Suppressing or Increasing the Ego?

Posted by Mark Zimmerman Jan 2, 2007

VIDEO: Can a Kabbalist also live as a Buddhist? !!! (03:50)

The ego is there. It's in us, doing something. The question of what to do with it has led to many different approaches.

In this video Rav Laitman makes a very general statement about the systems of the East approaches to the ego; that ultimately, all systems of the East are aimed at suppressing the ego.

Can all of the East's systems be summarized like this? Is it true? What does a person attain if he or she really works hard on the ego according to a system of suppressing it? If I can now diminish my ego, lessen it, so much ... then what's there for me at the end of that process?

"The smallest particles that any living creature can sense" is Rav Laitman's answer in this video. He makes the point that people with naturally smaller ego's can work according to these systems, because according to the size of their desires, they can be fulfilled by this work.

On the other hand, Rav Laitman states that a person with a larger ego needs a different system, one that is capable of increasing the ego in a direction that it will be filled with a complete perception of reailty, complete fulfillment. For this, he recommends the wisdom of Kabbalah as this system.

One who feels oneself as "cruel, tight-fisted, a careless spender, and lustful," in other words, one who feels that they can't work in diminishing their ego because it naturally demands a lot more, needs more to be fulfilled. Consequently, if such a person feels a need for a spiritual fulfillment, and is too restless to control themselves in lessening the ego, then the method of Kabbalah is a much more likely candidate.

Moreover, Rav Laitman states at the end of the video that the ego naturally evolves and grows, and that all systems of the ego's suppression will, at some point, no longer be able to fulfill a much larger ego that will emerge in people.