Ego is not a 4 letter word

	Ego is not a 4 Letter Word
	The best foundation for a strong and healthy Higher Self is a strong and healthy Ego.

'Self-Actualizing' individuals were described by Abraham Maslow as those who strive to reach higher levels of consciousness.

Having a clear pathway through the levels of consciousness will help us to be 'Self-Actualizing' and 'Higher Self-Actualizing' individuals.

The image to the right, entitled, 'Truth or Consequences', portrays that awareness of the consequences of behavior is the doorway to Self Actualization and there are guides that will help us progress through our levels of Spirit.

	"If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there."
	Appropriate words from George Harrison’s ‘Any Road’ song on his ‘Brainwashed’ album.
The best way to reach higher levels of consciousness is to first become aware of the levels of consciousness.Knowing where you’re growing is more efficient, more effective and far less painful than growing through random, trial and error actions.
To help progress through our levels of consciousness; let’s breathe new life into some old ideas:
Sigmund Freud wrote that our personality had aspects of Ego, Id, and SuperEgo. A quick description of his terms is that the Ego is the sum of our personality, the Ego is motivated by the Pleasure Principle of the Id, and the actions of the Ego are moderated by the SuperEgo or conscience.

Let’s update Freud’s descriptions into the following: Spirit describes the sum total of our personality.

Ego describes our Lower Self and is motivated by the Pleasure Principle of our Id.

Soul is our Higher Self and is motivated by the Higher Pleasure Principle of our SuperId.

SuperId is used to describe aspects of the Higher Pleasure Principle that motivates the actions of our Higher Self.

These new ways at looking at old ideas will help us to better explore our levels of consciousness.

The image on the left also reminds us that there are 'guides' that help us progress.

I belong to a spiritual group that has monthly 4 hour meditations. Spending hours in meditation may seem like a very daunting experience, but the mind is like a muscle and the more you exercise it, the easier it gets to meditate for longer periods. The more you practice meditation, the easier and more rewarding it gets. I guarantee it.

To get to the meditation, I drive along southern California’s Pacific Coast Highway and its usually sunny beaches. During summer days, my Ego would rather be at the beach enjoying basic Id pleasures for 4 hours, than be in a room meditating. But I usually choose to meditate, because I find meditating for 4 hours once a month to be a very enjoyable Higher Self experience. I experience a wonderful pleasure from these 4 hour long meditations, not a pleasure of the Ego, but a Higher Self Pleasure.

The higher pleasure from meditating and other higher actions and attitudes, I’d like to call the Higher Pleasure Principle of the SuperId. The actions and attitudes of our Higher Self of Soul are motivated by the Higher Pleasure Principle.

Many religions state that for higher Soul growth, you first must destroy your Ego. I’d like to update the idea of destroying the Ego for higher growth.

Destroying the Ego creates a weak foundation for higher growth. For higher Spirit growth, you first must develop your Ego, then by transcending a strong and healthy Ego; you can develop a strong and healthy Higher Self of Soul. Ego is the Lower Self and is your foundation to develop the higher aspects of your Higher Self of Soul. Failing to develop a strong and healthy Ego will provide a weak foundation for Higher Self growth of the Soul.

The image on the left illustrates that we create our destiny, so Think Big!

I have friends in the mediation group, who are more spiritually advanced than I am, yet some have trouble holding jobs and we take up collections for them to cover their rent.

They may have jumped right to developing their Higher Self, before they developed a foundation of a strong and healthy Lower Self of Ego. A strong and healthy Ego would help to successfully perform personal actions, successfully engage in inter-personal relationships, and successfully maintain and advance in jobs.

In further articles, we’ll further sub-divide the Lower Self of Ego into 3 Areas; Personal, Inter-Personal, and Trans-Personal. And, then further sub-divide the Ego’s Areas into Sub-Areas of Personal Abilities, Personal Identity, Inter-Personal Relationships, and Inter-Personal Roles.

For assistance to develop a strong and healthy Ego, we’ll even further sub-divide the Ego’s Sub-Areas into 3 Stages each, yielding a pathway through 12 Potentials of Ego.

The image on the right entitled, 'The Lightness of Spirit', also reminds us that there are 'guides' that help us progress through our levels of Spirit.

This image is also my answer to Existentialism. We are alone and float aimlessly in life, until we realize that we are not alone and accept the 'teachers' and 'guides' that help us progress.

For further assistance to progress through the Levels of Spirit, we’ll also explore the Potentials of a progressing Ego, the Means to achieve each Potential, and the Temperance that improves upon the Means to more effectively achieve each Potential through our Levels of Consciousness.

Maslow wrote about a Hierarchy of Needs, I’ll also update this into a Hierarchy of Potentials, that include Personal and Inter-Personal Potentials. Exploring through a Hierarchy of Potentials helps us to develop these Potentials and reach higher levels of consciousness.

For those who desire to progress through higher levels of consciousness and can’t wait for our next article, please explore the proSpirit.org Cyber-Guides for the Inquisitive at http://www.prospirit.org/index.htm.

For inspirational artwork, try the proSpirit.org Emporium of Inspiration at http://www.cafepress.com/prospirit.

Growth is Guaranteed!