Cultivate a Positive Ego
The goal is not to get rid of the ego but to cultivate a positive ego, a personality that is kind, humble and uplifting to everyone around you.
Growing up, Dandapani heard only that the ego is bad and that a spiritual person should not have one. His guru gave him a different perspective: the ego is our personality, and as long as you have a name, likes and dislikes, you have one. He asks you to stop trying to remove it and instead work on making it positive.
What this talk covers
- He spent his early life hearing that the ego is bad and that you need to get rid of it to be spiritual.
- His guru described the ego as our personality, with some personalities more evolved and others less evolved.
- As long as you have a name, preferences, likes and dislikes, you have an ego and a personality.
- A positive ego is someone who is kind, who can express empathy, compassion and love, who seeks solutions and treats everybody equally.
- The practice is to ask how you can be a little more humble, a little more gentle in speech and thinking, so your patterns uplift both you and the people around you.
The goal on the spiritual path, at least from the philosophy that I subscribe to, is not to get rid of the ego, but rather to cultivate a positive ego.Dandapani
Questions
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In the philosophy he follows, no. The ego is your personality, and everyone who has a name and preferences has one. What matters is whether that personality is a positive one.
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He suggests you stop trying. Rather than thinking about getting rid of the ego, think about cultivating a positive ego by becoming kinder, more humble and gentler in speech and thought.
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Someone who is kind, who can express empathy, compassion and love, who is an uplifting human being, who seeks solutions, and who treats everybody equally.
Transcript
346 words · 1:59
Ego. Let's talk about the ego. When I was growing up and I was very interested in spirituality my whole life, the only thing I ever heard about the ego is that the ego is bad and you need to get rid of it. And if you want to be a spiritual person, then you should really not have an ego. It wasn't until I went to the monastery and I met my guru that he gave me a different perspective on the ego.
He looked at the ego as our personality and we all have a personality. Some personalities are more evolved and others are less evolved. But as long as we have preferences, we have a name, we have likes and we have dislikes, we have an ego and we have a personality and that personality is our ego.
So he shared with me the perspective to take on the ego, which is to not to get rid of the ego, but rather to cultivate a positive ego, a positive personality. personality. So to be someone who's kind, someone who can express empathy and compassion and love, to be an uplifting human being, to be someone who's seeking
solutions, who treats everybody equally, that is a positive ego. So the goal on the spiritual path, at least from the philosophy that I subscribe to, is not to get rid of the ego, but rather to cultivate a positive ego.
So this is something that you resonate with, then this is something I encourage you to do. From now on, rather than thinking about getting rid of the ego, think about cultivating a positive ego. How can I be a better version of myself to be a little bit more humble, to be a little
bit more kind, to be a little bit more gentle in my speech, in my thinking, and how I interact with people to just be a better human where my behavioral patterns, my speech patterns, my thinking patterns results in upliftment for not only myself but for everyone around me.