🌠Existentialism vs Mysticism: What is the Ego Self Axis?

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Episode Transcript

(00:10):
[Music]
what does that mean hi this is joel blackstock and you're listening to the taproot therapy podcast
today's episode is about existentialism versus mysticism what is the ego self-access
in the first session when i give patients my initial impression and observations they

(00:31):
often have a difficult time hearing what i mean regarding their emotional experience
i hear things like well i'm not angry because i've also done bad things to people and everyone
makes mistakes or i'm not sad because i know it happened for the greater good or well i'm
not afraid because i know it can't hurt me these aren't attempts to feel their emotional experience

(00:56):
they're an attempt to turn off their emotional experience with intellect or to solve an emotional
problem intellectually people have a hard time accepting that they can feel something that is
true even though they may know intellectually that something is not true is that clear as mud
we can be sad that friends let us down even though we know intellectually that all humans

(01:20):
make mistakes we can be afraid of a story or an archetypal image even though we know that it is
not real we can be angry at the realities of life even though we know that they are inevitable and
true intellect and emotion often contradict one another we tell ourselves that our intellect can
turn our emotions off but our intellect can only let us ignore our emotional reality temporarily

(01:46):
both of these experiences come from two different parts of the brain that process two different
kinds of realities our ego and cognition come from the prefrontal cortex the newest part of the brain
this upstart new part thinks that it is all of us we pretend that we are purely rational
creatures until emotion overwhelms us and we try to tamp it down again

(02:10):
our intuition emotion and creative elements come from the oldest part of the brain the subcortex
when indulged our subcortical brain allows us to feel intuitive gut feelings creatively
heal problems and listen to our emotional reality it is also the gateway to the religious and
transcendental experience the subcortical brain stores information that activates our emotional

(02:34):
fight or flight center to do this it has to store information about the past that our
conscious brain may not have time to think about intellectually the subcortical brain is fast
it is so lightning fast that we do not always consciously notice what it is doing
the prefrontal cortex brain is slower but it is more deliberate and how it processes information

(02:57):
the subcortical brain raises our adrenaline and makes us cautious after we touch the
red-hot coil of the stove the unconscious subcortical brain associates this image
with trauma from the past it raises the alarm before our conscious brain knows what is happening
the subcortical brain reacts to stimulus from our past this becomes a problem when emotional pain

(03:20):
and trauma are stored there feelings of inadequacy hopelessness and rage can get stuck under our life
until we acknowledge and process them in therapy a therapist encouraging you to feel
eye movement therapy a prayer transcendental meditation intentional creative practice
yoga psychedelics and things like that can unlock the door to this part of the brain

(03:46):
this part of the brain can be a scary place though if we have trauma it may block the way down
and make it hard to feel your creativity or your intuition edward edinger points out in his book
ego and archetype that these parts of the brain do not want to be in the same head they often
disagree and fight one another the prefrontal cortex is extremely existential and it sees

(04:09):
the world through cold reason overindulged the prefrontal cortex would have us fixate on our own
ultimate unimportance from its perspective we are all a bubble on a tide of empire or a meaningless
dot in a vast galaxy our existential and intellectual brain doesn't understand a emotion
or mystical religion it only understands practical accomplishment and objective material reality

(04:35):
the subcortical brain is myopic and childish it contains the zen perspective that all things
are one or that we are connected to all things the subcortical brain contains past emotional
information it also contains information from our shared evolutionary heritage
this spiritual function of the subcortical brain can help us access wisdom and creativity that feel

(05:00):
older than us or timeless or simply connected in conditions where the subcortical emotional
reality overwhelms the ego and the rational brain we can become psychotic or depersonalized
much of the psychological dysfunction occurs when we try to use the wrong part of the brain
to change our current reality we have all been around people who become overly intellectual and

(05:23):
coldly logical when they are feeling emotion instead of confronting the emotional reality
magical thinking often occurs when people feel like their emotion or their insight
will change the outcome of their existential reality falsely some people may retreat into
religion when they experience adversity instead of taking practical steps to solve their problems

(05:44):
others might despise religion because they see no point in any part of life that is
not objective and rational edinger calls these two dueling functions the ego self-axis ender
sees the development of both functions as the key to an intact and stable psyche
this is a quotation from edward edinger's book ego and archetype the self is the ordering and

(06:08):
unifying center of the total psyche both conscious and unconscious just as the ego is the center
of the conscious personality or put into other words the ego is the seat of subjective identity
while the self is the seat of objective identity the self is thus supreme and psychic in authority
and subordinates the ego to it the self is most simply described as the inner empirical deity

(06:35):
that is identical with the imago day often people tr retreat too deeply into one of these functions
these people often distrust one another mystics and existentialists rarely get along
new agers rarely hang out with existential philosophers
these people have repressed one part of the human experience in themselves and avoid it in

(07:00):
other people understanding the reality of the ego self-access can let us have a happy and whole life
the ego or the prefrontal cortex can make us effective at planning and accomplishment the self
or the subcortical brain can let us heal trauma create and develop a trans personal and spiritual
dimension neither part of the brain is bad or wrong we need both to understand our humanity

(07:25):
in order to heal and understand religious and political differences we need to embrace edinger's
lens and use it to hear what people are really saying both parts of the brain are right from
their own point of view at our deepest levels we are alone and cannot be totally understood
from another perspective we are part of a human experience that connects all of us

(07:47):
the ego brain knows that we are born and die alone but the self brain can feel the archetypes in our
eleven in our evolutionary shared heritage we are each existentially alone but it is the knowledge
that we are all existentially alone that can bring us together and allow us to understand one another

(08:08):
i will end with a poem by robert penn warren one of my favorite poets this poem is called
waiting you will have to wait until it until the last owl hoot has quavered to a vibrant silence
and you realize that there is no breathing beside you and dark curdles toward the dawn until drouth

(08:33):
breaks too late to save the corn but not too late for the flood and the dog fox stranded
on a sudden eyelet barks and hysteria and the alder break until the door enters the waiting
room and his expression betrays all and you wish he'd take his goddamned hand off your shoulder
until the woman you have lived with all of these years says without renkor that life is

(08:56):
the way that it is and she had never loved you had believed the lie only for the sake of the children
until you become uncertain of french irregular verbs and by a strange
coincidence begin to take catholic instruction from monsieur o'malley who choose a hangnail
until you realize truly that our savior died for us and as tears gather in your eyes

(09:18):
you burst out laughing for the joke is certainly on him considering what we are until
you pick the last alibi off like a scab and admire the inwardness as beautiful as inflamed flesh
or summer sunrise until you remember surprisingly that common men have done

(09:39):
good deeds until it grows on that at last god has allowed us the grandeur of certain utterances
if you enjoyed this episode i encourage you to check out our website get therapybirmingham.com
and maybe the article or podcast episode on mysticism as a form of therapy thank you so much