just saw Dr. Strange

>>18305814
The occult is not about getting rid of ego, that is buddhism.

Getting rid of ego, can be beneficial and free thing to do to relax and stop worrying.

>>18305814
The ego is what makes you ask all this. You are basically a huge asshole and if you deny this you just prove you are an asshole. It's just an artificial response of your ego. If you learned how not to to identify too strongly with things, even with your own automatic reaction to things, everything would be clearer.

Although yes, you can be easily brainwashed under the pretense of removing your ego.

>>18305814
Take psilocybin mushrooms.

>>18305854
Yes, there's always the shortcut version of it, not to be underestimated OR overestimated. If you're feeling heady, do that, OP, but it won't fix all the problems of your life, only "you can".

>>18305844

dubs of truth

>>18305844
I don't want to be an asshole. How do I stop besides dying

>>18305814
The idea is generally the ego can be protective but it can also be over defensive, and as a result it will refuse to acknowledge mistakes, reject opportunities to learn or improve and generally become self-defeating since its most important thing is protecting itself from what it perceives as possible insult, not what actually is.
Subsequently you may become content with not striving for or accomplishing things not because you're genuinely accepting of your limitations or position (since humility in life can be beneficial, don't misunderstand) but because you're simply more concerned and afraid with failure and being judged for your shortcomings. Except now your greatest shortcoming becomes that you cut yourself short of becoming anything.

What philosophy, spirituality and the esoteric aim to achieve with either mastering or killing the ego varies, but generally the primary idea is to overcome the mental barriers that prevent us from going beyond ourselves. As you say though sometimes bringing down those barriers at the wrong time can result in someone taking advantage of your vulnerable state. In the defense of these teachings, their focus is on the benefits the learning can have, not on the pitfalls learning it wrong cause. Not that they ignore these things, they're just not the point of the system they've developed. Duplicity is something that exists outside of any school of thought, and as such can exist in any student's journey regardless of their discipline.

You may have heard about academics and athletes who felt a trainer or teacher was ignoring their potential or intentionally sabotaging it for whatever reason. The road to improvement and accomplishment in all areas is checkered, lies before everyone and crosses paths with others. Just the way it is.

>>18305814
The problem is that, historically, the logical consequence of overcoming one's ego is that you are to subsequently submit to *another's* ego, whether it be through entering into a hierarchical structure (e.g., a religion or church) or directly accepting someone else as a superior.

However, I think the key idea is in submitting to the truth that there are limits to human understanding, simply by dint of our physical limitations of receiving information through empirical senses. All "traditional" information sources depend on a linear framework of spacetime as determined by a limit at which this information is transmitted (the speed of light/EM radiation itself). Recognizing this limit of human capability is crucial in accepting the presence of a so-called "higher power" - but you don't have to anthropomorphicize it or personify it (or even name it) - it's just there as thing to be acknowledged.

This is why basically every religious practice begins with a ritual where you remove or alter a sense, or modify your body, or otherwise acknowledge that you aren't in control of everything, because no human being is on a conscious or rational level.

So you *do* want to overcome your ego, but you also *don't* want to fall into the trap of believing that another person has the right to tell you that they know better than you (in like a general, spiritual sense).

It's paradoxical, but it's important.

I have no idea if this is relevant to the movie or not, being ignorant of both the film and the lore behind it, btw.

>>18306390
Having some degree of knowledge of the comics, haven't seen the movie though, you're actually spot on in regards to how the Sorcerer Supreme does business with the spiritual. Stephen himself is very skilled and knowledgeable, but at times he has to appeal to higher forces to accomplish more than what can be done as an individual.

>>18305844
Lol. You are an asshole. And if you deny it you're a bigger asshole.

Assimilation philosophy , give up the self to merge with some greater divine. A valid option though rather dull.

I feel like the word "ego" has a connotative meaning to most people. But, to me, having an ego means that I don't feel like I'm on the same level playing field as another person. Having an ego means that I am not considering all people equal, and I think that I am better or worse than someone else, or more or less important. Getting rid of the ego allows you to feel at one with the rest of the world. It prevents you, to some degree, from being a pompous prick or a person who never achieves their goals due to the fact that they feel less than.

