Brain cells bring intelligence to different parts of the body through a vast network of nerve fibers that make up our nervous system. It's interesting to note how some parts of our body have more brain cells than others. Take our heart and lungs for instance. They are really smart. They function without us having to think about it.
For the most part, we do have to think about directing our eyes, arms, and legs to move where we want them to go. If we become more active and direct our body in more vigorous ways, we may notice the limited intelligence in say our thighs. They are not as naturally smart as our calves. Our upper back isn't as smart as our lower back, yet it's closer to the head.
What is fascinating is the appendages farthest away from the brain, our hands and feet, though not as smart as our heart are capable of very refined discernment. The intelligence in our fingers and toes enable us to detect the difference between a grain of sand and a granule of dirt.
The ego, on the other hand, which is said to be the mediator between our conscious and unconscious self; the so called, "reality tester" is a neurological function of the brain, but seems to lack such intelligent refinement. Go figure. It's basically a part of the brain, and on it's own is not even as smart as our big toe.
Now it has talents. It can get you to stand up for yourself. However, the strength and developing intelligence of your spine, legs, and feet is what helps you physically stand up for yourself. The ego feeds off of praise and criticism. It helps you claim independence from others yet again, it is your spine, legs, and feet that help you walk out the door.
The ego motivates and justifies most of our behavior for better or worse. A healthy ego develops based on outside feedback, generally positive, from Mom, dad, society, etc. It follows rules well as long as it brings the results it wants. It can make us a superb driver, but can also convince us to swerve through traffic, so we can get to the red light first.
However, when it comes to helping us recognize and change habitual physical or mental patterns, it can't do it. In fact, more than likely, it refuses. That's because the ego believes it knows what is best for us. The ego developed to help separate "you" from everything else.
It became a name and distinguished itself by giving everything else a name: chair, Boss, Lunchtime. It could be argued that it is what helps maintain that duality talked about in an earlier post. It distinguished itself from its own body by giving the body parts names: Eyes, nose, arms, legs. It even distinguished the asshole, probably to take the blame for most of its indiscretions.
It's an important part of us. Without the motivation of the ego, we wouldn't have things like televisions, computers, skyscrapers, or airplanes. The competitive spirit of the ego is amazing. Of course, without it we probably wouldn't have lies, theft, economic crisis, terrorism, or war.
It's no surprise that most neuroses stem from afflictions of the ego --these afflictions can get pretty intense whereby we feel the need to hoard so much stuff we end up like Langley Collyer, the first known hoarder, who died in 1947 probably under the weight of one of his 14 grand pianos; or like Robert Hughes, who was said to have been buried in a piano case, because he consumed so much food he was too big for a coffin.
For most of us the troubles are less severe and simply begin when things don't go the way our ego wants them to go. The ego likes what James P. Carse, calls "Finite Games". The kind of games that have defined players and rules, along with a distinct beginning and end. The kind that has a winner, and that winner better be you. It like titles, like Most Talented, Fairest of Them All, Lord of the Underworld or Top Dog.
What it doesn't like are "Infinite Games" those are the ones Carse defines in his 1987 book entitled, Finite and Infinite Games, A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility, as the kind of games with no end, changing rules, and lots of surprises. The ego doesn't like surprises. It likes patterns it can control. It is subtle and cunning. Even when you are trying to be humble your ego will engage the humbleness and use it to win something.
As we age, no, as we allow our conscious and unconscious space to develop, the ego has less of a hold on us. Unfortunately, as we have witnessed time and time again with our distinguished political figures and financial gurus, age has nothing to do with it, despite the fact it should. It is our developing conscious and unconscious that enables us to reflect on past patterns, tap into our dreams, learn, and alter behavior so we can evolve the self into a very refined soul.
That is if the ego will get out of the way. The ego is not a bad thing. It serves an important purpose in the world. We need it. But it is not who we are. It developed so we can exist and function in a society. Learning to manage it is the key to discovering our true self. That unique blend of conscious and unconscious energy that is like the heart of the mind. And like the heart, it has built-in intelligence to do its job (which is to evolve) and once it starts it won't stop until it's done.
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