Musings on the ego and subconsciousness.
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Originally, this post was focused around this question of mine, which I am quoting to section it off from everything else in this post:
As far as psychological defense mechanisms that end up rooted in subconsciousness go - what, exactly, are they protecting? Or what is the nature of the illusion/falsehood/projection that they are protecting?
After typing out elaborations to this, I began to formulate my own ideas as to my original answer. They go something like this:
I'm used to thinking of the ego, the thing that I and most other people on the planet are used to calling "I" or "myself," as something existing above subconsciousness. I think that our egos tend to equate themselves with various things/patterns/symbols that either exist primarily in the subconsciousness realm or end up there after being internalized.
...This just leads me to more questions. (Not surprising.)
The thought of the conscious ego "extending" into subconsciousness felt wrong to me, and from that perception came the idea that the ego just identifies with or hides from various content within subconsciousness.
But the ego is just an observer to all of that content, right?
I feel like I'm losing my train of thought...
Okay, so: while my ego is not the center of my being, it is what I would, at this juncture, realistically identify with. Anything else would be blind parroting of what I've read since exploring the occult path; it would be babbling of knowledge, not expression of understanding. So, subconscious defense mechanisms protect various bits of content that the ego mistakenly identifies itself with... I think.
I am having trouble figuring out what cohesion there is within my subconscious mind; how do I, at the subconscious level, have the wherewithal to protect anything in that realm from anything else? Is my subconscious mind more like an ecosystem of various things that relate to each other in various ways, from healthy and beneficial ways to contradictory and wasteful ways? (Then again, isn't everything else in my psyche much the same?)
Does subconsciousness use defense mechanisms like an "immune system?" If so, it seems like an immune system divided against itself.
I feel like I'm just thinking in circles. (I also think that I'm thinking in circles.)
Thoughts would be cool, especially corrections to erroneous thinking.
93, 93/93.
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@Ash said
"...psychological defense mechanisms that end up rooted in subconsciousness.. - what, exactly, are they protecting? Or what is the nature of the illusion/falsehood/projection that they are protecting?"
my simple answer would be: imagine your whole being is a house, or a building with many rooms.
that mechanisms would be the force binding you to not dare-to go outside the one room you are currently inhabiting, or even - to dare to presuppose there are other rooms, and the whole is a large building/house.the nature of illusion is, I think, partial understanding of our own nature. there must be illusion, along the Way we are of course unveiling, step by step, this Nature of ours, but these mechanisms serve as unhealthy bindings (not healthy ones - which are necessary) in the course of the Path.
their power (of the subconscious mechanisms) lies in their mass, i.e. - it's just a potential power, but when set in motion (when given energy) it gets enormous strength, hard to stop. (and they 'eat up' our energy, blocking it usage for healthy - more wholesome purposes)
in short - I'd say they are protecting image of yourself (myself) as weak, dependent-in-an-unhealthy-way, partial (= not-connected-to-the-whole) being.
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thinking a bit more about the subject...
I realized that maybe Ash had something else in mind - asking about the deeper meaning of such subconsc. mechanisms - in regards to Jim's statement about projections - that they are not 'bad' and obstacles 'by default', on the contrary, they serve a purpose - and are necessary.so what would be the nature of "the illusion/falsehood/projection" that these defense subc.mechanisms are protecting, in this respect?...
they (projections) are like are mirrors, that is how I essentially understand them.
and there are two kind of mirrors: those which are hard (as a glass mirror, for example), and those which are 'watery' (lake surface, for example). the first kind just reflects, and we do not see through them - we can only see the projection/reflection; the other is permeative - we see the mirage, but also see through it, and can apprehend that there is a depth in it. (this 'watery' one brings associations of Gimel, and the 'hard' one of Daleth, and Venus with her mirror..)
further speculations (on speculum
) lead to contemplating both kind of mirrors as 'useful' i.e. functional in ther own way.
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I often view the ego as a filter, a center point by which an axis is defined and relationships are built.
Without the ego there is no I, though I would also say it is wrong to denote the "I" being the ego.
As to the (sub/un)conscious mind there is no real distinction between 'this' and 'that' - it, as the metaphor goes, is an ocean with many different things intertwining.
For all intents and purposes it is the ego that seeks union while at the same time is frightful of the process, of loosing that individuality.The best metaphor I can come up with at the moment :
The Ego is the window the Self peers through.
While it is the Ego that 'perceives,' the (sub/un)conscious mind is what interprets the phenomenon. -
Thank all of you for the thoughts (and keep 'em coming, too!). I think this is one of those things that I simply must dive in and find out for myself - in due time. I am realizing more and more that language just doesn't cut it when it comes to this stuff.
93, 93/93.
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I think of my ego as the part that does the identifying, not what it identifies with.
For example, I can say in my head, "The ego is an illusion, we are all one." The part saying that is my ego.
I also think that different people have different relationships with the aspects of their subconscious. For one person, the processes and contents are mysterious and threatening. For another, they are not very far removed from regular consciousness.
Tying those two points together, conscious awareness of those contents is just the beginning. The real effort is forging that complementary relationship between those two sides--which, for the ego-heavy person, it might require letting go; while for the subconscious heavy person, it might require getting a grip.
