Ego Versus God
Ego is the characteristic of the age, at least as far as the West is concerned. Freud can possibly be regarded as a turning point in western society from the infinite, to the self. While religion had regarded the self as something to be overcome it now became the central goal. The effect on society has been profound, from a diverse range of thought leaders from Freudo-Marxism to advertising via his disciple Ernest Dichter and a change of perspective via the Sexual revolution toward sex as "self gratification", rather than an institution of marriage ordained by God. Almost universally these changes are seen as "liberating the self". Freud can be said to have created both a science and a cult of ego.
The focus on ego in the West may be the key point of difference generating conflict with the Muslim world, surveys show Westerners are viewed by Muslims as "selfish, immoral and greedy". (For their part Muslim countries are seen as lacking individual rights) But rather than just being about "self", this focus on ego leads to a search for identity and loss of social responsibility. Effectively a loss of self. While many struggle to subdue ego and find God, perhaps the answer is a balance between, neither all ego or all God.
Read more about this topic: Beingness
Famous quotes containing the words ego and/or god:
“Since [Rousseau’s] time, and largely thanks to him, the Ego has steadily tended to efface itself, and, for purposes of model, to become a manikin on which the toilet of education is to be draped in order to show the fit or misfit of the clothes. The object of study is the garment, not the figure.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die and you to live. Which is the better, only God knows.”
—Socrates (469–399 B.C.)