Ego vs. Soul

In this episode we are talking about identifying the soul and the ego. What are they, how are they different, and how do we manage the battle between the two?

Transcript

Welcome to Life,

Lessons,

And Laughter with your host Glenn Ambrose.

Hello everyone.

Welcome to the show.

Today we're talking about ego versus soul.

Ego versus soul.

There's no song for this one.

No.

There's got to be some songs about soul.

All right.

But there's plenty of soul music,

But no ego music.

Well,

I guess the rest of it is ego music.

There's soul music and then the rest is ego music.

We'll go with that.

So what do you want to talk about today,

Ben?

I mean,

You just announced what we were talking about.

I know.

That's why I started laughing.

I would like to talk about breakfast cereals.

Well,

Too bad.

Next time.

Yeah.

No.

Will there never be a podcast on breakfast cereals?

Probably not.

Well,

There will be one.

It just won't be us doing it.

What breakfast cereal is the most would represent soul?

Yeah.

I'm going to have to do some research on that.

It's going to be our 100th episode special.

I doubt it.

I'm going to veto that.

All right.

So soul versus ego.

Yeah.

What is that?

No,

It's just some stuff.

Just some stuff that I thought I'd talk about.

I'm going to keep throwing it right back in your lap and see how many times I can do that.

I have nothing to say on it off the top of my head.

That's why I'm just going to keep,

It'll be like a tennis match.

Every time you knock it over,

I'm just going to smack you back.

Well,

This is what I think from listening to the notes that you read before we started.

Soul,

Ego is self-serving,

Soul serves others,

And ego,

That was it.

That's all I remember.

Okay.

So what does that mean to you,

Ben?

What it means to me is that your ego is serving yourself and that your soul is serving others.

Wow.

That's deep insight.

That was awesome.

I'm just here to facilitate the plugs.

All right.

I'll stop throwing it back at you.

Glenambrose.

Com.

That's not even it.

I do own that though.

I own.

Org.

Damn it.

So yeah,

The ego versus soul basically- Let's get this back on the rail,

Please.

Let's get back.

So the ego is,

It's not what people think of a lot as,

Oh,

He's got a big ego and he thinks a lot of himself and all that.

An ego is just your mind-made construct of who you are.

It's a surface level.

So my ego identity could be that I'm a male,

I'm a father,

I own a business,

I have brown hair,

Those types of things that just surface things of who I think that I am.

The soul is who we are on a deeper level.

It's our true identity.

It's our truth.

It's our soul.

So it's a lot deeper than that.

Our soul is eternal.

So it's here for this life,

But it's going to go on after we die from this life.

I hate that I was just thinking of a reference to bring up and I was like,

Oh,

That would be perfect for this.

What was I listening to?

It was our podcast.

It was this.

It was just two episodes ago of this.

It was the guy that wrote The Power of Now.

Oh yeah,

Eckhart Tolle.

Eckhart Tolle saying,

I can't live with myself anymore.

Well who is the I that I can't live with if I can?

So like the ego is the one that you can't live with anymore and the soul is the one that's recognizing it.

Yes.

Well said.

Holy cow.

You're just starring your forehead.

Boom.

That just happened.

Mic drop.

Podcast over.

Go to Glenambrose.

Org.

There's some real messed up stuff there.

Life-enhancement-services.

Com.

That was impressive.

And I didn't tell you to say that.

I am the life coach now.

Yeah,

You get it,

Man.

Wow.

So yeah,

And the word you chose that recognizes,

Yeah,

That's exactly what it is.

The soul is the consciousness.

It's that when you're sitting there going,

Why am I thinking this?

That consciousness that is aware that you're thinking something,

That's the soul.

That's who you truly are.

I just thought of something else.

Oh my God.

I just thought of something else.

You can change your ego.

You can't change your soul.

Right.

The soul could recognize,

All right,

You know what,

I'm done.

I'm overstepping my boundaries as co-host.

No,

This is good.

