The Three Types of You: Body, Consciousness, and Ego
Parts of who we are can change or stay the same. Despite the dynamics of how parts of us can change, we still are "us" (ourselves), even though who we are can change.
There are 3 main categories of "you" that I have identified, which are used to represent who you are.
- Body
- Consciousness
- Ego-Personality-Identity Construct
Body (You, I) - Material, Physical, Primary Substance, Genetic
This is the physical substance at the genetic level that forms the base of who we are. We all have unique bodies that form our identity, regardless of the consciousness or personality we have.
Change can occur to this level of self, but minor physical changes. Bodies are different for each human despite sharing attributes.
The body is the basic "you" that other aspects of "you" can emerge from. You need and have a
body as part of who you are at more significant differences, like having consciousness and an ego-personality-identity construct. We, as a whole, can't exist without a body first.
Our bodies are all unique and individual, despite all humans universally sharing the same components (heart, lung,brain, eyes, etc.)
Consciousness (You, I) - Immaterial, Nonphysical, Secondary Substance
Consciousness has the power to change things. The same power potential exists in all humans as a universal potential. We all also have un/sub-conscious and conscious thought power within. As a result, we are driven and motivated both voluntarily (consciously) and involuntarily (unconsciously) to engage in actions or behaviors. eg. we can leave our bio-natural unconscious processes to control breathing for us, or we can consciously choose to control how we breathe and change our way of breathing.
Changes in the world can be manifested from a higher order awareness of what we're doing to choose the better according to our level of understanding. Or we can be unwitting changers who don't really know what we're doing -- but think we do -- simply because we are conditioned, influenced and indoctrinated to do what we do.
Consciousness has many capacities, like the "mind" and "heart" aspects. Consciousness is the common blank "I am" awareness that all humans have as a power potential within to change and evolve consciousness, the body, and the ego-personality-identity construct. Our ability to think and act more wisely can be developed. The "mind" and "heart" can be healed and made better. We can understand our identity more, and improve the fitness of our bodies. This all comes from the inner power of consciousness within us that can be developed.
Consciousness is a universal attribute and potential that we all share in common, but we each individually have consciousness developed and evolved to different levels or degrees of awareness.
Ego-Personality-Identity Construct (You, I) - Immaterial, Nonphysical, Epigenetic
The ego-personality-identity construct is different for each human despite sharing attributes. Most of us are influenced from birth to become who we are today from un/sub-conscious conditioning (bio & socio) throughout life. But that doesn't mean we can't change from that unconscious conditioning of we became.
The ego-personality-identity construct is the “I” that you and the environment (society-others) can shape and change. We can change ourselves at this level, voluntarily or influenced by the pressures of the environment to be someone. We aren't simply the result of our genes. This is how the ego-personality-identity construct is epigenetically formed (on top or above genetics), because it is created by our environmental influences that shape us to be who we are.
The ego-personality-identity is the individual identity we each have, but we all universally have an ego-personality-identity as part of who we are.
Even if our bodies are changing, replacing cells -- where we aren't same same physical components all the time of our existence -- we are still "us". Even if our personality has some changes, and we identify with different things and change our identity, we are still "us". We can be a different "us", but we are still "us". We can change our bodies, identity, personality, or other things, yet still remain the same "us".
Who we are might change, but we are still "us" and not another person. There is a constant flux and dynamic to who we are -- changing -- yet there is always the fixed static "us" that remains despite all the variable changes that make us who we are. Actions and behavior can change (stemming from our conscious or sub/unconscious desires, drives and motivations) -- making us different people, changing who we are -- but we are still "us".
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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Thank you for sharing.
Nice one... It's an interesting topic because I guess very often we are trying to figure out more about ourselves, perhaps our self identity or maybe what we really like and dislike and why we do this and that. This is the science/mechanism behind it. How about a theory for the Body, Soul and Spirit?
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Fascinating post @krnel but I remember reading somewhere that our bodies are changing as you said by replacing cells and for some of us we do change who we are for that reason, some say this could be why some marriages and relationships break.
