The Egoic-Mind Paradigm (EMP) is a newly emerging understanding of the ego that is articulated throughout the Guidebook for Celestial Psychology. Awareness of the EMP is growing as a result of the merging of Western psychology with Eastern philosophical and religious teachings, especially Buddhism. In this paradigm “the Freudian composite model of id, ego and superego is being merged into one all-inclusive construct, within all consciousness—individual and collective—that is not Atman, or Divine Mind. It is the individual and collective part of mankind which identifies solely with itself, as if there is absolutely nothing else.” Mattingly, p. 196.

Freud’s model prepared us to understand the teachings of contemporary spiritual leader Eckhart Tolle and A Course in Miracles. There is a newly emerging acronym for EGO which sums it up as Edging God or Goodness Out. Ego is also understood as the lower case “s” in self. The acronym typifies the ego or the egoic-mind paradigm as having the primary function of being “destructive, fear-based, and hateful, rather than creative, cooperative, empathic and compassionate. Almost as if it is a semi-autonomous entity, the ego is determined to prove that we are separate from God, our higher/intuitive Essential Self, or Atman (Hinduism). Ego is the false self, the Maya (Hinduism) and it is considered the source of mankind’s suffering- an illusion of who and what we really are.” Mattingly, p. 196

In Chapter 4 of the Guidebook, Loving Fear and Fearing Love: The Ego’s Story, the author questions whether the ego deserves the bad rap that it gets. “If we examine contemporary teachings regarding the “cunning, baffling and powerful”[i] ego, we may wonder if the ego is as bad as these teachings indicate. Should the ego be annihilated?”

There are many ways to answer this question, however, the author points out that in the contemporary teachings there is an inherent shift occurring as essence begins to override the ego, within the individual and the collective. “The classical Freudian definition separates the id from the ego, giving permission for the id to remain unconscious. The contemporary definition is all-inclusive and removes the id from the shadows of the self. Thus, the semantic shift contributes to the actual shift or titration of ego to essence for the individual and for the collective. There are many shades of gray to consider during this titration process.” Mattingly, p. 104

 Illustration for the Titrating Ego, p. 107

Whenever we choose love instead of fear, we contribute to the relinquishment of the egoic-mind paradigm. Rather than fight or annihilate the ego, we can change our “intention by asking, “How can I serve?” This is not what the ego wants us to do. Getting rid of our narcissistic and childish me-and-mine games is difficult because we cannot hear over the din of ego’s voice and incessant chatter. And yet, we are learning to serve, and our species is waking up, largely due to this semantic shift and the titration of the ego coinciding with our understanding that Freud’s entire id-ego-superego composite is today’s picture of the egoic-mind paradigm.” Mattingly, p. 106

[i] Description heard often in Twelve-Step programs to describe the disease of addiction—uncontrolled ego.