So yeah,

The ego is just mind-made.

So I mean,

You get a new job that can be,

You can add onto your ego.

Oh,

I did this too,

You know,

So it's temporal.

But the soul is eternal.

So it stays as it is,

Which is beautiful.

I mean,

We want to live from our soul,

Our soul's desires and stuff,

Not get too attached to our egoic identity,

You know,

Because we're never going to be pleased with that egoic identity and the ego just wants to keep,

It doesn't want you to know about who you truly are.

So that's the real danger of it,

Is that if we buy into the ego,

Which most people,

That's what they've done,

That,

You know,

If you say,

Who are you to somebody,

Basically,

Nine times out of 10,

They're going to give you a dissertation of their experiences that they've had,

You know,

In their life and the identities that they've made up.

So the ego fights to stay alive.

It needs you to believe in it for its survival.

So if you start identifying with your soul,

The ego gets very worried because it loses that part of you.

It's like,

Oh,

No,

I don't,

I want to be who he thinks he is.

You know,

That's what your ego is saying.

I need to be who he thinks he is.

And that's why there's constant chatter in your head.

It's to keep you busy so you don't slow down and get still and quiet enough where you get in touch with your soul,

You know,

And that still quiet voice inside of who you truly are.

And that's like,

In spirituality,

Oftentimes they say that the ultimate goal of spiritual growth is to die before you die.

What they're talking about is to have your ego die off.

Right.

I was going to ask you about that.

I mean,

If the goal should be to get rid of the ego,

To make the ego the soul,

To make it go away so that you're just you.

Identified soul.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I mean,

That's,

So you want to die off to your ego and open up to your truth of who you really are.

You know,

That's so to die before you die.

So I mean,

That's true.

The thing that like some of the spiritual teachings kind of pick that apart a little bit because they're,

You know,

Generally denial is not good.

You know,

Just denying a part of yourself isn't necessarily good.

It can be unhealthy.

Like there can be an integration between what you do in this life and your soul.

If you integrate those two and don't believe that you're some mind-made construct of the ego,

That's where your true peace lives.

Just because we're trying to die off to the ego doesn't mean that we can't participate in life on this plane.

You know,

We can still participate fully in this adventure called life,

Even if we're identified with the ego.

It's just we don't want,

I mean,

With the soul,

We just don't want to be identified with the ego to where we actually think that that's who we are,

You know,

Because it's just not the truth.

And it's going to be detrimental to us because the ego is just not interested in our well-being.

It's interested in staying alive and overtaking more of us,

You know,

Getting us further from the truth.

Because the further we are from the truth,

The stronger it is.

So that actually reminds me of something that Tole,

Who you brought up earlier,

Said.

Yes,

My good friend Eckhart Tole.

He said he talks about the mind.

He said that like if he got a job,

If he went to apply for a job,

His biggest asset that he could bring was his ability to not think.

Yes.

Where other people would be like,

Oh my God,

Well,

No,

I need you to think.

Yes,

You said that episode.

Right.

So that is a good example of it's not that we need to deny that our ego exists and all this stuff,

We don't want it to control us.

We don't want to be thinking that that's our reality.

So Tole has the ability to not think.

So he has the ability,

If his mind isn't racing,

If his mind isn't telling him what to do,

Then he's directed by his soul.

So he can walk through life directed by his soul.

Then if he needs to use his brain for the tool that it is,

That it's supposed to be,

He can go,

Hey brain,

What do I do in this situation?

And he can use his brain as a tool.

So his brain is working for him.

Most people are running around with their brain activity,

Which is their ego,

Controlling them.

And they actually think that that's who they are.

So the problem is that the ego or the brain is controlling the person.

It's like instead of the person controlling the brain or the ego.

So that's kind of why it's not good to be associated with the ego.

It's not that we have to completely deny it or it's okay for me to know that I'm a father.

I don't have to deny the fact,

Deny that for me to be free spiritually.

