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Collected and prepared in document form for students of ACIM by Lucia Espinosa
THE QUESTION:
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Sometimes I’ve wondered what the ego really is….to try and catch myself when I am in “ego” mode, that is, sort of in “auto-pilot” mode.
I’ve compiled several “The ego is…” statements that paint a pretty clear picture of the choice we make on a daily basis. It has helped me capture the essence of wrong-minded states of mind to watch for.
Below, all the “is’s” is THE ANSWER to the question as well. So here is how it goes:
The ego is…
T-5.V.3. … the part of the mind that believes in division.
T-5.V.3.7 … quite literally a fearful thought.
T-5.V.3.8 … not sane.
T-4.II.8.4 … the mind's belief that it is completely on its own.
T-4.II.8.8 … equally unaware of spirit, it does
perceive itself as being
rejected by something greater than itself.
T-4.VI.4.4 … a device for maintaining this belief
[the belief that you are separate],
but it is still only your decision to use the device that enables it to endure.
T-4.VII.5. … the part of the mind that believes your
existence is defined by
separation.
T-4.VII.2.2 … thus against communication, except
insofar as it is utilized to
establish separateness rather than to abolish it
T-7.III.2.6 … insane; it teaches that you are not what you are.
T-7.VIII.4.6 …dependent on your mind, because the ego is your belief.
T-7.VIII.4.7 … a confusion in identification. 8 Never
having had a consistent
model, it never developed consistently.
T-7.VIII.4.9 … the product of the misapplication of the
laws of God by distorted
minds that are misusing their power.
T-9.VII.3.4 … also in your mind, because you have accepted it there.
T-9.VII.3.7 … therefore capable of suspiciousness at
best and viciousness at
worst. 8 That is its range. 9 It cannot exceed it because of its uncertainty.
10 And it can never go beyond it because it can never <be> certain.
T-9.VII.4. … deceived by everything you do,
especially when you
respond to the Holy Spirit, because at such times its confusion increases.
T-9.VII.4.5 … therefore, particularly likely to attack
you when you react lovingly, because
it has evaluated you as unloving and you are going against its judgment.
T-12.IV.1. … certain that love is dangerous, and this is always its central teaching.
T-14.X.8. …incapable of understanding content, and is totally unconcerned with it.
T-17.IV.5. … always alert to threat, and the part of
your mind into which the
ego was accepted is very anxious to preserve its reason, as it sees it.
T-21.IV.2. … not alone. 2 Its rule is tempered, and
its unknown "enemy," Whom
it cannot even see, it fears.
W-pII.12.1. …idolatry; the sign of limited and
separated self, born in a body,
doomed to suffer and to end its life in death.
W-pII.12.1.2 … the "will" that sees the Will of God as
enemy, and takes a form in
which it is denied.
W-pII.12.1.3 … the "proof" that strength is weak and love
is fearful, life is
really death, and what opposes God alone is true.
T-3.IV.2.3 … a wrong-minded attempt to perceive
yourself as you wish
to be, rather than as you are.
T-3.IV.3. … the questioning aspect of the
post-separation self, which was
made rather than created.
T-3.IV.3.2 … capable of asking questions but not of
perceiving meaningful
answers, because these would involve knowledge and cannot be perceived.
T-4.I.2.8 … a contradiction. 9 Your self and God's Self <are> in opposition.
T-4.I.10. … is afraid of the spirit's joy, because
once you have experienced it
you will withdraw all protection from the ego, and become totally without
investment in fear.
T-4.III.10.2 … desperate because it opposes literally
invincible odds,
whether you are asleep or awake.
T-4.V.1.4 … thrown further off balance because it
keeps its primary motivation from your
awareness, and raises control rather than sanity to predominance.
T-4.VI.1.6 …is nothing more than a part of your
belief about yourself.
7 Your other life has continued without interruption, and has been and always
will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate it.
T-4.VII.1.2 … quite specific, although the mind is
naturally abstract.
3 Part of the mind becomes concrete, however, when it splits.
T-4.VII.1.5 … the part of the mind that believes your existence is defined by separation.
T-4.VII.2.2 …thus against communication, except
insofar as it is utilized to
establish separateness rather than to abolish it.
T-4.VII.2.3 … based on its own thought system, as is everything else it dictates.
T-5.III.9.4 … is the symbol of separation, just as the Holy Spirit is the symbol of peace.
T-5.V.2.8 … also the symbol of guilt. 9 Guilt is more than merely not of God.
T-5.V.2.10 … the symbol of attack on God. 11 This is
a totally meaningless concept
except to the ego, but do not underestimate the power of the ego's belief in it.
12 This is the belief from which all guilt really stems.
T-5.V.3. …the part of the mind that believes in division…
T-5.V.3.4 … [believes that it <is>] you. 5 If you
identify with the ego, you must perceive
yourself as guilty. 6 Whenever you respond to your ego you will experience
guilt, and you will fear punishment.
T-5.V.3.7 …quite literally a fearful thought. 8
However ridiculous the idea of attacking
God may be to the sane mind, never forget that the ego is…
T-5.V.3.8 … not sane.
T-6.II.13.2 …legion, but the Holy Spirit is One.
T-6.IV.2.9 … afraid of you.
T-7.VII.9. … incapable of trust.
T-7.VIII.7. … unbelievable and will forever be unbelievable.
T-8.II.1.5 … trying to teach you what you are without knowing what you are.
T-8.II.1.6 …expert only in confusion. 7 It does not understand anything else.
T-8.II.1.8 …totally confused and totally confusing.
T-8.II.4. …trying to teach that you want to oppose God's Will.
T-8.VIII.7.5 …incapable of knowing how you feel.
T-9.I.2. … against you.
THE ANSWER
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C-2.4. We cannot really make a definition for
what the ego is, but we <can> say
what it is not. 2 And this is shown to us with perfect clarity. 3 It is
from this
that we deduce all that the ego is. 4 Look at its opposite and you can see
the only answer that is meaningful.
T-7.VIII.7.2 You who made the ego by believing the unbelievable cannot make this judgment alone. 3 By accepting the Atonement for yourself, you are deciding against the belief that you can be alone, thus dispelling the idea of separation and affirming your true identification with the whole Kingdom as literally part of you. 4 This identification is as beyond doubt as it is beyond belief. 5 Your wholeness has no limits because being is infinity.
T-5.II.3. …. 2 When the ego was made, God placed in the mind the Call to joy.
3 This Call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at Its sound. 4 That is why you must choose to hear one of two voices within you. 5 One you made yourself, and that one is not of God. 6 But the other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to it. 7 The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. 8 His is the Voice that calls you back to where you were before and will be again. 9 It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. 10 It takes effort and great willingness to learn. 11 It is the final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Sons.
T-8.VIII.7.6 When I said that the ego does not know anything, I said the one thing about the ego that is wholly true. 7 But there is a corollary; if only knowledge has being and the ego has no knowledge, then the ego has no being.
T-4.VI.1.3 I have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate thing, acting on its own. 4 This was necessary to persuade you that you cannot dismiss it lightly, and must realize how much of your thinking is ego-directed. 5 We cannot safely let it go at that, however, or you will regard yourself as necessarily conflicted as long as you are here, or as long as you believe that you are here.
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