Self

  The self is “the total, essential, or particular being of a person; the essential qualities distinguishing one person from another; one’s consciousness of one’s own being or identity; the ego; one’s own interests, welfare, or advantage. Self is a permanent subject of successive and varying states of consciousness; what one is at a particular time or in a particular aspect or relation, one’s nature, character, or sometimes physical constitution or appearance, considered as different at different times. Philosophically stated, self is often identified with the soul or mind as opposed to the body. Psychologically, self is an assemblage of characteristics and dispositions that we may conceive as constituting one of various conflicting personalities within a human being.”–Oxford English Dictionary

  Ego (Greek = εγώ = ego), “in psychoanalytic theory, that portion of the human personality which is experienced as the ‘self’ or ‘I’ and is in contact with the external world through perception. It is said to be the part that remembers, evaluates, plans, and in other ways is responsive to and acts in the surrounding physical and social world. According to psychoanalytic theory, the ego coexists with the id (said to be the agency of primitive drives) and superego (considered to be the ethical component of personality) as one of three agencies proposed by Sigmund Freud in description of the dynamics of the human mind.”–Encyclopedia Britannica.
  Excessive self-interest is narcissism, which is “the pathological self-absorption, first identified as a mental disorder by the British essayist and physician Havelock Ellis in 1898. Narcissism is characterized by an inflated self-image and addiction to fantasy, by an unusual coolness and composure shaken only when the narcissistic confidence is threatened, and by the tendency to take others for granted or to exploit them. The disorder is named for the mythological figure Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection.”–Encyclopedia Britannica.
  “Freud based his entire psychoanalytical theory (superego, ego, id) on Plato’s conception of the tripartite soul (psyche), which consisted of “reason,” “spirit” and “appetite”. Each of these facets of the soul are far more complex than three simple one-word labels. Soul uses mind, and Mind uses soul. In descending order we name these facets “Oversoul”, rational soul, and appetitive soul. We limit use of “ego” to the conscious, thinking subject, the embodied rational soul, an individualized expression of God, as a son or daughter, as opposed to the non-ego or object.”–ViaChrista.org. See Oversoul, rational soul, and appetitive soul.

Edna Lister on Self

Do not aggrandize self, or act in a way just to be thought great, for self-love cancels itself out.–Edna Lister, October 3, 1941

You do not know law if the least thing can cause you to blame, condemn or love the self first.–Edna Lister, November 2, 1944

Self is interested only in itself and its relationships. The little self lives for things in the world, and it never realizes the materialism and tiny limits of its world of affairs. The self imagines people are talking about him when he enters a room. Self makes a person more aggressive and overbearing, with only a splash of real personality.–Edna Lister, December 7, 1952

Self is loving “little me” more than all else. You cannot express the full Love of God when you know only self.–Edna Lister, July 23, 1955

Self puts self first, but soul places God in the top slot.–Edna Lister, October 30, 1955

Self pampers and excuses self, it’s always right, always hurt, always grim—no laughter, no smiles, no joy.–Edna Lister, December 11, 1955

The watch-words of self are “me” and “mine.”–Edna Lister, April 15, 1956

Self always reaches, grabs and snatches what “I want.” When no one meets its demands, it sits and waits, but never serenely, always with resentment and blame for someone. It controls the life, and in it, you find no freedom.–Edna Lister, May 13, 1956

Self is the heaviest burden in the world. It rides the soul with a whip and spurs, until it finally collapses of its own weight in a so-called “nervous breakdown.” Self is always too busy, too tired, too hurried, too self-satisfied. Its chief hallmark, self-pity, is nothing more than a sentimental love for the self.–Edna Lister, May 13, 1956.

You cannot live in a house divided between the love of self and the love of God.–Edna Lister, April 27, 1958

Self creates soul torture and its inner conflict tears you apart.–Edna Lister, November 1, 1959

Self turns love inward.–Edna Lister, May 16, 1965

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