The role of the Ego

I have been giving ego and the Self some thought, and I would like to ask what steps each of you (although perhaps, not all of you) have taken in learning to acknowledge your true nature.

Do you think ego plays a positive part in this discovery, and what do you think you have to do to make it a positive tool in evolution?

And finally, do you think one can improve on their Self, without it becoming ego driven?

Before answering your questions, I would like to ask you: how do you define the ego?

Greetings Talibah,
Very Good Questions!

I can not say what steeps need to be taken to acknowledge your true nature, for everyone of us is different in our steeps.

Yes, I think the ego plays a very positive part. All of our information that enters us is netural until the ego has had a chance to compare it to all the compiled information within our belief system and then it can manipulate it acording to our goals.

I Think to make it a positive tool in evolution you need to leave behind the more subtle negative behaviors of your ego that interfere with the good.

Yes, I think you can improve on yourself without it becoming ego driven.

AurorA

RudraShiva, why should my definition make a difference to how you would answer in respect to your own definition?

Hello Talibah. I need your definition or understanding of what the ego and self are because I don´t understand your questions.

RudraShiva, this is quite a useful link, but as with all outside theories, subjective as I am sure you will agree. It is however, generalised, so should give you an idea of how to interpret my questions. http://deoxy.org/egofalse.htm

That is a really good question, Talibah. I have been giving the same issue a lot of thought myself.

In my case, I realized that for years I had blocked out many aspects of myself that I considered negative, and in doing so I had tried to pass for something that I wasn't.

Acceptance is the first step. I would say a complete self-examination, including all the light and all the shadows of the Self (faults and virtues) would give one a clear glimpse of the whole. But that is only the first layer.

After having a clear view of this, the next step would be to go deeper. That is, asking yourself: "Why am I like this or like that?" and trying to find a reason.

The next step would be to go beyond that. And so on.

You might be surprised to realize that at the bottom of every "negative" trait, is plain simple fear.

An easy example:

I am impatient. Why am I impatient? because I want things as soon as possible. Why is this? because I need to be instantly satisfied. Why is this? because I can't wait for things to happen at their own time. Why is this? because I am afraid they will never happen if I wait.

So, in my case, the main leap was facing and losing that fear.


When this is accomplished, then you are ready to unlearn yourself. Meditation can be very good in these cases, especially the type that involves concentrating on a deep black nothingness. Without fear, you should be able to overstep your desires and have a clear image of the nature of your core. But this might take years...

Lastly, I would say that it is as dangerous to feed off an inflated, blinding ego as it is to underestimate yourself. Without self esteem and boldness nothing of importance can be accomplished.

Here is a quote from Luis Marques' twitters:


An evolved and
balanced Ego can be a valuable tool for the Self. But a blinding one is
always among the first footsteps into Oblivion.

Greetings, Talibah.

What I'm going to write now is quite an important matter.

I will have to say that ego does, indeed, play a really big role in the acknowledgment of the True Self. How: Usually what one wants to be, is what one usually isn't. Or else, you would put less effort into it, because you actually had the knowledge that you were. That's how things work. After wanting and trying to be, you can actually work on being, and most of the times you discover that you're someone else.

One can improve the Self through ego... Well, yes, if you use it to work harder. Although the role it has to play isn't that of Pride, but that of Self-Esteem. Self-Esteem makes you work harder. Self-Esteem brings belief, which usually makes you a better worker. You have to like yourself, try to understand you all the better.

Self-Esteem isn't blindness. Self-Esteem doesn't mean you don't have to question yourself. Actually, that's what kills Evolution.


Best regards,
Karnath.

Very well put, Karnath.

"It is a lie, this folly against self.The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! "
are lines in the Book of Law that address the matter of the Ego and the Self .

Ego is not an enemy ,it is a friend for the Self ,but a friend that can become an enemy when not in conformity .


Hellen

The ego is deeply connected with fear. Most fearful emotions are ego-driven, especially fear of death (like skulls, gothic imagery, etc) In the same way, hate is connected with fear. One can trace back a lot of behaviors to the ego by following this logic.

