Part I THE EGO AS THE CENTRE OF CONFLICT

The Nature of the Ego and Its Termination

Part I
THE EGO AS THE CENTRE OF CONFLICT

IN the pre-human stage consciousness has experiences, but these experiences are not explicitly brought into relation with a central “I.” Origin of the egoThe dog is angry, but he does not continue to feel, “I am angry.” Even in his case we find that he learns through some experiences and thus bases the action of one experience on another, but this action is a result of a semi-mechanical tension of connected imprints or sanskaras. It is different from the intelligent synthesis of experiences which the development of I-consciousness makes possible. The first step in submitting the working of isolated impressions to intelligent regulation consists in bringing them all into relation with the centre of consciousness which appears as the explicit limited ego. The consolidation of the ego-consciousness is most clear and defined from the beginning of human consciousness.

        Process of ego formation Human consciousness would have been nothing more than a repository for the accumulated imprints of varied experiences, if it had not also contained the principle of ego-centred integration,

which expresses itself in the attempt to organise and understand experience. The process of understanding experience implies capacity to hold different bits of experiences together as parts of a unity and the capacity to evaluate them by being brought into mutual relation. The integration of the opposites of experience is a condition of emancipating consciousness from the thraldom of diverse compulsions and repulsions which tend to dominate consciousness irrespective of valuation. The early attempts to secure such integration are made through the formation of the ego as its base and centre.

         The ego emerges as an explicit and unfailing accompaniment to all the happenings of mental life in order to fulfill a certain need. Ego arises to fulfill a needThe part played by the ego in human life may be compared to the function of ballast in a ship. The ballast in a ship keeps it from oscillating too much. Without it the ship is likely to be too light and unsteady and is in danger of being overturned by the lawless winds. The psychic energy would be caught up endlessly in the multitudinous mazes of dual experience and would all be frittered away and dissipated if there were no provisional nucleus to take stock of all acquired experience and bind together the active tendencies born of the relatively independent and loose instincts inherited from animal-consciousness. The formation of the ego serves the purpose of giving a certain amount of stability to conscious processes and also secures a working equilibrium which makes for a planned and organised life.

        It would be a mistake therefore to imagine that the arising of the ego is without any purpose. Necessary evilThough it arises only to vanish in the end, it does temporarily fulfill a need which could not have been ignored in the longjourney of the soul. The ego is not meant to be a permanent handicap, since it can be transcended and outgrown through spiritual endeavour; but the phase of ego-formation must nevertheless be looked upon as a necessary evil, which has to come into existence for the time being.

        The ego thus marks and fulfills a certain necessity in the further progress of consciousness. Ego-centred integration based on illusionBut since the ego takes shelter in the false idea of being the body, it is a source of much illusion which vitiates experience. It is of the essence of the ego that it should feel separate from the rest of life by contrasting itself with other forms of life. Thus, though inwardly trying to complete and integrate individual experience, the ego also creates an artificial division between external and internal life in the very attempt to feel and secure its own existence. This division in the totality of life cannot but have its reverberations in the inner individual life over which the ego presides as a guiding genius.

        While always striving to establish unity and integration in experience, the ego can never realise this objective. Though it establishes a certain kind of balance, this balance is only provisional and temporary. Ego becomes a seat of conflictsThe incompleteness of its attainments is evident from the internal conflict which is never absent as long as experience is being faced from the point of view of the ego. From moment to moment the mind of man is passing through a series of conflicts. The minds of great and distinguished persons as well as the minds of common people are seen to be harassed by conflicting desires and tendencies. Sometimes the conflict with which the mind is faced is so acute that the person concerned yields to the psychic pressure and there iseither a partial or total derangement of mind. There is really no vital difference between the normal man and the so-called abnormal man. Both have to face the same problems, but the one can more or less successfully solve his problems and the other cannot solve them.

        The ego attempts to solve its inner conflicts through false valuation and wrong choice. It is characteristic of the ego that it takes all that is unimportant as important and all that is important as unimportant. Ego attempts to solve conflicts through false valuationThus power, fame, worldly attainments and accomplishments are really unimportant, but the ego takes delight in these possessions and clings to them as “mine.” On the other hand, true spirituality is all-important for the soul, but the ego looks upon it as unimportant. For example, if a person experiences some bodily or mental discomfort while doing a work of spiritual importance, the ego steps in to secure the unimportant bodily or mental comfort even at the cost of giving up the really important spiritual work. Bodily and mental comfort, as well as other worldly attainments and accomplishments, are often necessary, but they are not therefore important. There is a world of difference between necessity and importance. Many things come to the ego as being necessary, but they are not in themselves important. Spirituality, which comes to the ego as being unnecessary, is really important for the soul. The ego thus represents a deep and fundamental principle of ignorance which is exhibited in always preferring the unimportant to the important.

