Ego Can Be Examined as a Process

We often speak of ego as though it were an object.

Someone has a large ego.

Someone needs to lose their ego.

Ego becomes a thing carried around inside the person.

Werner Erhard offered a different formulation: ego can be examined as an activity—the perpetuation of one's own point of view.

Whether or not we adopt that definition as a complete psychology, it creates a useful inquiry.

A process can be observed while it is happening.

We can notice when new information is being bent back toward what we already believed.

We can notice when listening becomes a search for confirmation.

We can notice when disagreement is heard primarily as a threat to our existing position.

This shifts the practical question.

Instead of asking how to destroy ego, we can ask what we are doing to keep a point of view alive.

Sometimes persistence is justified. Evidence may strongly support the view.

The issue is not changing our mind merely because someone disagrees.

It is retaining the ability to see the process by which a position protects itself.

Treating ego as process makes it less mysterious.

What we are doing can be noticed.

What can be noticed can sometimes become a choice.