Excuse me Talibah for not answering your post, but I had a very hard time trying to understand what the ego and self are supposed to be and so I wasn´t sure about giving you a good answer.

I would say that these two concepts are not very well explained in the esoteric literature. In some cases the information is even contradictory. We also need to have in mind that in some "spiritual paths" the ego is seen as something evil or bad.

The thing is that self, ego, individuality, consciousness, awarness....whatever the name, is the same thing. Or, at least, can be understood as the same concept.

Ego means I, and so you can have a wide description of what the ego is because that desciption will depend on the perceptions you have about yourself.

I, however, use a model based on the concepts of self and ego, and the definitions are the following:

Ego: The ego is a function of your mind. Such a function is based on language and reason. It is the natural "by product" of both experience and intellect. As it needs the language in order to have a "sense" of existence, the ego is what "you" (or it) want it to be, that is, the ego will depend on what you identify yourself with.

The difference between me and a dog is that the later doesn´t have that tool named intellect and reason, and so it can´t "create order out of chaos": the dog can´t represent reality, as it hasn´t got any symbolic system of representation (such as language). As it can´t represent reality, it doesn´t have an ego.

The ego can be understood as a "focal point" for your Self/Spirit and, depending on the system, it can be seen as an ilussion and a hindrance for spiritual evolution.

Self: For me the Self is the same thing as the Spirit, Kia, Azoth, Black Flame, Divine Spark....it has different names depending on the tradition, but in my opinion they are all the same. Contrary to what the ego is, the Self is not a function of your mind and it is not based on any symbolic system of representation. It is the root of your will and perception. It is that which makes you alive. In Asetianism it is the KA (the ego could be considered the BA). The self is consciousness but not "self consciousness" (that would be the ego).

The Self doesn´t need any language (that is, symbols) because it can apprehend reality directly. I wouldn´t think of the Self as an "object". Rather, it is the "absence" of any object: it is the void in which acausality is "present".

The Self is not self-consciousness but pure consciousness, without any object "inside" of it.

Intellectual means are the ways of the Ego. If you really want to understand what I wrote, experience it: meditate to the point of destroying/trascending your mind. That´s the way of the Spirit.

Althought what I wrote is a very simplistic and not a scientific description of our "psychological anatomy", I think it will make clear what the role of the Ego is: without an Ego, the Self is NOTHING. Destruction of the Ego is death in its most literal and true sense. "Before" Cosmos, that is, "before" a sensible object of experience, we were nothing. Without an ego, we would be like animals. If such a concept like "trascendence" is possible, then it is so because we have an ego.

Although from a spiritual point of view, the experience of the Self makes the Ego looks like a dwarf next to a titan...

Thank you for that RudraShiva. It was a very intriguing post, and I support your line of thinking. I think this will actually help many here get a wider perspective of things.

Rudrashiva:

Your definitions are very well based and down to the point. However, I must differ in two things:

- The ego, whilst essentially it is as you define it, is also highly modified and affected by many outside and inside factors, such as life, experience, education, the environment, desires, phobias, relationships, intellect, etc. Certainly it cannot be destroyed, but a balance is necessary in order to differentiate reality from egotistical impulses. The delicate nature of this balance is what makes it sometimes difficult to differentiate ego from egotism.

- Most animals, and especially dogs and cats, definitely have ego, intellect and reason. Anyone who has had one can confirm that. Certainly it is not as evolved as ours, but it is there. As usual these days, I don't have time to go into long explanations, but I think it would not be too difficult to research into the extensive studies on animal psychology and how surprisingly complex it is.

Hi ! Interesting post Syrianeh. The ego is not a static "thing". As you said, it changes because of different experiences, such as education. Balance is important, however "transcendence" is a state that includes such a balance but it is also beyond it.

The point is that, in the end, your "goal" will depend on the tradition or path you follow. For a Buddhist *, for example, balance is not that important, in my opinion, as Nirvana is a state separated from existence (and, therefore, from experience). For an Asetian, however, balance is important since they do not alienate themselves from the world. Via reincarnation, they are forever bound to it and so, to an object of experience.