        The mind rarely functions harmoniously because it is mostly guided and governed by forces in the subconscious, and few persons take the trouble to attain mastery over these hidden forces which direct the Conflict can be solved through true valuation

course of mental life. The elimination of conflict is possible only through conscious control over the psychic forces in the sub-conscious; and this control can be permanently attained only through the repeated exercise of true valuation in all the cases of conflict which are presented to the mind.

        If the mind is to be freed from conflict it must always make the right choice and must unfailingly prefer the truly important to the unimportant. Need for intelligent choiceThe choice has to be both intelligent and firm in all cases of conflict—important as well as unimportant. It has to be intelligent, because only through the pursuit of true and permanent values is it possible to attain a poise which is not detrimental to the dynamic and creative flow of mental life. An unintelligent choice, if it is stern, may temporarily overcome conflict, but it is bound in the long run to curtail the scope of life or to hamper the fulfillment of the whole personality. Moreover, the conflict will surely reappear in some other form if it has not been intelligently solved. An intelligent solution, on the other hand, requires an insight into true values, which have to be disentangled from false values. The problem of the conflict of desires thus turns out to be the problem of conflicting values, and the solution of mental conflict therefore requires a deep search for the real meaning of life. It is only through wisdom that the mind can be freed from conflict.

        Fidelity to right choice Having once known what the right choice is, the next step is to stick to it firmly. Although the competing tendencies in the mind may be quieted by choosing one particular course in preference to other alternatives, they still continue to act as obstacles in making the choice fully effective and operative. At times there is a danger of a decision being subverted through the intensification of those competing psychic forces. To avoid defeat the mind must stick tenaciously to the right value which it has seen. Thus the solution of mental conflict requires not only perception of right values but also an unswerving fidelity to them.

        The intelligent and firm choice, however, has to be repeatedly exercised in all matters—small or great—for the ordinary “worries” of life are not in any way less important than the serious “problems” with which the mind is confronted in times of crisis. True valuation must govern all mattersThe roots of mental conflict cannot completely disappear as long as there is only intermittent exercise of intelligent and firm choice. The life of true values can be spontaneous only when the mind has developed the unbroken habit of choosing the right value. Three-quarters of our life is made up of ordinary things, and though conflict concerning ordinary things may not cause mental agony, it still leaves in the mind a sense of uneasiness that something is wrong. The conflicts which turn upon ordinary things are rarely even brought to the surface of consciousness. Instead they cast a shadow on one’s general feeling about life as if from behind a screen. Such conflicts have to be brought to the surface of consciousness and frankly faced before they can be adequately solved.

        The process of bringing conflict to the surface of consciousness should not degenerate however into a process of imagining conflict where there is none. Hidden conflictsThe sure sign of a real hidden conflict is the sense that the whole of one’s heart is not in the thought or action which happens to be dominant at the moment. There is a vague feeling of a narrowing down or a radical restriction of life. On such choice fully effective and operative. At times there is a danger of a decision being subverted through the intensification of those competing psychic forces. To avoid defeat the mind must stick tenaciously to the right value which it has seen. Thus the solution of mental conflict requires not only perception of right values but also an unswerving fidelity to them.

        The intelligent and firm choice, however, has to be repeatedly exercised in all matters—small or great—for the ordinary “worries” of life are not in any way less important than the serious “problems” with which the mind is confronted in times of crisis. True valuation must govern all mattersThe roots of mental conflict cannot completely disappear as long as there is only intermittent exercise of intelligent and firm choice. The life of true values can be spontaneous only when the mind has developed the unbroken habit of choosing the right value. Three-quarters of our life is made up of ordinary things, and though conflict concerning ordinary things may not cause mental agony, it still leaves in the mind a sense of uneasiness that something is wrong. The conflicts which turn upon ordinary things are rarely even brought to the surface of consciousness. Instead they cast a shadow on one’s general feeling about life as if from behind a screen. Such conflicts have to be brought to the surface of consciousness and frankly faced before they can be adequately solved.

        The process of bringing conflict to the surface of consciousness should not degenerate however into a process of imagining conflict where there is none. Hidden conflictsThe sure sign of a real hidden conflict is the sense that the whole of one’s heart is not in the thought or action which happens to be dominant at the moment. There is a vague feeling of a narrowing down or a radical restriction of life. On such of the ego and its replacement by Truth-consciousness. The disintegration of the ego culminates in realising the Truth. The false nucleus of consolidatedsanskaras must disappear if there is to be a true integration and fulfillment of life.