Hello Nikhil S. Gurjar,
I think there was some mix-up in my posting yesterday [some lines got missed out & some got jumbled]--hence reposting it again below.
Now this is getting to get more deeper.....maybe all of us would be vying with the great Philosophers :-)
To answer your queries/comments to the best of what I know/can......
So, friends, is ego a 'reflective' phenomenon? Or is it 'intrinsic'?
It's more 'intrinsic' to begin with, while what the outside world sees in that individual would be the manifestation of that 'intrinsic' quality--which you termed as ''reflective phenomenon'. Howsoever much the individual tries to mask/hide his/her intrinsic basic nature, it is bound to get externally manifested at some point of time--and the manifestation can be vocal, non-vocal or thru thought.
An example of manifestation of this phenomenon/aspect in human nature would be: quite a few of us sometimes 'feel' comfortable when we meet anyone new right from the first time--even without knowing anything about that new person. Sometimes, it's the other way round.
Some of the people went on to indicate 'good' and 'bad' decisions and 'forcing' people to accept their views. Even if forcing is for the benefit of the company, especially while dealing with change management, is it still something to be factored in while considering ego?
The more I read through, the more contrasting the views. SAK talked about positive and negative... You might still have ego even with positive thoughts. Am I wrong? The acid test seems to be perceptive rather than objective.
Yes....you are right. One can have an ego even with positive thoughts.
For eg, let's take a case of a person who has the true habit/nature of helping others WITHOUT any hesitation or expectation. If he helps with the hope/motive of BEING NOTICED, then such a person always tries to place himself/herself in situations where the exposure of the 'helping act' is MAXIMUM. This is one form of EGO--even though it doesn't cause anyone any harm, it does minimize the effect/result of his/her helping nature. That's what the Bhagavat Gita means when it says: Perform action without any expectation of the result.
If this person doesn't care whether anyone notices or not his/her helping nature, or even goes one step further--making conscious efforts to ensure NO ONE NOTICES his/her acts of helping, then that's what the religious texts term as the true believer. This attitude can go still one step further: he/she can do his helping deeds in FULL PUBLIC GLARE--but yet not get effected whatsoever [in Hindu texts such a person is termed as 'karma yogi'].
Now another question for (Cite Contribution) and Taj, is there a model using Id, Ego and Superego in TA similar to the PAC (Parent, Adult, Child) model? Because the TA situation actually focuses more on the circumstances rather than intrinsic character to start with... later delves deeper into each factor... Just curious, are we heading the same way in this discussion?
Again YES. Every religion has similar, if not identical, way of looking @ the situations in a holistic way. There's a reason why 'TA situation actually focuses more on the circumstances rather than intrinsic character to start with'. A normal/average human being can only understand what he/she can see/touch/hear/smell/taste [basically what can be measured thru the 5 senses]--mind you, 'intellect' comes much later. So if one were to talk to such a person what has been discussed in this Forum so far, would he/she understand a thing? No way.
But at the same time the Masters who propounded the different philosophical lines of thought know it's such people who actually need the philosophy MORE--a sort of contradiction, but an unavoidable or inevitable one. The only way to make such a crowd to begin to take interest in knowing themselves would be to talk in THEIR language--what they will find easier to understand. And when they get going in that path, things get more & more deeper....like you mentioned:"later delves deeper into each factor..". It's only now that psychologists have devised ways of measuring this aspect in human nature--thru what we now call "Spiritual Quotient [SQ]", as opposed to IQ & EQ until recently.
I recollect one Master's quote: "I am giving you what you want now, in the hope that you will want what I have got to give you". Miracles form a part of this process/methodology.
Maybe a bit of heavy stuff--couldn't get any simpler.
Any comments? Both bouquets or brickbats are OK with me....part of MY learning process.
Rgds,
TS