Tuesday Text: Chapter 4: The Ego's Struggle to Preserve Itself, S 4: The Ego's Need to Confirm Itself

Class notes 9/6/26

Ch 4 The Ego’s Struggle to Preserve Itself

S 4: The Ego’s Need to Confirm Itself

          We are charitable from a place of abundance. This is obvious, to give anything implies that you could do without it. Even if you associate giving with sacrifice, still you give because you think that you are getting something better so you can do without whatever it is you give. The law of the ego is giving to get. The ego evaluates itself in relation to other egos so it is preoccupied with the scarcity principle which gave rise to it. 

          This is the meaning of Freud's pleasure principle. We are giving from a place of ego. Freud was the most accurate ego psychologist ever, although he would not have described himself as such. His ego is a thing in need, weak and deprived. The ‘reality principle’ of the ego that we bow to external reality isn’t real at all. The ego sees other egos because it cannot establish the reality of itself. It sees other ego’s as real to convince itself that it is real.

          Self esteem in terms of the ego means that the ego has deluded itself into accepting its reality that it has made and is temporarily less predatory. This self esteem made by ego is vulnerable to stress, meaning a condition has cropped up which threatens the ego’s delusions about reality. This produces ego inflation or deflation which leads to attack or withdrawal. The ego lives by comparisons. Equality is beyond its grasp and true charity is impossible. 

          The ego does not give out of abundance because it was made to substitute for it. The concept of getting and grasping came from the ego. All appetites are getting mechanisms representing the ego’s need to confirm or authenticate itself. This is true for bodily appetites and the so-called higher ego needs as well. This is a reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which places esteem needs like status and appreciation and self actualization- reaching the ego’s potential at the top of the list of needs.

          The body is the home of the ego, bodily appetites are not physical in origin, the ego is trying to satisfy itself via the body. The idea that it is possible to satisfy the ego via the body is a choice of ego which is really confused about what is possible. Nothing satisfies the ego, this accounts for its erratic nature. 

          The ego believes it is completely on its own, that’s where it started. This is a fearful state so it turns to other egos in a feeble attempt at identification or attack in a weak show of strength. That you can be alone is the premise of the ego, its foundation.  The ego is a belief in a unilateral unconnected mind completely alone. The ego is constantly trying to get the spirit’s acknowledgement and really establish its existence. It won’t work. The spirit which comes from knowledge is unaware of the ego. It doesn’t attack the ego, it just can’t conceive of it. The ego is equally unaware of the spirit. It does perceive itself as rejected by something greater than itself. Self esteem in ego terms must be a delusion. 

          There is a lot of ego action in mythology. In ACIM magic and ego action are synonyms. Myths are usually related to the ego’s origins and magic, the power the ego thinks it has. Every myth system has a creation story and associates this with its perception of magic or the ego’s abilities. The battle for survival is the ego’s struggle to preserve itself and its origin story. The beginning starts with birth because the ego sees itself as a body. The religiously ego oriented believe in a soul before birth and after death. Some actually believe they will be punished for having an ego life- even though in reality your spirit does not even know your ego life. 

          Salvation does not apply to your soul. Your soul is in no danger and does not need to be salvaged. Salvation is simply right mindedness which is not the one mindedness of spirit but it must be accomplished before one mindedness can be restored. If you are right minded you will take the right steps. Right perception is totally without attack, so wrong mindedness is automatically obliterated. The ego can not survive without judgement and is laid aside automatically when we are right minded. Only then do we move in the right direction. 

          The direction of the mind is automatic because they are dictated by the thought system it follows. Every thought system has internal consistency and this provides the basis of continuity of behavior. Reliable behavior does not mean valid behavior.  Reliable behavior is meaningful perception to ego thinking. Valid behavior is contradictory because valid is an end and behavior is a means. These can’t be combined logically because where the end has been attained, the means for its attainment are no longer meaningful. 

          A hypothesis is tested and it's true or false. If it is true it becomes a fact after that no one questions it.   Every idea the ego thinks is a fact is questionable because facts are knowledge and the ego is the realm of perception. Don’t confuse knowledge and perception. It’s the foundation of spirit or ego. 

          The ego can be clever but not creative. Creating comes from God and our abilities to create like him. Inventiveness is wasted even in ingenious forms. Don’t worry about inventiveness. Invention is specific. It’s difficult to understand the creativity of God’s creations. To inspire: true creativity is sparked by God, that little chip off the old block within.