The idea one has of oneself
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
I recently saw the ego defined as ‘any concept one has about oneself’. While this is a convenient shorthand to keep about oneself for the sake of communicating with others - things such as ‘I am a nice person’ or even ‘I am Dutch’ - it strikes me that these things are almost all shams, fictions.
The thing is, a human being is not so easily encapsulated. The old man who is nice to cats may have been a guard at a Nazi death camp. A timid man may be capable of unexpected heroism when the opportunity arises. And nationalities are no more than a socially sanctioned imprint, we are all citizens of the world.
So why do we limit ourselves? Why do we put ourselves in these boxes, which turn out to be self fulfilling prophecies only? It seems the ego is an illusion, a surface conceit and once you dig a little deeper it is our actions that define us.
Comments
I'm reminded of this a member posted a while back.
Some of it seems functional. Like are you a parent? If so its right that you change your child's diapers and put food on their plate. If not, I'm not sure it would make sense to start feeding someone else's kid at the airport. Should the Dutch government tax US citizens to help pay for healthcare in India?
But then some of it is self limiting. Like a fixed mindset, that you're such and such a person vs a growth mindset that says you can change and grow. On the other hand some sort of balance is needed as much of our personality is genetically determined. People come out semi baked as introverts/extroverts, conscientious/carefree, etc. These are shiftable, an introvert can learn extroverted skills and a highly conscientious person can learn to let go, but if you're gay and have the belief that you have the ability to be attracted to the opposite sex, you'll only create misery.
I am not Batman! Honest!
It’s funny… I watched your Batman video @lobster and it strikes me that these kinds of important philosophical points have made it into popular culture, but often without a discussion of the deeper aspects of it. What you end up with is a speech in a film that has resonance, that sounds true, without really explaining why. I guess that’s why it’s called ‘pop’ culture.
Some problems seem to be global. For example Greece a few years ago introduced a ‘golden visa’ policy which meant that if you invested 250.000 euros in property you would get a 5-year visa, and after 7 years it would convert to citizenship. So from all over the world people invested in Greek property, in order to become EU citizens. This led to rising property prices, many AirBnB rentals, local people being priced out of their homes, and so on.
But who exactly invested? A lot of digital nomads did this, people who became rich off the internet and travel the world without a fixed abode. And businesses like AirBnB allow you to earn in a few months over the summer what would otherwise be a years rental.