It's just that when I am a father,

I should be coming from a soul perspective on that instead of some man-made identity on what people,

As I grew up,

What my father showed me a father was and what other people showed me,

What I was taught by society,

What a father is.

If I go by all that stuff,

It's not really me.

It's just precondition to learning that I'm going off.

So can you give us an example specifically of things that the ego does?

Just any,

And I know that's a very broad thing,

But like just an example that I can work with to sort of think of,

I just worry sometimes that when we use words like ego and soul,

It can feel like rhetoric.

What's a tangible thing that is clearly the ego driving the car?

That's a good analogy.

Well it's the,

Like I'll use the example that just popped into my head was the one that Michael Bernard Beckwith used in his movie.

I just kind of saw the scene,

So I guess I'll use that one.

He was explaining and he said that he was talking about somebody scoring a touchdown and he's like,

Okay,

So somebody is running for a touchdown and they dive into the end zone and they score the touchdown and they start celebrating.

And as soon as they think that they did it,

That's the ego.

So in the movie,

His mother was at the dinner and she was going,

Well,

That was them though.

They did do that.

So he explained it further and he says,

Well,

Yes,

They do have a certain level of physical abilities that let them do that,

But that was a result of probably years of training.

And then he probably had an offensive line in front of him that helped make that possible.

And all their years of training and all this stuff,

I mean,

Everything and somebody to call the play and the actual execution of the play,

All these things had to come into play for that to happen.

And when he took credit for it and said,

This is me,

I did that,

As soon as he did that,

That's his ego.

If he was connected with his soul,

He would be more like that.

That was an expression of the universe through me.

I was used as a tool to express that.

It was the energy of the universe working through me and everybody else that was there.

It wasn't just him.

He can't take credit for doing that because yes,

He did things to work towards it and that got him in line for the universe to flow through him in that way.

But it wasn't all him.

So I think claiming the credit for things is something that the ego does a lot.

The other thing that ego does a lot is it keeps you trapped where you are.

I think that that's something that a lot of people can relate to.

Why would it do that?

If the ego wants to be in control and enjoys taking credit for things,

Why would the ego not then want you to improve and do more?

If it's self-serving,

I don't understand why it's not like something that's going along and eating everything and not getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

It is.

It just doesn't know the difference between negative food and positive food.

It doesn't care.

It just wants food.

So it eats everything.

And honestly,

The negative food is often more digestible because it can be never-ending.

Food,

That's bad for you.

Tastes better.

We all know that.

Well,

It can be never-ending because if it picks a piece of negativity that will keep you stuck where you are,

That's an endless food supply for it.

Endless.

So whereas if you're moving forward,

It has to constantly find something new to feed off of.

And then it has to take credit for it.

And then sometimes you deal with reality where it's obvious that it wasn't you and you have to override that.

It's a lot more difficult process.

And the reason it's more difficult process is because natural expansion of who you are is the nature of your soul.

That's what your soul wants.

Your soul wants you to become more of you.

Your soul wants you to expand.

So if you are becoming more of yourself and expanding,

That's dangerous to the ego because it's like,

Oh,

Is he going to connect this to the soul?

Because he's really feeling good,

Like on a deep level.

He's not feeling good on a surface BS level that I'm in control of.

He's feeling good.

He's starting to understand through his experiences that he doesn't really need me and that ain't good.

When you connect to your soul the joy that you feel,

But through the expansion of who you are,

That brings you closer to your soul.

So that's why it's more dangerous.

And the negative food is just more digestible and it's easier because if you stay stuck,

If you never,

Lots of times the ego will get your brain asking questions that have no answer because that's an endless supply of food.

And we never go deep enough in the questions to find out that it doesn't really matter.

We can just be like,

Well,

This person probably meant that.

And when they said this,

They probably meant that.

And then,

Well,

They either meant that,

They meant that and either one of them stinks.

So this is bad.

And then you've copped a resentment towards somebody.

And then every time you think of them,

The ego gets fed because you never go to solve the answer.