You cells changing from dying and having new ones, don't change who you are at a the consciousness or identity level overall. true when you age and your brain shrinks and cells die off, well your cognitive abilities decline. But when cells die off when we grow up, we develop more cognitive abilities.
Racional thoughts @krnel.
For me Ego is the part of our personality which is "I" and the conciousness is that what is aware of "I".
Ego is like a mechanism which was created to protect us in our physical journey.
Although the main role of it is to protect us, on the other hand it often restricts the potential of conciousness. Ego is very delicate structure which always defends itself from possibilities that someone might be better than us. Because if it let such a possibility then it means that there might be a bunch of others who are better than us - thus we are in constant danger or just worry about that we aren’t good enough. Eg. we think that we are good at dancing and then there’s a guy who is a lot better - our ego screams and motivates us to action “show him, who’s the best!” or the exact opposite “ok just quit and save the rest of your dignity”. That’s why some people with “big” ego are always showing off - they just need the prove to themselves that they’re the best. There are also people that have that fear of failure - their ego wants to protect them from harm.
Healthy Ego is there to protect us or our property from those who want to harm us in any way. Besides I really don't get it why New Age wants to kill ego and says it's the matter of all evil.
It’s good to have ego. That’s why:
If we wouldn’t have ego we wouldn’t want anything.
If we wouldn't have ego we would just give up before we could archive anything.
If we wouldn't have ego we would be slaves to those who have it (because we wouldn't be able to resist their will).
So it’s much better to “starve” ego from time to time so we wouldn’t be egoistic than kill it :)
Personally I believe the Ego is simply that which we do not agree with or like about ourselves and that we (seemingly) have little or no control over. If there is an action you do, or words you say to someone that you feel you don't like or don't agree with or have little control over I call this the Ego. Sometimes you will say something or do something and later regret it but when you regret it you cannot explain why you said/did it and why you felt you had little control over it. In my opinion, that is the Ego. The other part of us that we could have control over if only we choose to work hard in refining our spirit. It is the other part of you that might say harmful things, act, or behave in ways that may be counter productive and cause discomfort to others but you seem to have little control over. Even in thought, sometimes you might think wrongly of someone or judge them and this may be the root of the untamed Ego. The actions that are made by your ego reflect how you think, if you change the way you think you will likely have success in refining yourself. My best advice from my own experience is to simply not judge others in your mind even the good judgments. You don't have to stop judging completely but if you try this for at least 4 months I assure you, you will realize many things.
The English language is very judgmental in nature and it is also very authoritarian. If we think in the English language we will often find ourselves labeling others: This person is "" , that person is "" but labeling people often implies that they are not subject to change even though everything is in fact subject to change. By judging what a person "is" we forget that everything is temporal and that we have the power to change things. In your case you think to yourself "this person is better." Today a person may be "better" tomorrow it may be another person or you or anyone. Remember that everything is temporal and what matters most is your action and the footprint you leave for this world. The only way "being better" is spiritually a good thing, is if by being better you will have more to offer and more to contribute to the rest of society and that your knowledge is passed down, otherwise what is the point? If one is greedy, then they will try to hold that knowledge and take it with them to their tomb without ever sharing it and so how greedy one is, is an ultimate manifestation of how spiritually refined we are or how egotistical we are. If you are better at saving lives, people will likely seek you before seeking others. If one embraces the responsibility that comes with "being better" then it serve the spirit. If one is greedy and wishes only to remain better for the sake of pride, or as we can observe our current global situation for the sake of keeping the higher position to make more money, then one is serving the ego. Ultimately being better at something that has practical use is a good thing but should come with greater responsibility. Embracing greater responsibility is good for the spirit and can lead to defeating the ego. So it all boils down to embracing responsibility, sharing, and contributing (selfless / spirit) vs hoarding knowledge, being greedy, and being irresponsible (selfish / ego). This is at least this is my own point of view
Labeling is certainly the job of ego and it's good to prevent it from doing it because we can get egoistic - egoism and ego is not the same thing! Egoism is when somebody only wants to take and don't want to give anything at all. But ego doesn't has to be egoistic.