The thing is that, within this context, the "ego" is that function which makes existence, as we know it, possible. Sometimes when in some contexts the word destruction is used, it is synonymous with transcendence. Actually, the "transcendence" of the ego sought in some traditions can be seen as a literal apocalypse because it makes the Cosmos to "dissapear" to you. That´s the meaning of the Third Eye of Shiva: when He opens it, it makes the world to dissapear.

This is what we (me and probably the "AntiCosmic Satanists" of the MLO) mean when we use the word destruction. It is not a "vulgar" destruction of the ego, it is a transcendence. If such a process would be accomplished by killing the ego, then I would go out, buy a gun and shoot myself on the fucking head!

About animals having an ego, well, your point is really interesting! I had a dog sometime ago and, definitely, I can say that they have "intellect" and even "personality". However we shoud be more precise: what do you mean by intellect? Animals are living beings and so they react to their enviroment. If that reaction to the enviroment is what you mean by intellect, then ok, however I use that concept to refer to the process of reason and thinking. And this process needs language (symbols).

The ego is not a perception of being alive, it is a representation of a certain part of the existence (you). And such a representation needs, obviously, symbols. Without the ability to think in symbols, representation is not possible. Therefore I say that animals don´t have an ego. However it is clear that they are aware of the enviroment (both exterior and internal) and of being alive. We could say that they have a certain degree of "consciousness", althought very primitive.

*That´s how I interpret Buddhism and the Nirvana state, I could be wrong since I do not fully understand what they really are about.

Thank you for the thorough explanation, Rudrashiva.

My pleausure

I resume my Ego with a Poetry. I remenber of this Poetry alot of times. I have no found an english version, I hope you understand. In other hand, I will leave the original version below.

Vanity

I dream I am the chosen Poet,
Who knows all there is to know on Earth,
The one whose inspiration’s pure and perfect,
And captures infinity in a verse!

I dream a verse of mine has all the brightness
To light the whole world! And it will please
Even those who long and die of sadness!
And even wise, unhappy souls it will appease.

I dream that i am someone here in this world ...
Who knows the vast and deep,
At the feet of those who walk the earth bent!

And the more i am dreaming in the sky,
And the more i am flying over the top,
I according off my dream ... And I am nothing! ...

Florbela Espanca

Vaidade

Sonho que sou a poetisa eleita,
Aquela que diz tudo e tudo sabe,
Que tem a inspiração pura e perfeita,
Que reúne num verso a imensidade!

Sonho que um verso meu tem claridade
Para encher todo o mundo! E que deleita
Mesmo aqueles que morrem de saudade!
Mesmo os de alma profunda e insatisfeita!

Sonho que sou Alguém cá neste mundo...
Aquela de saber vasto e profundo,
Aos pés de quem a Terra anda curvada!

E quando mais no céu eu vou sonhando,
E quando mais no alto ando voando,
Acordo do meu sonho... E não sou nada!...

Florbela Espanca

I have read through everyone's posts and this is an interesting discussion...Talibah, thank you for the inspiration to reflect on my place in the universe...

Since I was a child, my life has been filled with negative experiences, caused primarily by humans and their lack of self-knowledge, or getting caught up in their "ego"... Lies, deceit, self-hatred...the chaos...cause people to influence one another in this manner without even being aware of what they are doing...the destruction of "humanity"...

What is this forbidden fruit? Knowledge of self...which then opens you to receive the knowledge of the universe...the difference between men and gods...

How does one obtain this? Through the destruction of "Ego" in a traditional sense. You must learn how to be honest...how to be truthful...how to accept reality for what it is...to shed any and all preconceived notions...at all costs...

I chose make my response less detailed, as the end result is what is matters. Sometimes long explanations can be misconstrued and then we have another off-topic thread in the forum.

There are two ends of the spectrum...to become free you must accept the chaos and the light...

I have my own quote I use often:

"A human soul toys with honesty and lies to feel the power of a god... distorted perception of life is the misinterpretation of reality..."

Sinata Anika Asti wrote:What is this forbidden fruit? Knowledge of self...which then opens you to receive the knowledge of the universe...the difference between men and gods...

