Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation homepage > Notebooks of Paul Brunton > Category 8: The Ego

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The Ego

The danger of most pseudo-spiritual paths is that they stimulate the ego, whereas the authentic path will suffocate it.

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The best measuring-stick for progress is, in earlier stages, the degree of disappearance of the ego's rule and, in later ones, the degree of disappearance of the ego itself.

1. What Am I?
   • Egoself and Overself
   • Body and consciousness
   • I-sense and memory
   • Ego as limitation
   • Ego as presence of higher
   • Two views of individuality
   • Perfection through surrender
   • Ego subordinated, not destroyed
   • Ego after illumination
   • Renunciation
2. I-thought
   • I-sense and I-thought
   • Ego exists, as series of thoughts
   • Subject-object
3. Psyche
   • Ego as knot in psyche
   • The ``subconscious''
   • Trickery, cunning of ego
   • Defense mechanisms
   • Self-idolatry
   • Egoism, egocentricity
4. Detaching from The Ego (Part I)
   • Its importance
   • Why most people won't do it
   • As genuine spiritual path
   • Surrender is necessary
   • Its difficulty
   • Ego corrupts spiritual aspiration
   • Humility is needed
5. Detaching from The Ego (Part 2)
   • Longing for freedom from ego
   • Knowledge is needed
   • Tracing ego to its source
   • ``Dissolution'' of ego
   • Grace is needed
   • Who is seeking?
   • Results of dethroning ego