THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | MYSTICISM | PSYCHOLOGY

Egos, Group and Individual; Brainstorm

To: soc.religion.eastern
From: tyagi nagasiva (nagasiva@luckymojo.com)
Subj: Egos, Group and Individual; Brainstorm 
Date: 49930909

My king, raj, asks "Could a religion also have an ego?".

I've been considering this for several months now and think that the
individual ego may get a bad reputation from groups and traditions
which are in competition with it for the attention of the reader/listener.

It seems to me that ego in its varying forms is sometimes by its very
nature attention-grabbing and exclusive in its desire to be seen and
heard.  Not only this, but it isn't just individual ego which we are
dealing with when we engage society.  We also come upon something
which I'd call 'group ego' and 'tradition ego'.

Personally I don't think that any of these is completely 'bad' or
even 'unproductive'.  The ego seems to be a very valuable means of
supporting continued survival, especially when there is a competition
among egos of various sorts.

However, more than anything else have I heard and read about the 'evil'
of the individual ego.  My feeling about this is that groups of people
(schools, trads, etc.) have been very influential and seen it was to
their benefit to 'demonize' the individual ego for their benefits.
Note that I am not saying there was some grand scheme to disempower
the individual, just that doing so serves the ego of the group, and
this is seen as a 'good thing' by very many writers.

My point in writing this article, though, is to point out that group
ego is *not* superior to individual ego.  Far from it, sometimes it can
be very dangerous (such as when we use the identification with the group
to support our harm of individuals).

This is why raj's question inspires me.  I'd like to know more about
what ego is, what it does, and how group ego functions.  Some random
ideas follow:


*
It seems that group ego often revolves around the name of the group,
or the group's founding member.  Here I'm thinking about things as
diverse as 'cults' and whole traditions such as 'Saivites'.

*
There seems to be a direct resemblance between individual and group
ego, in that it grows and occludes the ego of others around it, if
immature/undeveloped.

*
Ego seems to be a kind of mask which holds together diverse elements
of an individual or group psyche.

*
It's almost like a kind of 'false unity', where that which feels
separate (based on differing perceptions, conceptions and experience)
works on or at that which it sees around it.  This gives it a kind of
'face' (persona), a gate or nexus that the surrounding culture sees.

*
Group ego seems to absorb the individual ego unless it finds one which 
serves the group in some very strong way, and then it blows this one 
into a grand myth (such as Buddha, Christ, Padma-Sambhava, etc.) and 
uses this for its purposes.

*
There are helpful and harmful ways that ego is used.  Sometimes it is
bombastic and destructive (especially when it feels threatened).  Sometimes
it is supportive and caring (especially when it thinks that it is not the
whole).

*
Group ego seems less visible to the public eye at present.  I get the
feeling that we just aren't made aware of it in our day-to-day lives,
and this may be as a result of people simply not having the idea that
such a thing exists, applying what has traditionally been considered
an 'individual thing' to groups.

*
Neither seems like something we must eliminate.  I think, as I mentioned
above, that both can be used for helpful ends.  It seems more important
to recognize and watch the ego (individual AND group) to be sure that
we don't use it to do something which we don't intend.

*
Note that we do similar things with individual egos as we do with group
ego.  We give somebody a 'title' or 'grand name'.  I call raj 'my king'.
He calls me 'kalinanda'.  These reflect how we feel about the other
person.  They expand upon who they are to us.  When others come upon
this they may infer thing which are not necessarily true (such as that
I worship raj, or that raj is my chela :>).  All sorts of misinterpretations
and new concepts may arise around a person (or group), and this may allow
them to build new ego-structures and learn about themselves (as a group
or individual).


Ok, brainstorm off.
Comments?  I really would like to hear a variety of opinion on this.
Throw off your knowledge and imagine what this concept (of group ego)
might lead us to understand, work toward, etc.  Thanks.

Tyagi Nagasiva
nagasiva@luckymojo.com 

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races