How does one obtain this? Through the destruction of "Ego" in a traditional sense. You must learn how to be honest...how to be truthful...how to accept reality for what it is...to shed any and all preconceived notions...at all costs...

"A human soul toys with honesty and lies to feel the power of a god... distorted perception of life is the misinterpretation of reality..."

I liked your post. I must say I agree with it completely. This destruction of Ego is essential not only to understand the occult, but most importantly to understand Self and our place in the universe.
I do think failure in attaining such destruction of Ego is at the root of many problems people face. Letting go of Ego is like an awakening or an initiation. Most people are too worried in what others think about them, or how others know more than them, or to do things that would make others praise them. Especially the internet is filled with that crap, on youtube, forums and most social networks, people spam themselves like they are merchandise. A great reflection of stagnation.

Letting go of those lies and deceit humanity has created for us isn't an easy task. It takes great honesty, courage and an immense dedication. Most people fail because they give up, and giving up is the most common reflection of weakness. It's the easy road, and most people prefer an easy and safe path. To get above all the lies and many faces of Ego in the world is a great work of magick. A needed step in evolution. Or like the Asetians would call it, it means to "Rise above".

Jonathan, thank you for responding and agreeing with my contribution to this topic. I felt these things as a young child, but really started my awakening around the age of 11-12. I would spend many hours in meditation and reading esoteric text. I feel that if one cannot rise above ego, then what is the point of trying to differentiate yourself from the common herd? The ego can actually be a useful guide once you have detached yourself from it.

Great discussion, although it's an old discussion I would like to share my views on ego. To me ego simply means all that we believe is our while staying connected to this mortal reality. It can be negative and positive depending childhood and current environment of an individual.

Everything that exists is useful, nothing exists without any reason. This applies for ego as well. When a child is born it's full of joy and ease, there is no self esteem of shame in a newborn. It's content with life and enjoys it with every moment. May be this is the reason in India people often say that children are like God. An unhealthy environment has equally adverse effects on the psyche of the child giving birth to an unhealthy ego.

For example, if someone close to me does something I disagree with. I can see it as something they did that hurt me or I can see that they did something they felt was right, it didn't have anything to do with me.

Both the perceptions are different from each other and can be applied to a similar situation, what differs is the response to an occurance. And having a healthy ego helped this 'I' of bodily self to avoid unnecessary confusion. Whereas an unhealthy ego would have caused a lot of drama and chaos in life.

In my understanding ego is the sum of all that we are in this world, as humans/otherkin/mortals. When we're born we learn from others their perception of who we are, but as we grow with life some of use re learn about us and find new meanings to the old definitions.

Using this ego as something to work on instead of being worked by, we learn to grow stronger and keep developing in this world. Without an ego, how would I know where I'm going wrong. There's no realization without a sense of self, ego is the sense of self to an extend. It's something to play with, something to work on and use for growth of oneself.

And at last, when it starts to become a barrier in one's growth then it is something that needs to be destroyed in order to be one with that which is Micro. It's a journey where we have various opportunities and stages. in some stages negative ego is helpful and in others positive ego is the way to to. At times there is no need for any ego, but other times this ego is what is an essential element to get successful results.

I won't get deeper into it, but what I'm implying is that ego has it's own uses. Still it's not something to hang on to, it's a tool every human gets, it's upto them how they use it. It depends from time to time, there is no ego when one is ready to merge into infinite. Till then it is ego that keeps on pinching and pushing until that stage is reached.

The Ego is the image you have fashioned for yourself.It is your social mask,the role you play. This is your social mask it lives and grows with applause. Wishes control and feeds the power, asliving in fear.Your True Self that is the spirit or your soul - is absolutely free from all these things.He is immune to criticism, fearless in front of any challenge and feels no less than anyone.But at the same time humble and not feel superior to anyone, since It recognizes that everything is the same Self, the same spirit under different guises.For one to be guided by his True will,the ego has to step away.

