A Podcast Featuring Sri Aurobindo Studies
Oct. 29, 2022

The Role of the Ego in the Evolution of Consciousness

The Role of the Ego in the Evolution of Consciousness
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com/2022/10/26/the-role-of-the-ego-in-the-evolution-of-consciousness/
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In one of his aphorisms, SRI
aurobindo observes quote, the

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ego is the helper.
The ego is the bar and quote,

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for most spiritual Seekers, the
attachment to the ego

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personality is the great
hindrance which they must find a

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way to overcome.
Some try extreme methods to

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minimize the role and power of
the ego but we must ask the

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question.
Why does the ego exist in the

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first place in the Divine
creation?

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If it has no purpose and must be
done away with?

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The close examination of plant
life.

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And that of many of the less
complex animals shows that they

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seem to live a life without
individual reflection or ego

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awareness.
In many cases, there is a hive

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or Congregation of some sort of
which each member is apart.

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And to, which each member
relates, its entire awareness,

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ants and bees, for instance,
seem to have a group existence,

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rather than an individual life.
As animal life develop greater

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mental power.
We begin to see a growing

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awareness of the individual as a
somewhat separate entity.

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And we thus see not only the
pack or the hive awareness, but

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something of an individual
Consciousness, which we may term

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a rudimentary form of ego with
the development of the higher

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primates and eventually the
human species.

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We see the development of Clear
and distinct ego Consciousness.

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The ego Consciousness is not
however, an unmixed blessing, it

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has its drawbacks and this leads
to results like selfishness,

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greed, self-aggrandizement and
other forms of ego, centeredness

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and attachment.
Along with the ego Consciousness

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comes at a certain point in
development, the capacity for

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self-reflection for a quest for
meaning and significance.

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And eventually the aspiration
for progress in various Fields,

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including the development of the
spiritual aspiration.

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At this point, the ego has
reached its peak of development

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and significance and is then
time for a new phase that

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transcends Supersedes the ego
awareness.

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This does not imply a return to
the hive but a new formation

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that can recognize both the
value of the individual and the

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integration of the individual
into the collective entirety of

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the universal manifestation.
Dr. Dalal notes, quote even

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after the emergence of mind, the
growth of Consciousness and the

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human being continues to be a
more or less unconscious process

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because the roots of matter.
Life and mind lie in the

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incontinent out of which they
have evolved.

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The first step for emerging out
of the Primeval unconsciousness

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is to develop a conscious ego, a
separate and independent.

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Individuality so long as an
individuality has not been

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formed, the human being remains
an amorphous, entity, more or

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less fuse with the unconscious
totality of existence.

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It is by the development of a
conscious ego.

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Individualization of being in
becoming that a person becomes

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an individual ego, is the
identification of our being with

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the superficial outer cell.
Self made up of the body, the

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vital nature, and the mind due
to the ego, the certain

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formation of physical vital, and
mental experience is

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distinguished from the rest of
the being and is regarded as the

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self.
Thus, the ego serves to bring

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about the emergence from
unconsciousness through a purse,

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Progressive Consciousness,
awareness of the physical vital

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and mental aspects of the being
Once the separate of ego has

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been adequately developed
evolution of Consciousness can

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be accelerated through growth in
a different dimension that which

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lies in the Transcendence of the
ego Liberation from the ignorant

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identification with one's
superficial nature and the

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discovery of the true self inner
growth.

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Thus represents a new dimension
of evolution.

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And quote, reference SRI
aurobindo, and the mother

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growing within the psychology of
inner development, introduction

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Pages Roman for to Roman five.