You just settle into the fact that they're bad,

You're good,

And that feeds your ego.

So it's just constantly,

The fact that if you stopped for a minute,

Looked at the question and said,

Well,

What if they did mean that?

Do they have their right to their own opinion?

Well,

Yeah,

They do.

Oh,

Okay.

Then if they did say that,

Then I'll let it go.

Then if they said the other thing,

Me finding that out,

How would that benefit my life?

Oh,

Well,

I guess it really wouldn't.

So really there's no reason at all for me to be hanging on to this resentment or this question inside of my head.

It serves me in no way.

No matter what the answer is,

Nothing gets better in my life.

I don't need to be carrying this around,

So I'll let it go.

If that happens,

The ego loses.

So that's why it likes the open-end questions,

Because it's just a permanent source of food for it.

I have some quotes.

Really?

Well,

I mean,

I have a chart right here,

Which is the ego versus the soul.

Ego,

False self,

Soul,

True self.

Soul is going to be the second thing that I say every time.

Me versus we,

Separation versus unity,

Blame versus understanding,

Hostility versus friendliness,

Resentment versus forgiveness,

Pride versus love,

Companion versus,

I'm sorry,

Complain versus gratefulness,

Jealousy versus co-happiness,

Anger versus happiness,

Power versus humble,

Materialism versus spiritualism,

Madness versus wisdom,

War versus peace,

Coldness versus sympathy,

Past and future oriented versus now oriented,

Intolerance versus tolerance,

Self-importance versus we importance,

Egoism,

Altruism,

Self-denial versus self-acceptance,

Social intolerance versus social acceptance,

Living up to this and that and just simply being.

Yeah.

So that was really good,

Because if you pay attention to those examples,

It becomes more evident why you don't want to live from the ego.

Because you look at that ego,

It's like,

Okay,

If I live from the ego,

Then I'm jealous.

Well,

Walking around feeling jealous is not good,

You know?

So what was the other one with that?

Was it love?

It was either love or forgiveness,

I think.

But you know,

Living from the words that you used for the soul breeds happiness,

Because it's you getting more in contact with who you truly are.

But the words that were used for the ego were all detrimental and negative.

So that's why we want to live,

You know,

Why we want to live from the soul and not from the ego.

And the main thing with that,

The main thing with the ego is just to not let it control us.

I think one thing that people get so caught up in fighting something,

Like taking the action and fighting the ego,

We don't have to fight the ego,

We can just starve it.

Just don't give energy towards it,

You know?

We've grown up in a society that has taught us that who we are is all ego-based.

So for us to have thoughts that are based from the ego is going to happen for a long time.

It's going to take some practice,

You know?

So it's not a problem having the thoughts,

It's a problem when we act on them.

You know,

We just want to,

If we just step back and start recognizing this stuff,

This is why consciousness,

Living conscious is so important.

Because we don't,

It's not this big fight or this big job that we have to do to become more soul-based and happier.

It's just allowing,

You know,

Taking it,

Not getting sucked into it when it tries to grab a hold of you,

Putting some distance between you and it,

And just not acting in that way.

You know the,

I don't want to say the first word,

Your like crap,

Your blah blah blah says like Twitters and Tumblers and stuff.

Ever heard of that?

No.

Okay,

Well I found the chart.

I don't know what you're talking about.

I'm sure some of your listeners will.

Anyway,

There's a,

This is crap that your ego says versus crap that your higher self says.

Your ego says,

I'm a victim of circumstance.

Your soul says,

I create my own reality.

Ego says,

I live in scarcity and there is never enough.

Your higher self,

Your soul says,

I live in abundance,

There is always enough.

Your ego says,

I am alive temporarily and that is scary.

Your soul says,

I am alive temporarily and that is awesome.

I am a machine made of accidental ones and zeros,

Your ego says.

Your soul says,

I am an artist made of infinite energy.

Your ego says,

I'm in competition with the world.