Quote wikipedia :Id[edit]
The id (Latin for "it",[4] German: Es)[5] is the unorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives. Id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.[6] It is the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. The id contains the libido, which is the primary source of instinctual force that is unresponsive to the demands of reality.[7] The id acts according to the "pleasure principle"—the psychic force that motivates the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse[8]—defined as seeking to avoid pain or unpleasure (not 'displeasure') aroused by increases in instinctual tension.[9] According to Freud the id is unconscious by definition:

It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our study of the dreamwork and of course the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of that is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations. ... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle.[10]

In the id:

…contrary impulses exist side by side, without cancelling each other out. ... There is nothing in the id that could be compared with negation ... nothing in the id which corresponds to the idea of time.[11]

Developmentally, the id precedes the ego; i.e., the psychic apparatus begins, at birth, as an undifferentiated id, part of which then develops into a structured ego. Thus, the id:

…contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, is laid down in the constitution—above all, therefore, the instincts, which originate from the somatic organization, and which find a first psychical expression here (in the id) in forms unknown to us.[12]

The mind of a newborn child is regarded as completely "id-ridden", in the sense that it is a mass of instinctive drives and impulses, and needs immediate satisfaction.

The id "knows no judgements of value: no good and evil, no morality. ... Instinctual cathexes seeking discharge—that, in our view, is all there is in the id."[13] It is regarded as "the great reservoir of libido",[14] the instinctive drive to create—the life instincts that are crucial to pleasurable survival. Alongside the life instincts came the death instincts—the death drive which Freud articulated relatively late in his career in "the hypothesis of a death instinct, the task of which is to lead organic life back into the inanimate state."[15] For Freud, "the death instinct would thus seem to express itself—though probably only in part—as an instinct of destruction directed against the external world and other organisms"[16] through aggression. Freud considered that "the id, the whole person ... originally includes all the instinctual impulses ... the destructive instinct as well",[17] as eros or the life instincts.

Ego[edit]
The ego (Latin "I",[18] German: Ich)[19] acts according to the reality principle; i.e. it seeks to please the id's drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bring grief.[20] At the same time, Freud concedes that as the ego "attempts to mediate between id and reality, it is often obliged to cloak the [unconscious] commands of the id with its own [ preconscious ] rationalizations, to conceal the id's conflicts with reality, to profess ... to be taking notice of reality even when the id has remained rigid and unyielding."[21] The reality principle that operates the ego is a regulating mechanism that enables the individual to delay gratifying immediate needs and function effectively in the real world. An example would be to resist the urge to grab other people's belongings, but instead to purchase those items.[22]

The ego is the organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. Conscious awareness resides in the ego, although not all of the operations of the ego are conscious. Originally, Freud used the word ego to mean a sense of self, but later revised it to mean a set of psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, planning, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.[1] The ego separates out what is real. It helps us to organize our thoughts and make sense of them and the world around us.[1] "The ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world. ... The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions ... in its relation to the id it is like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with his own strength, while the ego uses borrowed forces."[23] Still worse, "it serves three severe masters ... the external world, the super-ego and the id."[21] Its task is to find a balance between primitive drives and reality while satisfying the id and super-ego. Its main concern is with the individual's safety and allows some of the id's desires to be expressed, but only when consequences of these actions are marginal. "Thus the ego, driven by the id, confined by the super-ego, repulsed by reality, struggles ... [in] bringing about harmony among the forces and influences working in and upon it," and readily "breaks out in anxiety—realistic anxiety regarding the external world, moral anxiety regarding the super-ego, and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id."[24] It has to do its best to suit all three, thus is constantly feeling hemmed by the danger of causing discontent on two other sides. It is said, however, that the ego seems to be more loyal to the id, preferring to gloss over the finer details of reality to minimize conflicts while pretending to have a regard for reality. But the super-ego is constantly watching every one of the ego's moves and punishes it with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inferiority.

To overcome this the ego employs defense mechanisms. The defense mechanisms are not done so directly or consciously. They lessen the tension by covering up our impulses that are threatening.[25] Ego defense mechanisms are often used by the ego when id behavior conflicts with reality and either society's morals, norms, and taboos or the individual's expectations as a result of the internalization of these morals, norms, and their taboos.