As I said without ego you wouldn't want to be better because you wouldn't want anything at all. You wouldn't want to act because you would be just so happy about how it is that you wouldn't want to change anything. Only because we want or we disagree on how the thing are we can actually change ourselves and become better. Of course the point isn't to become better than somebody else but being better than yourself from the past so you'll have more to offer to the others - as you said.
Without ego you wouldn't be able to potect anyone because you would feel too weak to do so. You would say to yourself "how poor me can do anything, I'm so powerless and weak...". In case like this ego would be the first to react "come on! move your ass and do something with that!".
Spiritual growth is mostly about serving others. When we do we can learn a lot more than just following our own needs which are mostly egoistic. That's why I said to starve ego. By starving it I meant feed it carefully so that you'll be self confident but you wouldn't have to prove anything to anyone. And I totally agree with the knowledge part - what is the sense of gathering it and then taking it with you to the tomb? It's mostly egoistic because you don't want to share. You become egoistic when don't control ego which says "I want it, I want that". And it's the voice of ego which says "dont's share with him because he might become better the you and your the one who want to be the best". Because of ego we want to rival but because of it we want to archive as well. So when you starve your ego properly you'll be like - I want to archive but in cooperation for the sake of me/ someone particular/ whole society.
I love the 2nd half of your posting, and you have the right mindset to become an earth custodian... drop by my website earthcustodians.net, really you wont regret it. Welcome aboard!
Yes, you can't kill ego, ego is "I", look up the etymology. It's self. Ego, self, personality, identity are all shaped from environment conditioning. The self can be corrupted, bad, or function better, like negative ego and positive ego. Without an ego-I-self construct, you wouldn't be a you, you would be a nothingness of pure consciousness awareness lol. Dissociating with our identity can achieve states of blank identification with a personal individual I-ness, and instead a universal impersonal I-ness as being one with everything. The ego-I-self is always there. Thinking you can kill yourself by the ego-death killing is silly. I view it differently, but thank for the feedback.
Made a little spelling out there I meant "than" not "then" :D What a significant diffrence in the whole context...
Very interesting and lots to digest. I identify the greater part of my self with my mind, that I live principally in my mind, not in my body. The fruits of some of my efforts, whatever they may be, are not realized by my body. It is my mind and my emotions that savor the triumphs.
I see what you mean. So one minute I can be "us" as just me. Then 7 minutes later when I'm eating a box of cookies, they're becoming "Us" too. You know?
We are what we eat :) I know hat you mean. The food becomes us lol.
good read. you know whats interesting thou and weird, the fact that every 7 years apparently our body reproduces hole completley new cells, so if thats the case why do we age? we should be regenerating or shedding our skin so to speak.
also you didnt mention the Id, or the super ego.
"According to Freud's model of the psyche, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience; and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego."
interesting stuff!
The id is the unconscious. Super-ego can be looked at in 2 different ways: another term for social influences that impose ethical norms from culture or tradition, influencing who we become. It's formed from influences of living and experience. And the other is as the goal for higher, realer, truer living is morality, but not culturally imposed ethical norms as those can be false and immoral. The aspiration for the ideal and good is what our conscience leads us towards, if operating correctly and being listened to. The conscience is part of consciousness, and partly influenced by our ego-personality-identity. So I did't consider it as distinct on it's own. Ego is part of consciousness too, but a upper layer from influences. Conscience is unconscious and conscious in consciousness, signalling right and wrong thoughts and feelings.
Edit: But yeah, super-ego of conscience development in moral comprehension is an important part of who we are. I considered it part of consciousness as I have relate din my other work. I forgot to include it here, thanks for mentioning it.
I... got confused just reading your response... but no problem!
All parts are important and thus make up a whole human being . Being careful and taking care of all will be great because if any part goes in the negetive direction, then the person will have problem..thanks for sharing
People are very complex beings, but the true is that too many of us are focused on only one part. In most cases, on body. Yes, body is really important, but to fell fullness of life we need to focused on all 3 spheres. It's not easy, I'm still working on it :) Great article anyway :) Good job @krnel!
Thanks, I appreciate the read and feedback.
Good post.