That's just my connotative definition though.

>>18305814
Don't buy into memes.

The ego means so many different things but new age memes just lump them all together.

Your ego is "you". It's your sense of being a separate somebody.

You can call it your sense of self but it's not really accurate. It's actually more of a label or a focal point that your mind uses to determine what is you and what isn't. So that if somebody calls your name, you respond. If you're hungry, you put food in your mouth and not someone else's.

The reason why you hear about getting rid of the ego is simple. Fundamentally, you believe that this ego or this sense of being somebody is real. But if you look closely, it is actually an illusion. To the degree that you realize this, you will also in a sense be free of believing in it.

Now, why would you want that? Well because to live identified as a separate being is the source of much of your suffering. It is the basis/context in which you enact your human drama. The bigger picture is that the drama you buy in is not actually real. It's just a dream. And so realizing this, you are forever "free" of believing that your delusions, which create suffering, are real.

So, in Buddhism they say, enlightenment is the cessation of suffering. You might also hear them say that it is the dissolution of ego.

Anyway, it's not that you have to try to get rid of your ego because what would be trying to do that in the first place? Ego of course. It's all ego that perpetrating this idea that you have to become something or get rid of something or do something to be other than what you are. It's a fools game because the ego can't possibly understand it's own absence.

The truth is that you only need to look at what is really your self. What is this "I" that you call you? And if you penetrate into that question deeply enough, you'll see that there is actually nothing to it. It's empty, it's nowhere, it's nothing. So you're nobody in that sense. But what would be left after you realize there is nobody home?

Lots of good stuff above, to paraphrase,
>you're an asshole
>ego limits you
>ego is defensive

To expand on that last one, the ego *is* defence. That is how it came into being, that is all it is. Here's how:

>be baby in womb, one whole blob of connection with mother, indivisible, doesn't know itself as anything else
>shit happens; stress, birth, life events
>young growing psyche and emotions easily overwhelmed, life force threatened if nervous system overwhelmed
>nervous system overload input which can't be processed has to be contained
>emotions 'freeze' into one defence response; eg 'have to stop being so open and loving with mummy because it hurts when she shouts'
>psyche adopts relevant unconscious thought structure, eg 'don't be so loving'
>psyche and emotions are processed through the body, tension occurs as the processing 'freezes' into response patterns.
>your ego is your collection of response patterns which have been keeping you safe since you first ever encountered something you couldn't process and integrate.

That is why ego limits your responses. It's why systems of attainment and psycho-emotional healing seek to develop a new relationship with our patterns, and integrate them. It's why bodywork can have a psycho-emotional effect. It's why you don't 'kill' your ego, or transcend it. That kind of thinking leads to delusion, as the patterns are still present in the unconscious if not addressed.

It's a fucking ultra-commercial superhero movie, you might as well get your guidance from the original Spiderman cartoons.

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>>18307001

OP here. I mean, I may or may not believe a cartoon frog is the resurrection of an ancient primordial deity, so I'm not nessescarily one to knock cartoons.

Isn't there some verse about becoming like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven?

Not that my ego allows me to follow that cult... lol

>>18305814
It's basically encouraging cognitive bias by making your actions seem connected to a bigger plan. Ego death is much harder than a simple lesson or a mantra, the presented lesson is just helping you think your bullshit is directly or indirectly influencing something bigger than yourself. If you want to experience real Dr. Strange shit take some psychedelics and enjoy the ride.

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>>18306963
>Be heir to the ritual of blood
>Have dreams of love and affection
>must be the weed.jpg
>suddenly realize I am God
>later realize that my life began not with my birth, but with an act of love
>tfw you were born of blood, animated by selfless, hope-bound love

You cannot get rid of ego, long as you are human, true non-ego would have you in a catatonic state, but if you see it directly you can actively control it and change it, and realize that you are more than you, or you are more than your ego.

Plus you can temporarly detach yourself from it if you dont feel like dealing with some shit.