The Dance of the Ego
This is how consciousness comes into being moment after moment.
The ego can be seen as the way consciousness is conscious of itself. This is no magical meta-level, just a tiny recursion that hopefully becomes evident through the dancing metaphor. Please give it some of your time to digest.
Dancing
Consciousness is the dancer.
At the same time, it is the dancing itself from ‘thought’ to ‘thought’ in an environment of low-key mental-neuronal patterns, forming a continually changing audience.
Intriguingly, when people dance on a dance floor in pairs or singles, they also go from pattern to pattern. The ‘audience’ to them is the environment of which they form part. At each moment, the dance is a flow — everything flows.
Imagine that you and your partner can repeatedly change into another couple while dancing and staying yourself.
Miraculous, isn’t it?
But no magic. If you get the hang of this, you get the hang of what consciousness is about — a continual flow, giving an illusion of stability because, at each moment, it’s stable for the time being.
There is stability in the longer term, but in another way than generally thought.
Frightening?
It may be so at first sight.
But it’s the only reality. If you learn to deal with it, you may find this can give a nice feeling of deep relaxation and flexibility — a feeling of coming home at last.
Where have you been all this time?
Finally, you can ‘let go.’ if you’re ready to do so.
No thinker — no feeler
There is no thinker of thoughts beyond what constitutes the thoughts themselves.
There is no feeler of feelings beyond what constitutes the feelings themselves.
The thinker/feeler only looks like a permanent thinker/feeler because of the momentary focus. Again and again, this focus is seen as the center that constitutes the ego.
But it’s always a different focus — changing ego.
The flow of non-consciousness
On the dance floor, excellent dancing is done by not knowing the next move. The ‘leader’ may know something of the direction, but only some. The ‘follower’ does the same but differently.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter so much who leads and follows.
It’s the same with non-conscious processing.
The leader and the follower continually interchange.
The resulting entity in conscious awareness is the dancing ego — dancing itself.
Wonderful.
Related Posts
14. Is This Me, or Is It My Brain?
I use my brain, but who is ‘I’ without a brain? Is a brain an instrument of ‘I’? If this is the case, then is ‘I’ a kind of homunculus that is present somewhere in a separate box in the brain? In the Middle Ages it was thought that this was indeed the case. For Read the full article…
Whence Aggression?
Ultimately, unresolved inner tensions are central to the origins of aggression, whether these stem from unmet needs, misunderstood emotions, or external influences. Understanding this complexity is essential to addressing the root of aggression. Three origins of human aggression Human aggression arises from a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, aggression is linked to Read the full article…
What About Hate?
Weirdly, perhaps, there cannot be hate without love. Yet love doesn’t cause hatred. Is hate then the reverse of love, or is it love-gone-awry? Love is a conditional to, not a cause of hate. Imagine someone without love. That person has no reason ever to hate someone. He would just be indifferent. This includes self-hate Read the full article…