Bite-sized New New-Stoicism, ep. 1

Once before I wrote about the set of ideals I use to guide myself through life. Back then, I made a mess of it all! It was sooooo convoluted and, well, boring! (But, if you're brave enough and want to read that tangled essay, here's a link to it.)

So I've decided to explain myself again, but in small chunks, little by little. It's because recently, by recommendation, I listened to a few podcasts of the series "No Ego," by Cy Wakeman, and realized a lot of my personal beliefs might be useful in the work setting. Hell, in all settings. So maybe I'll even make my own podcast one day, who knows! I think I'm gonna name it, "Yes, ego, dammit!"

In the meantime, I'm writing to you here, where it's dark, and it's just you and me...  Here we go.

Let's begin with basic concepts. First of all, as humans, we always feel torn between what the body wants and what the mind knows. For instance, your body might want to eat a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting, but your mind knows it's not good for you. So you kinda feel stuck between both of them, like some sort of referee in a lucha libre match between a huge, hairy, dumb monster (your body), and a sleek, tiny-but-deadly, ninja assassin (your mind.)

This dichotomy between body and mind has long been thought by many people in the past to be irreconcilable. Standing between them, we have our reasoning. This is the active part of yourself, which has to mediate between everything your body experiences and its frankly embarrassing reactions, and the always lofty and unreachable ideals your mind has. Sigmund Freud named them the id, the super-ego, and the ego. The id is the hairy, slobbering caveman our body is. The super-ego is the haughty, smug brainiac our mind is. And the ego is the part of you which you think it's actually you, although ALL of them are you, you know?

Sorry, that got confusing.

Think of the ego as the part of you which you identify as your identity, as your center. That's why I say, "Yes, ego, dammit!" because we definitely need that ref standing in the ring, pounding the id on it's head with a mallet to curb its lecherous desires, and telling the super-ego to chill and stop being such a prick.

Think about it for a while... and realize which part of you is doing that thinking!

See y'all next time!