It is important to note in the preceding discussion of contemporary perspectives in transpersonal psychology what they include and what they exclude (Walsh & Vaughn, 1993a, p. 4; 1993b, pp. 199-207). Contemporary perspectives in transpersonal psychology
Do not exclude the personal ego.
Do not limit the type of expansion of identity possible.
Are not limited to any particular philosophy or worldview.
Do not limit research to a particular method.
Do not limit inquiry to a particular domain.
1. Transpersonal Psychology Does Not Exclude the Personal Ego
Transpersonal psychology does not ignore, overlook, or deny the personal ego. Clinical psychologist Steven Hedlin simply put it: “You have to be somebody before you can be nobody.”
Too often people try to lose their ‘ego,’ or sense of self, before they have actually worked through their own personal psychological material, and established a healthy sense of self – one which enables them to live effectively in the world….This ‘trap’ amounts to a ‘disrespect, discounting, or denigration’ of the ego itself, and erroneously assumes that the normal concerns of the ego – such as being able to function well in the world – have nothing to do with the ‘quest for oneness.’ This amounts to… ‘premature disidentification’ with ego functions such as identity, security, and self-esteem. (Hedlin, quoted in Fields, Taylor, Weyler, & Ingrasci, 1984, p. 11)
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“You need an ego to get the bus.” As the 14th Dalai Lama once observed: “You need an ego to get the bus.” The need to address the interests of the ego is one reason why the transpersonal psychotherapeutic system of Psychosynthesis developed by psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli has both a personal psychosynthesis and a transpersonal psychosynthesis component.
The ego is not inferior to other portions of the self. The ego is not inferior to other portions of the self, nor is the ego of a lower quality than the inner ,transpersonal self (Roberts, 1972). The ego, your ego, directs your behavior in physical world and your awareness of physical stimuli, and makes possible the clear brilliance and exquisite focus of normal waking consciousness. It is not something that needs to be overthrown in order to reach the inner self. In fact, to do so can create imbalance and psychopathology in the personality (Engler, 1983; M. Epstein, 1992).
It is impossible to separate portions of the self. The ordinary ego should not be thought of as something separate from the inner self (or soul). Traditional psychoanalytic personality theories may make distinctions, for instance, between ego, id, and superego, but such distinctions are made only in an effort to explain the many facets of the human personality. The outer ego is a portion of the inner self and has emerged from that source. The ego cannot really be separated from the rest of the psyche because the life of the ego takes place within (not apart from) the framework of the psyche’s greater existence (Roberts, 1979b). The psyche’s greater existence cannot be separated from the intimate knowledge of the ego whose clear and exquisite focus in one small area of reality creates a given kind of experience that is valid, real, and necessary to the life of the physical body.
The ego is the three-dimensional face of the soul. The ego may be only one segment of our larger identity and focus in but one of many dimensions of reality, but it is still nevertheless composed of the same universal energy and vitality that composes the transpersonal self, the larger psyche, and all consciousness. The ego does not exist outside of the psyche, but within it. The ego is supported, sustained, and filled with the universal energy that is its source. The ego can hardly be inferior to what composes it or to the reality of which it is a necessary and vital part.
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