INTRODUCTION

What exactly is the ego? How does it prevent us from being spiritually fulfilled and nourished in our daily lives? Why does freeing ourselves from its influences make us… free? And, by the way, free from what? This is what we will explore in the following.

WHAT IS THE EGO?

The ego is a construct of the lower mind that serves as an interface between consciousness and the physical body. Picture your body, your consciousness floating above the Earth, and your ego somewhere in your brain, dictating your reality.

Spiritually, the ego is an illusion; it does not exist.
Philosophically, it is the “I” that organizes our perception.

According to Kant, it is where the mind structures the chaos of the world into a subjective reality. The ego becomes the enemy when it dominates through fear or illusory material and emotional attachments.
It’s the one that says:

“I am what I have.
I have all this, therefore I exist.”

WHY BECOME AWARE OF THESE INTERFERENCES?

It’s about being able to free ourselves from them, because by detaching the ego from matter, we dissolve the illusion of the ego/matter duality. This allows us to transcend it and access other dimensions of reality.

WHAT ARE THESE INTERFERENCES?

What the ego filters and how it does so:

1. Reality: What we perceive is merely a construct of our ego. In the spiritual philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, everything is a manifestation of Brahman, an essential unity, but the ego makes us believe that matter is separate, tangible, and unchanging. As Berkeley said: “To be is to be perceived.” Thus, the chair you feel under your fingers is only a mental creation, colored by your beliefs and emotions.
2. Time: The ego traps us in an illusion of linearity—past, present, future. It pushes us to accumulate objects to “secure” the future or regret the past. Spiritually, time is an illusion; consciousness is eternal. Philosophically, Heidegger shows that the ego uses matter to escape the anxiety of impermanence.
3. The role of the individual: The ego defines us by labels (employee, parent, consumer, married, single…) and drives us to seek validation through material possessions. A beautiful house, a luxury car become external proofs of our identity. Spiritually, this distances us from our deep unity; philosophically, Sartre calls this “bad faith,” the flight from our true freedom by identifying with things rather than ourselves.
4. Identity in matter: The identity we build around what we own (clothes, body, objects) is actually an illusory fusion orchestrated by the ego. Spiritually, this is attachment to samsara, the endless cycle of suffering. Philosophically, Schopenhauer sees this belief as an illusion of the will, where matter becomes a distorted reflection of our deepest desires.
5. Dreams: The ego distorts our dreams by anchoring them in material pursuits—wealth, success, recognition. Yet, dreams can be true gateways to deeper levels of consciousness. Spiritually, they offer a space for inner exploration; philosophically, Jung sees them as universal archetypes, often altered by the filters of the personal ego.
6. Desires: The ego amplifies our material desires, urging us to consume endlessly to fill an inner void. Spiritually, this is the Buddhist dukkha, the suffering born of attachment. Philosophically, Epicurus distinguishes between essential and vain desires, the latter being traps set by the ego.
7. Illusions: The ego makes us believe that matter is permanent, that our possessions endure. Spiritually, this is maya, the Hindu illusion; philosophically, Plato compares it to shadows in a cave, where the ego mistakes the ephemeral for the eternal.

THE PROGRESSION OF THE EGO IN INDIVIDUATION

During this process, the ego does not die; it transforms into more evolved forms. To date, there are 4 stages. These will be developed in our book. All you need to know here is that the only true “real” thing is consciousness and its multidimensional nature.
Obviously, the more it evolves, the more the interferences—particularly those linked to soul wounds, traumas, and social programming—manifest differently.
An article will be dedicated to the interferences of the ego, complementing the series I invite you to check out, starting with the introduction here and the series in the “personal growth” tab.

To paraphrase Bernard de Montréal:

“The Ego that is in fusion with the Supramental obeys Laws of vibrations that are cosmic ».

In other words, the ego moves from self-reflection to a fusion with the supramental.
This supports the idea that the ego does not die but transforms into more evolved forms. The “fusion with the supramental” is a poetic and spiritual way of saying that the ego evolves toward a broader, cosmic, multidimensional consciousness.

The involutive ego is trapped by material experiences, but rapid evolution requires transcending psychological conditions.

As mentioned earlier regarding the types of interferences, what Bernard de Montréal says supports the idea that these material experiences keep the ego in a lower state.
This shows that the ego’s evolution requires transcending or transmuting these engrams, wounds, and blockages tied to matter.

Social programming reinforces the ego’s involution, but becoming aware of it accelerates its evolution.

The concrete examples we will see in the next section clearly illustrate how society hinders the ego’s evolution.

THE EGO AND SOCIAL PROGRAMMING

Most individuals settle for an existence that does not suit them. With a series of “unconscious programs” dictating how to carve out a place in society to be “validated” and “conform” to its expectations.
Examples where the ego chooses for us and influences our behaviors in key areas:

1. Employment: The ego manifests here through the need for security, social recognition, and status. We often define ourselves by our job or title, seeking to validate our worth through external approval. This can hinder risk-taking or the emergence of an independent identity.
2. Entrepreneurship: Here, the ego confronts its fears (failure, judgment) and need for control. It may push us to do everything alone, refuse delegation out of fear of losing power, or equate success with material accumulation. This can also limit bold and strategic decision-making.
3. Marriage: The ego often uses the relationship to fill gaps, establish an identity, or meet social expectations. It creates rigid expectations and fuels conflicts when the other does not match the idealized image. Attachment to these roles can prevent the relationship from evolving freely.
4. Singlehood: The ego sometimes experiences singlehood as a stigma or social failure. It can generate fears related to loneliness, others’ judgment, or a fragmented self-image. But this time alone can also be an opportunity for deep reconnection, free from limiting social frameworks.

Other current programmings:

1. Social media: The ego feeds on validation through likes, comments, and followers. It creates an identity built on the image we project, often far from our authenticity, and generates comparisons and frustrations.
2. Group belonging: Whether it’s a community, professional, or cultural group, the ego seeks to conform to be accepted, sometimes limiting our uniqueness or deepest values.
3. Parental role: The ego can turn the role of parent into a source of disguised selfishness, where the image of the perfect parent serves to reassure the ego rather than meet the child’s real needs.
4. Consumption: The ego pushes us to buy to affirm status, mask uncertainties, or fill a void, rather than for genuine need or sincere pleasure.
5. Health and body image: The ego can maintain a rigid relationship with the body, aspiring to a societal ideal, generating dissatisfaction, comparisons, or even obsession.

For now, it is precisely this social programming that prevents the ego’s evolution by keeping it in a lower state, completely dependent on matter and its illusions.

CONCLUSION

The ego does not transcend; it transmutes. As you free it, it integrates these programmings differently and evolves into less dominant forms.
Rather than giving you advice, we’d like to push you further into reflection.
Answer these questions in writing, preferably, and reread yourself. Let the ego express itself.

• What will you put in place starting today to eliminate or reduce these filters?
• Has living at the expense of matter spiritually nourished you so far in your life?
• Are you afraid of death?

Take care of yourself
Lotha.net

FOR FURTHER READING

• The first citation (“The Ego that is in fusion…”) comes from his conference “RG-06 The Ego and the Supramental” (transcription on his official website and Scribd), not directly from the books mentioned.
• The second (“The evolution of the future…”) is drawn from “The Genesis of the Real” (confirmed via full text on Archive.org and excerpts).
• The third (“Involution has allowed…”) is a close paraphrase of concepts in “The Genesis of the Real” (e.g., chapters on involution/evolution and supramental fusion), but not verbatim; it appears in transcriptions of conferences like “Evolutionary Psychology.”