Jeff Krock

The nature of the human ego, the separate or lower self, has been described in many ways. In my experience, many of these descriptions are either outdated, incomplete, or confusing. The following is meant to clarify. I look forward to your comments and perspectives.

Every human being is “programmed” to build an ego. Our ego is also called lower self, separate self, or identity. We begin building it at birth, if not in the womb.

The ego is literally built of mental, physical, emotional, breathing, and life force (spirit, energy, chi) patterns. We pick up the patterns from our parents and other people in our lives. Every pattern is a building block. Step by step, our increasing collection of patterns gives us the experience of being a solid self, separate from everything else. By building an ego, we become individuals.  

Each pattern helps us build an individual, solid, separate self. Each pattern is also a step in becoming more separate from our original higher self. The higher self is not solid. We cannot “get our arms around” love, joy, clarity, compassion, joy or the divine; they are formless, infinite.

By the time we reach puberty, the building of the ego is complete. It is rare that someone does not become fully identified with the ego’s patterns of thought, belief, sensation, emotion, breathing, and life force.  Awareness of our higher self is obscured by this identification with the ego. We believe that our ego’s patterns are who we are.

One of the most confusing historical approaches to the ego is that it is something to kill or destroy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We need a solid, separate self in order to feel “safe” living the higher levels of consciousness in the everyday world. The lower self and the higher self exist simultaneously.

As we learn to use the Advanced Capacity called “Command of our Life Force,” we are able to create a solid, separate self in a way that is different from the way the ego does it. This allows us to let go of the patterns of the ego and create a different kind of separate self, one that is not based on these patterns. I call this the “authentic separate self,” and it necessarily evolves in parallel to the awakening higher self. The more “awake” we are, the more our identity shifts away from the ego to the various levels of consciousness that comprise the higher self.

The writing above conveys aspects of the following Advanced Capacities: Heart Presence, Connection, Creation, Command of Your Life Force, and Clear Mind.

©2008 by Jeff Krock. All rights reserved.

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