I think that what he meant is if someone IS his own mind then we are truly enslaved by ourselves. Like being doomed to be ourselves... to stay in our ego or individuality.
Not only is the ego an illusion that one, literally, thinks is his/her identity, its singularity/unity is an illusion. Mentally, "I" is a loosely organized conglomeration of many, many "mini-egos," each with its own agenda, inner dialogue, will and emotional set. Again, the best known illustration of this is the Lil Angel / Lil Devil dichotomy.
This illusion--the ego conglomeration--is like a living thing, a psychological life-form, which, like a living thing, seeks to preserve itself. It fears and avoids death, sustaining itself via one's inner dialogue.
__________________
Shinier than a speeding bullet.
Why do you say that on'es ego is an illusion? Is the ego not a real, valid part of one's mind? Isn't the ego just basically one's Psychology? I wouldn't say a person's psychology/sense of self/consciousness is an illusion. I think it's very real.
It's certainly real in the sense that we're aware of it; that we relate to the world from that POV; and it is a necessary, healthy step in psychological development. But it is an illusion in that it is not our "final identity destination," so to speak. That, ultimately, is "God" (ie, from a meditative/spiritual/transpersonal perspective).
__________________
Shinier than a speeding bullet.
In the sense I mentioned above, human individuality exists. Depending on one's definition of God, however, human individuality is either separate from, or a part of, God. Mystical/meditative literature emphasizes the latter (part of God).
The development of the ego is part of normal, healthy psychological development. According to the Western paradigm, however, that's it: psychological development ends with ego. There is no soul, no God, nothing further to "evolve" toward. There is nothing more.
However, since the mystical schools of thought say there is more (ie, "God"), psychological development does not have to end with ego. The same process of development, which occurs automatically, taking each and every one of us from infant-mind to adult-mind (ego), can be re-ignited, so to speak, via meditation.
As a metaphor, think of an individual cell in your body. Using the term "consciousness" in the broadest sense, that cell has its own individual awareness, but at the same time it is part of the larger entity of the body. If a cell could meditate, it would transcend its individual awareness and become conscious of the greater awareness of the whole body. Individuality is not obliterated; it's just put in context.
Sorry for the rambling.
__________________
Shinier than a speeding bullet.
Last edited by Mindship on Jul 11th, 2006 at 01:25 PM
This makes more sense. Yes, I agree that it's vitally important to remain "in touch" and aware of one's existence being a part of a greater whole - call it nature or God. If one is detached of the greater being then chaos happens. We need to affrim our being part of the greater whole of the universe in order to have harmony.
Some people should rely more upon their feelings as a guide in everyday situations. Rather than just trying to figure things out in their head, following their intuitive feeling for a while and letting things unfold.
__________________
I am not driven by people s praise and I am not slowed down by people s criticism.
You only live once. But if you live it right, once is enough. Wrong. We only die once, we live every day!
Make poverty history.
I think our ego is only a experience that the real "us" is passing through, but our ego is not us. The real us is our consciousness, and it is like if that consciousness is watching a tv video which is our ego.
I think like because the ego is like a program that we must follow. We usually think we are that program and those programmed desires and wishes we have are actually us who are having by pure free will, but I think its not completely like this. We have these desires and wishes because our hormones says that we must have then.
A person who gets easily angered is a person who has a lot of activity going on in their amigdalae, a stressed person is a person that has low levels of serotonin, etc. Those persons are not angered or stressed, but their consciousness is watching a video where it is subjected to those experiences, when we watch that video we identify ourselves with the role of the main character so well that we forget that we are not that character(like in the prison experiment in the other thread).
When we watch a movie we have all the experiences that the character in the video have, it is not different than our life. If you think it is different because we canīt act and control the actions in a movie, then think about video games or virtual reality simulators. Why do we have to identify ourselves with this character but not the one of a movie or game ?
The answer does not matter, I only wanted to show that our lives are like a movie that our consciousness is watching and thinking it is the character in there.
If this is true. We donīt have to suffer because it is the character who suffers not the consciousness.
__________________
Last edited by Atlantis001 on Mar 21st, 2007 at 03:53 AM
We are the Mind. Everything that makes you who you are, and is not part of your body, is the Mind. The Mind is what thinks, and judges, and analyzes, and critiques. We are both the slaves and slave masters. To disconnect yourself from your Mind is a paradoxical situation since you'd either die or cease to be if you did that. Weeding out your weaknesses and undesirable aspects is the key to creating a sense of fulfilling enlightenment.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
I would say that we are enslaved to it, and since very few people in history have been able to control it, and because they say we in fact use only 10% of the brain, the other 90% has to be doing something, and these are the things we cannot control, this is the subconscious the part of the brain that decides with were schizophrenic, anorexic, or cant see or have ADHD it is the part of the mind that doesn't want us to have control, we eventually have the ability to suppress these things usually while we are still very little, why do you think they have imaginary friends? they have not yet suppressed them, which can be both a good and a bad thing
__________________ It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct.
-Sigmund Freud
One is enslaved in the sense because emotions are involved. We are not entirely trapped by our mind. Our mind is what can free us or "enslave" us. It takes consideration from our mind to acknowledge such theories as yours, right? Our mind is what makes us unique from any other species. Yet through emotions and events that we cannot control in our lives we humans are connected to a flawed life. No such thing as perfection in this world. Sometimes our emotions blind us from truly thinking. Many religions who seek enlightenment arent willing to give up their minds but rather their emotions and connections to this world.
i dont think it is our minds we are enslaved to. It is our current perspectives. The momment that you break free from your old way of thinking and embrace a new perspective is freedom.
Society probably has more to do with our enslavement than anything else. Our society influences our perspective without us even knowing it.
__________________ "If you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything" -Twain
(sig by Scythe)
Essentially religions such as Buddhism attempt to teach one that if one frees his/her mind ie desires, baser instincts and overall ego and allow himself to detach himslef from the materialistic plane, one can achieve nirvana. Complete freedom from one's mind where one is actually truly in command of their mind, body and soul.