recognized and owned without shame or guilt — accept it is not personal at all.”
I hope at this point you begin to realize that all the negative thoughts you’ve experienced since childhood, was never the real you. Do you remember the whispers of consciousness from deep down correcting your negative thoughts? That was you (learn more about the real you in paragraph 5).
03— Transcending the Ego
If truth is light then falsehood is its opposite. Identifying with the Ego’s false sense of self is living in darkness… living subconsciously.
The lantern that guides us out of such darkness is Spiritual Awareness. This is why transcending the Ego is referred to as ENLIGHTenment.
Many people are advised to overcome depression/despair/anxiety/etc through diet/exercise/faith/relationships/distractions. While these are beneficial, they’re just bandaids. They don’t address the root issue of mental health: an Ego in charge.
“The Ego seeks out inner satisfaction from feelings of self-pity, anger, rage, hate, pride, guilt, fear, etc. To undo these influences, one must — with complete inner honesty — be willing to forgo and surrender these questionable, inner secret pleasures to God, and look only to Him for joy, pleasure, and happiness.
The Ego can be transcended only through spiritual progress — which is not measured by performing a specific act or reaching a specific destination, but by replacing the mind’s illusions for something greater.
Dr. Hawkins on transcending Egoic identity:
- “The primary goal of spiritual work is to transcend the Ego.”
- “Progress of consciousness is facilitated by awareness of the Ego.”
- “Awareness of the Ego comes through the seeking Truth itself.”
- “Shedding illusions allows Truth to stand revealed.”
- “Through spiritual endeavor, we discover that we have been captives and victims of the Ego’s clever deceptions.”
- “Thoughts and opinions are vanities, let them go to dissolve the Ego.”
- “With acceptance/compassion, Ego’s hold on consciousness dissolves.”
- “With introspection, you discover that the Ego is really just ‘running a racket’ for its own survival and the real you is actually the loser.”
- “Dissolving anger may require the willingness to surrender pride that underlies that anger, which may depend on surrendering a desire.”
To overcome the Lower Self on our way to the Higher Self, we must make a commitment to ourselves, that we will intentionally and compassionately disassociate from the [pleasure of] negativity that the Ego thrives on.
04 — The Ego Fights Back
Overthinking is the Ego’s lifeline. By reducing the chatter of the mind, we can tune out the Ego to allow for Spiritual Awareness to emerge.
Of course, the Ego will never go down without a fight. It is terrified of presence (being in the moment), which it perceives as its own death, and so it creates thoughts of doubt when we try to silence it.
Dr. Hawkins on the Ego resisting Awareness:
- “The Ego has learned to be very clever in order to survive, escaping truth and increasing dependence on falsity.”
- “It would rather ‘see you dead’ than admit it is wrong, resorting to denial, self-deception, and camouflage.”
- “To win at all costs, the Ego avoids reason with clever rhetoric powered by blame and demonizing others.”
- “The Ego resists correction with narcissism egotism, pride, and vanity.”
- “Transcending Ego requires surrendering to God. But out of shame, the Ego blocks out our connection with God.”
All we need to overcome the Ego’s defense is courage and perseverance. If it means living free of pessimism and emotional baggage, isn’t it worth it?
Inner peace is the most impactful result we can achieve in life. Start today, feel it tomorrow. Your awakening helps others in your life with their own self-discovery. You will contribute to the collective awareness.
05 — Arriving at the Higher Self
The Smaller Self is Carnal. It seeks comfort and happiness in form. Happiness is consumption-based and reliant on people, things, places.
The Higher Self is Spiritual. It seeks harmony and inner peace in the formless. Inner peace is awareness-based, reliant on presence only.
“What the Lower Self (Ego) conceals, the Higher Self (Spirit) reveals.”
The Higher Self only knows presence, love, unity, trust, peace, joy, humility, compassion, tolerance, generosity, acceptance, creativity, etc. Plugging into our spiritual essence is tuning in to God’s frequency.
The Lower Self lives on the past and the future, while the Higher Self is only interested in the here and now — where God calls our attention.
The Higher Self is the superhero inside all of us.
Dr. Hawkins on the Higher Self:
- “At this stage, the Ego realizes its own fallacies and failure to achieve happiness and that the satisfaction it gets from pain is a poor substitute for joy. ”
- “Higher Self is where Egoic arguments cease, & replaced by silence.”
- “With relinquishment of dependence on the Ego for pleasure and happiness, we discover that the source of happiness is our own existence and that the realization of the Self is happiness itself.”
- “With time, it will become clear that one’s reality is not a ‘who’ at all, but an intensely loving Allness (spiritual being).”
- “We realize our spiritual essence is much closer, more comforting, and fulfilling than the (mental) sense of self.”
- “To the spirit (Higher Self), sunny days and rainy days are the same.”
- “The Higher Self enjoys ‘being with’ without having to own or control.”
Once in the driver’s seat, the Higher Self will protect us from turning back to Ego for joy or freeing ourselves from blame.
This is the proverbial station of being “one with the Universe.” Approaching everyday life in submission to God, and the nature in which he created us.
00— OUTRO
Desire, Anger, and Imagination are the Ego’s domain. By awakening our Spiritual Awareness, we overcome the carnal instincts that so easily give in to desire, get carried away by anger, or get lost in the void of imagination.