Denial, displacement, intellectualisation, fantasy, compensation, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and sublimation were the defense mechanisms Freud identified. However, his daughter Anna Freud clarified and identified the concepts of undoing, suppression, dissociation, idealization, identification, introjection, inversion, somatisation, splitting, and substitution.


"The ego is not sharply separated from the id; its lower portion merges into it.... But the repressed merges into the id as well, and is merely a part of it. The repressed is only cut off sharply from the ego by the resistances of repression; it can communicate with the ego through the id." (Sigmund Freud, 1923)
In a diagram of the Structural and Topographical Models of Mind, the ego is depicted to be half in the consciousness, while a quarter is in the preconscious and the other quarter lies in the unconscious.

In modern English, ego has many meanings. It could mean one’s self-esteem; an inflated sense of self-worth; the conscious-thinking self;[26] or in philosophical terms, one’s self. Ego development is known as the development of multiple processes, cognitive function, defenses, and interpersonal skills or to early adolescence when ego processes are emerged.[20]

Super-ego[edit]
The super-ego (German: Über-Ich)[27] reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence.[28] Freud developed his concept of the super-ego from an earlier combination of the ego ideal and the "special psychical agency which performs the task of seeing that narcissistic satisfaction from the ego ideal is ensured ... what we call our 'conscience'."[29] For him "the installation of the super-ego can be described as a successful instance of identification with the parental agency," while as development proceeds "the super-ego also takes on the influence of those who have stepped into the place of parents — educators, teachers, people chosen as ideal models."[30]

The super-ego aims for perfection.[25] It forms the organized part of the personality structure, mainly but not entirely unconscious, that includes the individual's ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency (commonly called "conscience") that criticizes and prohibits his or her drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. "The Super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt. For example, for having extra-marital affairs."[31] Taken in this sense, the super-ego is the precedent for the conceptualization of the inner critic as it appears in contemporary therapies such as IFS and Voice Dialogue.[citation needed]

The super-ego works in contradiction to the id. The super-ego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id just wants instant self-gratification. The super-ego controls our sense of right and wrong and guilt. It helps us fit into society by getting us to act in socially acceptable ways.[1]

The super-ego's demands often oppose the id's, so the ego sometimes has a hard time in reconciling the two.[25]

Freud's theory implies that the super-ego is a symbolic internalisation of the father figure and cultural regulations. The super-ego tends to stand in opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and its aggressiveness towards the ego. The super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and proscription from taboos. The super-ego and the ego are the product of two key factors: the state of helplessness of the child and the Oedipus complex.[32] Its formation takes place during the dissolution of the Oedipus complex and is formed by an identification with and internalisation of the father figure after the little boy cannot successfully hold the mother as a love-object out of fear of castration. Freud described the super-ego and its relationship to the father figure and Oedipus complex thus:

The super-ego retains the character of the father, while the more powerful the Oedipus complex was and the more rapidly it succumbed to repression (under the influence of authority, religious teaching, schooling and reading), the stricter will be the domination of the super-ego over the ego later on—in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt.[33]

The concept of super-ego and the Oedipus complex is subject to criticism for its perceived sexism. Women, who are considered to be already castrated, do not identify with the father, and therefore, for Freud, "their super-ego is never so inexorable, so impersonal, so independent of its emotional origins as we require it to be in men ... they are often more influenced in their judgements by feelings of affection or hostility."[34] However, Freud went on to modify his position to the effect "that the majority of men are also far behind the masculine ideal and that all human individuals, as a result of their bisexual disposition and of cross-inheritance, combine in themselves both masculine and feminine characteristics."[35]

In Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents (1930), he also discusses the concept of a "cultural super-ego". Freud suggested that the demands of the super-ego "coincide with the precepts of the prevailing cultural super-ego. At this point the two processes, that of the cultural development of the group and that of the cultural development of the individual, are, as it were, always interlocked."[36] Ethics are a central element in the demands of the cultural super-ego, but Freud (as analytic moralist) protested against what he called "the unpsychological proceedings of the cultural super-ego ... the ethical demands of the cultural super-ego. It does not trouble itself enough about the facts of the mental constitution of human beings."[37]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego

miles of material just copied and inserted?

Should issue a username for wikipedia so they can post their own material here.