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Originally Posted by BlackWigger  What do you mean they are rarely good ? |
Take desire for example. Desire is sometimes a good emotion, especially when used in the right way. The primal desire of passion is great. When used by the Ego though, it becomes warped, and dangerous. That's how you end up with crimes such as rape, empassioned murder and similar. People's egoic desires override their common sense and they do awful things.
It's good to have positive emotions, but the ego often warps and turns them into something nasty or uses them for it's own gain. That's what I mean by egoic emotions are rarely good.
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What follows after that step ? Also, I didn't see you telling how to get rid of the ego :P
I've found that it isn't as simple as recognizing it and ignoring it wherever it tries to interfere with your life... simply because it keeps coming back, and one time you will give in or you'll be deceived by it.
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Because getting rid of the ego is a long process of mastery, but very, very worth it. It keeps coming back, but each time it's a tiny little bit less strong. You will be deceived by it, but you are already being deceived by it, you will just be noticing it more. And it doesn't so much intefere with your life as it *IS* your life.
The ego comes in many forms. There's your thoughts and emotions, the "voice in the head" so to speak. There's the pain-body, as recognised by Eckhart Tolle, which is the ego's desire for drama, pain and suffering. It's the way the ego continues to live. There's pride. There's the ego disconnecting you from others and making you feel separate. And there's the ego losing itself and you in the past or future, because the present moment is lethal to it.
Meditation is a great way to train yourself to recognise and overcome the ego, as well as being present in the current moment. Being aware of your thoughts and emotions is the other.
The best book I've found for recognising all the various forms of the ego and how to disolve them is Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth.
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Oh well... I ain't sure about avoiding people even more. Maybe I should become more outgoing...
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Being outgoing isn't that neccessary. Being nice and friendly is though. When you can spend less time around people you don't like, you suddenly find many people that you do like. In large colleges there are far more people of your age that go there, and you are way more likely to find people you actually enjoy the company of and have the same interests with. I was a loner in high school, and it wasn't until I got to college/uni that I really made a group of friends that I enjoy. I've been friends with them for almost 10 years now.
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Ya, but I'd lose the motivation to develop them. Or maybe... if I developed my social skills, I'd find new joy in using them. Not really sure though.
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You'd lose the fear of not being able to develop them, but you'd keep the motivation. You'd recognise the impact and know what benefits you would get. Then you would develop your skills, and really enjoy using them.