Your soul says,

I am in harmony with the world.

Your ego says,

It's complicated.

Your soul says,

I am happy.

Yeah,

That's it.

That's why I have shows like this to try to explain this type of stuff because it's,

That's,

As you're reading that,

I'm like going,

Oh yeah,

Absolutely,

Absolutely,

Absolutely.

Because I've experienced both sides of that,

Those lists and it's true.

In my experience,

I have seen this to be true.

I have lived from lack and I have lived from abundance and you know what,

Living from abundance makes me happier.

It's more fun.

I feel like more of myself when I'm sitting there in lack and fear and worry.

I don't feel good.

I don't feel like myself.

I don't feel like this is why I was put here.

When I'm living from my soul,

It's like,

Oh yes,

This is me.

I'm comfortable in it.

I feel good.

I'm happy.

I have hope for the future.

Right.

So today is,

I'm going to pretend for a second.

Okay,

I'll wait here.

Today is April 3rd.

As you're listening to this,

The day that it comes out is April 3rd.

What is there to look forward to in the month of April at the Life Enhancement Center?

Let's see,

The month of April,

I believe Gladys Ellen is coming back for a gallery night.

Gladys Ellen,

Friend of the show.

Yes,

Absolutely.

So she'll be here for a gallery night.

First opportunity we've ever had to say that.

And she's actually,

She's kind of doing a special because her prices are going up because she's in such high demand,

Which is wonderful.

But she's keeping her prices nice and low for us one more time.

So that was thoughtful of her.

And so she's going to be here.

I'm doing a meditation on a Saturday,

Maybe the 19th,

I'm not sure.

But you can find that out on my website,

Life-enhancement-services.

Com.

And in April,

We're getting back to The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle with the book club because we'll be wrapping up Spiritual Finance Month.

And so we're going to kick back,

We're going to get back into The Power of Now.

So you know,

Those book,

The reasons that I picked the specific books is because they're very spiritual texts and they're not in story form.

So you can get,

You know,

You can come to one class or you can come to all of them.

You're going to get something out of it.

So we'll be doing,

You know,

Back to The Power of Now this month as well.

Nice.

Heck yeah.

Cool.

And where can everybody find out that schedule?

At that website.

GlenAmbrose.

Org?

Ah,

No.

Don't go to it.

Don't go to it,

Man.

Some messed up stuff on there.

Yeah.

God knows what Ben would put up.

But yeah,

Go to life-enhancement-services and thanks everybody for listening.

Thanks to Ben and Dave for helping out as usual today.

Our pleasure.

Well,

My pleasure.

We will talk at you soon.

Peace out.

Reviews

Made me very aware, helped to look inward. Awesome and thank you.

A-MAZING. ITS A SOUL VIBE

This was so amazing! I had several “aha” moments, thank you so much.

Loved this talk Glenn. I feel that I’m living far less in my ego since I started meditating a few years ago. I’m finding peace within more and more. Keep creating these ;)

Glenn, that was very soul-inspiring 🙏 Thank you!

Thanks again Glenn, I continue to enjoy revisiting your talks!

Excellent! THANK YOU!

Beautiful, loved it.

Very helpful...the soul would say 'This is amazing!'...Namaste...

Had to stay with it... Then very enlightening 🍁

These two are so real it makes it fun and entertaining to listen to!

more great information.

This helped me rethink a decision I had already made. Just in time.

Amazingly helpful thank you! I was just thinking the other day how to check myself and see who is in charge at the moment.. ego or soul? 😄

This lecture was extremely helpful in distinguishing the ego and the soul. Thank you so much. 🙏🏾

Deep debate, thank you guys!

Interesting and enlightening. Thank you for sharing.
🙏😊

Listening to this on the train and can't help but laugh at your silliness! So amusing and helping at the same time! Keep it up! Thank you for making my train ride so much more entertaining! 😝

I felt awkward in the beginning, then content at the end

Good stuff. Well said. Helps to put it all in perspective.