Ego Defenses: Sasha on Sigmund (Freud)

What's up, Infinite Men?

I just had a great conversation with Coach Mike. A little rant on Ego.

As I'm going deeper on the spiritual path - and gaining more understanding of the Ego - I realise that there are both healthy and unhealthy sides to it.

The Ego's job is to maintain your status as "alive" by keeping you in your comfort zone, doing the things it knows are not dangerous to you. It's also responsible for keeping you grounded in this reality and perceptually separated from God Consciousness.
That last part sounds negative, but it has its merits. As Mike puts it: The Ego tells you that "you are not one with oncoming traffic, stay out of the fucking road."

The unhealthy side comes into play when it begins to hold you back from the things you want to do: Asking for a raise from your boss, getting a better deal on purchases, talking to that cute girl in the coffee shop.
The Ego is the most overzealous, overprotected mother in the universe. Its job isn't to keep you happy, it's to keep you safe... So don't talk to people, don't leave your comfort zone, and don't do anything that might bring you under scrutiny.

This can really hold you back in your life. Any time that you face something new or unknown that challenges your Ego, it brings out the defences:

• Denial - If you think you can't improve, you're never gonna get anywhere.

• Displacement - Be direct. If you're mad at your brother, talk to him and don't take it out on the waitress.

• Projection - If you hate other people, it's because you hate yourself.

• Rationalisation - You can't get a girlfriend, but you tell yourself it's because all women are golddiggers.

• Reaction Formation - You attempt to adopt beliefs that clash with your own to feel better about a situation.

• Repression/regression - You hide your feelings and become childish to avoid facing an issue properly.

• Sublimation - You realise that you have an addiction, so you fight it by starting a recovery group. This is a good, healthier Ego defence, but there can be negative aspects (namely overcompensation) which we talk about in the video.

We see some version of these on pretty much every bootcamp we do, but the main thing you need to address is denial. You can't make any changes if you procrastinate and ignore the fact that you need to.
Your Ego isn't inherently bad - in fact it's necessary to keep you living the life that you have, but there are certain things that you can fix and tune in order to be happy and enjoy that life.

Whenever you Ego jumps up and does something that holds you back, push through it and do that thing. A great mindset for this is curiosity - Say to your Ego "okay, well let's find out". You'll begin to see that most of the time your Ego is full of shit.

To the Ego: Status quo = alive, so it'll do its best to keep you there. However - the more you push yourself, the more you shift your comfort zone and create a new status quo.

All of the people I know that are doing exactly what they want in life are saying the exact same thing - Fuck consensus. Living the consensus reality is the death of the soul in today's world.

Define your own reality. Decide what you believe in. Find out which of your beliefs are helpful, and which are harmful. Live your truth and recognise your Ego's defences.

Sasha.

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P.S. We're going to be hosting the next Infinite Man Summit soon! It's been a life changing event for attendees three years running, and we're working hard to make this one better than ever. I hope to see you there.

If you want to conquer your ego, book a course with us!

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