1) We have two Legions fighting for supremacy of our inner world - the Being and the Ego. The Being has many components but we are usually aware only of our consciousness or essence. The personality is just a set of acquired characteristics - neither associated with the Ego or the Essence, but neutral.
2) Essence. This is our consciousness. We see two aspects: passive (awareness) and active (conscious will). Ouspensky says, 'Essence in man is what is his own... Essence is the truth in man.' Alas, most of our essence is not available as psychological matter; it is not free but entangled with unwelcome visitors - the Ego.
3) Ego.
a) We can conceive of the egos as invaders - foreign imps that have taken residence in our psyche.
b) They get there mainly because we do not handle well the impressions that we receive in life - we react wrongly and mechanically.
c) Most of our essence is bottled up in the egos - only a small portion (3%) is free.
d) There is no individuality in us - most ideas, feelings, memories, are the result of an ego. They communicate and act through the mind.
e) We refer to the set of all egos as the Ego - this is therefore pluralized. The egos fight among themselves and struggle for control of the Essence.
f) We can classify the egos. In life we do three things:
1. Feeling. If this gets distorted, we get the ego of Desire, the most influential.
2. Thinking. This becomes the ego of the Mind.
3. Willing. Becomes the ego of Ill Will.
g) These egos interact. Most often the ego of Desire desires - this gives rise to an idea (the Mind) and a project - the will takes over.
h) We also have the Seven (the seven Deadly Sins) and many other. But they are mostly generated and propitiated by the ego of Desire working through he Mind and Ill Will.
4. Personality. This is created as life goes by. There are many factors that influence this: heredity, environment, education, and society. Essence and personality should develop in harmonious and equilibrated way; too much personality, a rascal; too little, a mystic. The personality is neutral, but as we grow old it can be used by the egos for their own use.
5. The First Factor of the Revolution of Consciousness. We must work to get rid of the egos, committing psychical murder on them. As we get rid of egos, the proportion of free Essence increases. The process of Death has three stages: self-observation, identification of the egos, and decapitation - using deep subconscious forces that we shall study later on.
PRACTICE
CONCENTRATION ON A PLANT.
This is an exercise on concentration, visualisation and imagination.
1. Relax.
2. Contemplate first the plant for a few minutes, and then (on your own time) close your eyes and conserve the image of the plant in your mind. "Watch" its birth, its growth, the roots in the earth, the first leaves, the flowers, the fruits, feel the humidity of the earth, the heat of the soil on the leaves, the sap that climbs up the stem, etc. Everything that is born must die one day: imagine this plant that grows old, it weakens, dies and is thrown away. Repeat this process as many times as it is necessary.
