Unconscious Consciousness and Ego

The self-development field is a fascinating place and one filled with intriguing individuals. As lifetime students of the human condition, we have always been rather intrigued by the highly diverse paths people take in pursuit of their personal journeys towards enlightenment, self-realization, or whatever else it is they seek, which brings us to this thing called ‘ego.’

Egolessness: Unconscious Consciousness?

by Peter Messerschmidt

Unconsciousness Consciousness and Ego

The Ego is perhaps the single most over-analyzed, over-discussed, and over-used concept in the so-called New Age and Consciousness business. Look around, and you’ll see and hear phrases like “transcend the ego” and “kill the ego” plastered all over the place. If someone does something others don’t like, at least one or two people in the crowd will pipe up and claim, “Oh, well, they are in their ego.” This is typically delivered with all the wisdom and clarity of someone saying, “You should go see a doctor!” after you’ve sneezed twice.

That’s all fine and dandy, but there is a bit of a problem here. Namely, we seem to have reached a place where the Ego has become this ‘universal bad guy’ commonly blamed for all manner of unconscious and self-involved behavior without a second thought. Or, for that matter, without the speaker knowing what the Ego actually is and does.

The thing about Ego is that it is no more good or bad than money. Let’s examine that analogy for a moment. Self-professed spiritual and high-vibration people spend a lot of time discussing how money is “the root of all evil.” Many try to cleanse themselves of material things, but what is money?

Money is just a convenient common base for facilitating exchange. Money actually makes it easy for us to exchange things by offering us a temporary store of value that enables exchange and trade. Money allows us to not be concerned with whether the person we want to trade for a bag of potatoes needs their house painted that week. Living without money tends to make life super inconvenient. Even those few who claim to live money-less lives are engaged in subtle self-deception since 99% of them would be unable to survive absent their interaction with a world that uses money. It’s what people do with money that can become a problem.

How does that relate to the Ego?

In a similar fashion, Ego is neither good nor bad. It is merely a messenger that alerts us to ideas and events that perhaps warrant our attention (or perhaps not) and typically serves as an exchange agent between the instinctual drives of the id and the world around us. The Ego is responsible for our ability to parse such concepts as “choices have consequences.” Hence, we can grasp that it’s probably not okay for us to whack our neighbor in the head with a shovel when their dog poops on our newly-mowed lawn. Truth be known, we would probably not even be able to survive without Ego.

It’s what people do in service of the Ego that can become a problem. So, what’s the point here?

Unconscious Consciousness and Self

While sharing ideas this morning over coffee, my wife remarked that someone posted the stereotypical “Oh, it sounds like you’re in your ego” comment on a blog post she had written.

As we discussed the deeper meaning and underlying intent behind comments like that and the ways they sometimes feel more aggressive than enlightened, it seemed increasingly ironic that self-LESSness can often feel like just as much of an issue as selfishness.

Think about the times you have seen someone completely eschew all things material and all things egoic, purportedly in service of pursuing higher ideals and more spiritual life, yet go on virtual crusades to brandish their minimalistic lifestyles and egolessness as badges of ‘spiritual superiority.’

And how ironic is it that someone might decide to call themselves something like “Selfless Peace Blossom” or “Rainbow Sparkle Bubble” and then proceed to gallivant through life, throwing aggressive barbs of moral and spiritual superiority at all those whom they perceive as less evolved than themselves? Forgive the impertinence, but how do you reconcile ranking people as inferior with your claim to be without Ego?

We then considered how interesting it is that Ego is often used as this strange self-regulating get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing those of dubious personal awareness to get themselves off the hook of unconscious behavior without taking a deeper look at their own issues. In a sad and twisted way, it feels like a form of ‘unconscious consciousness.’

Transforming from Challenged to Fully Enabled – Unconsciousness Consciousness and Balance

How so? It allows someone to enter a discussion, simply say, “Oh, you’re obviously in your ego!” and then metaphorically leave the building without even a shred of personal accountability or conscious self-awareness. Furthermore, suppose anyone dares to question their perception. In that case, they merely point back to the speaker’s Ego as the problem and thereby abdicate all responsibility for even the possibility that their own perceptions might warrant a review. This unconscious consciousness would be a bit like Einstein declaring sixth graders to be stupid for not understanding quantum mechanics and then storming out of the room in a self-righteous huff.

Balance matters. So often, the complete absence of the ostensible evils we rail against, be it in the pursuit of consciousness or life itself, offers little improvement over the presence of said evils. On deeper examination, those who run towards and even embrace extremes often run from something and live in fear, typically the fear of sitting truly still and examining the root essence of their current reality, here and now.

“Living without Ego” or “Living Without Money” are not the kinds of answers the world needs. They mean nothing unless we are willing to take the time to truly understand the deeper underlying motivations for each choice we make… this yet another clue to our unconscious consciousness?

It’s a bit like guns. We might be able to create a fantasy world in which all firearms on the planet magically vanish, and you could definitely argue that people were no longer dying from gunshot wounds, but removing the guns would not eliminate people’s underlying tendencies to want to hurt each other. Violence would simply take a new form. Similarly, eschewing money will not eliminate greed resulting from the underlying fear of being without. Killing the Ego will not eliminate people’s root fear of being hurt due to feeling ‘less than’ and facing rejection by their tribe or peer group.

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About the Author

Peter Messerschmidt is a writer, artist, beachcomber, rare stamp dealer, and eternal seeker. When he’s not wandering the beach or the Internet, he facilitates groups & retreats for HSPs, and shares his musings at “HSP Notes,” the web’s oldest HSP-specific blog, at http://hspnotes.com. He lives in Port Townsend, WA with the great love of his life and several furry “kids.”

Originally published Sep 12, 2015