The ego is not to be destroyed. It, too, is a creation of G‑d—and all that He made, He made with divine purpose.
Only this: that the ego must know that it is a creation, and that all He made, He made with divine purpose.
The ego is not to be destroyed. It, too, is a creation of G‑d—and all that He made, He made with divine purpose.
Only this: that the ego must know that it is a creation, and that all He made, He made with divine purpose.
G-d is all. There is but One Power, Intelligence, and Consciousness in the Universe,
but One Presence. This One Presence cannot change.
We cannot destroy the Ego, because it is the Self of G-d. The difference is that we live in our imaginary selves, as in “the word is not the thing.” Our whole consciousness is imagination. That is how the combination of “I”-I came about.
If you can release your imaginary self, you will see what IS.
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There have been many posts which posit the obliteration of the EGO. Defiitely it is a tool to survive and learn. Definitely, too, if geared toward Mitzvot and living a jewish life iy is a wonderful guide. The misuse of EGO is to be bemoaned but I will again argue against those posters who claim thatthe best way to be a Jew is to destroy it, so that we can be social and kind. Those to issues must be dealt with onself first, having learned how to take care of onself facilitate our relationship iwth others under the guidance of the Torah. Reply
Our ego that G d gave to us is just as important as every other attribute he’s bestowed upon us. Our ego makes us feel proud when we fulfill an accomplishment we never thought possible. Then we move on to fulfill another dream and so on. If we weren’t proud of what our G d given talents can accomplish then we’d probably never use any of them. All of us as G d fearing people just have to keep tabs on our levels of pride so they don’t over inflate our heads and we become haughty. Then we lose our way and fall off of G d’s path and we begin to think we don’t need G d. We begin thinking like a person belonging to the world and not of G d.
That’s when the ego gets in our way.
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I respectfully disagree. Ego is self created and is an illusion. It gets us in trouble and the ideal would be the dissolution of our egos. We are pure awareness at our core and the observer of our thoughts.. The ego gets us in trouble by creating a false sense of identity. Reply
The ego is the creation of G-d . There's a thought. I often think we think the the ego is its own invention. That it is what the individual makes of it. But no, the ego is as much a divine creation as any other entity, material or immaterial.
If I find a diamond in the dirt and wash it and cut it and present, I did not make the diamond beautiful. It's already beautiful, I merely discovered its beauty.
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There are ways to use your ego for positive things. For example, when we are tempted to sin, we can say "I'm better than that" and "I'm too good to stoop to the level of that sin." That's the way I think of it. Reply
Ego Preservation This is good to know, I was told I was egocentric, too concern about myself, when I usually meditate on my wrong doings for the sake of Heaven, and try to amend my errors; but some people think that is evil. B"H I needed this message today. Reply
Ego
It seems to me that, as with many aspects of self, that it is about balance ... part of ego is about self-preservation - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. At the same time the ego has to be kept in check, learn humility, and know that, at all 3 levels, it is a creation of HaShem.
Finding one's divine purpose is the larger challenge. It would be lovely if there was a map and a clear path to one's divine purpose; the reality is that the path can be blocked or has many forks in it; backtracking becomes necessary. How can we ever know if we are on the right path?
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A path in neither Right or Wrong.
It is what we learn from that path that is best path. Emmuna in Hashem teaches us to embrace all paths.🐾🐾🐾
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B"H
Todah, Moshe. (I'm not yet used to the new format of being able to reply directly or for checking replies to prior posts.) I appreciate your reminder about lessons learned along the way! Sometimes, I forget life is about the journey and not the destination ... I do know the best lessons have come in the process of hitting a stumbling block (Hashem has blessed me with them); it can also take a little time and distance from a situation to see the blessing.
I posted that question when I was very ill - I had two trips to ER in the 5 days proceeding that post and almost died twice. I was scared, sick and questioning Hashem on everything. Fortunately, between Hashem, a couple of great doctors and medicine, I'm alive, relatively healthy and a little over a month away from my 69th birthday ... Hashem still has work for me to accomplish!
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Thank you, Richard! Your words are a lovely start to my day.
Karin
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Today's Hayom Yom If by chance some day you see an ego passing by and being judgemental you say: "how dirty"; it is advisable to think that "For within every Jew, the core-point of the heart's inner essence is a sanctuary for His dwelling (may He be blessed)." Following this course of thought we have to pass through that outer layer and try to see the beauty of that Neshama passing by, better is to listen to today's Hayom Yom from where I've took this ideas. Reply
Fabulous I am stunned by the thinking provided to me by jewish thought! These kinds of words of widom 'ought to be elementary teachings for all human beings from grade-school forward. Imagine the societies we'd have? Reply
I think therefore I am The ego is self awareness and the experience of one's identity in their senses. It is what you make of it. It has the potential to be good. It has the potential to do what is evil. To the ego is must evolve by it's surroundings to establish the ego into not just awaking to what the ego identifies as it's good or bad self but to the teaching and applications of what Torah and the Tanok teaches to us to give it belief and reason for it's ego. To give it purpose and meaning as ego to become genuine and true to the person ego will become. Reply
To be egotistical
To be egotistical is to be so self-centered and to be self-centered is to be egotistical.
Isn't it "I" (I) to be ego but instead "we" use the word ego. In other words, to be so preserved with One G-d without the self-centeredness.
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ego that`s a great comment! IT IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY! Reply
Ego Preservation
Re: Elul: The ego of our actions, i.e. greed or any other of the traits we might have exercised this year or this day, has a life of its own. I discover that trait and come along and say, "I'm going to get you out now!" or even stronger language. It too has an ego and may have been present in me for 60 years or more. Why should it just get up and leave? Or roll over and play dead?
Instead it's going to fight to preserve itself. By showing it, just like any other thing with an ego, such as any human being, that it too has a higher purpose it can fulfill, I turn that trait into my strongest ally.
Doing that is when it gets interesting.
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Story I believe this story will make at least one selfish person surrender to G-d. Reply
I ask my ego to read this. First he became rebellious and rejected the claim as an untrue claim. you thought about it again and he has been upset for a few days now, because he could not imagine, that he did not always exist, but that he has a beginning and also an end. He became quiet and started to behave very humble. Just now we read this contribution again and now my ego is happy because now knows that you were created with a purpose. He listens better to my and his soul now. It will be alright.