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The Ego identity predominantly has 3 different forms of expression, each of which is like a set of glasses, that you see and experience life through.

 

Here I will describe these 3 Ego states.

 

When you move from a lower state to a higher state

you go from theoretical knowledge to experienced knowledge.

 

When, on the other hand, you move

from a higher state to a lower state,

the 'experienced knowledge' becomes 'theoretical knowledge'.

 

Experienced knowledge is one of the hardest things to lose in life

 

I’ve named the different states “Compensation”, “Anti-compensation”, and “Vacuum”. These states exist in all of us and represent three different worlds, each with their own laws, interactions with the outside world, and experiences. Each state also comes with its own specific requirements regarding which therapeutic methods that will work in it.

 

In addition, there is one more state, the first ‘Heart state’. This state is less accessible than the Ego states and is fundamentally different from the three Ego states, which is why the Ego cannot understand it.

 

The different states are, more or less, accessible for you, and they control how you experience life. Therefore, it is relevant to gain insight into them.

 

The development of the Ego occurs through the three main states, and the development structure associated with the Ego period is perfectly suited to deal with these three states. Each of the three states is essential for your development. Even if we assert that one state is higher than another, it does not imply that it is more important.

 

All three states are part of your life right now. However, the Compensation state is the one that dominates you the most. The rules that apply to this state are the ones that predominantly determine how you experience life and yourself.

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Each state has specific rules associated with it. These rules are almost like the rules/laws that apply in a society. You can therefore regard the different states as three different ‘societies’, each with its own set of rules and laws. For example, a rule that is dominant in the upper state is that your Ego must be affirmed, and that your Ego self-esteem must thrive. You probably take this rule for granted, but that’s because you feel that you have never been without it.

 

One of the points of this book is to convey to you that you need to question these rules.

 

When you manage to see them 'from the outside' they lose control over you, and you will discover that there are other rules and other ways to experience life.

 

By gaining insight into the 'rules' that apply to the different states, the rules that define you and 'determine' what part of the world you can perceive, you can learn to choose between your Life experiences.

 

2. Introduction to the different states

As I mentioned above, in different states you experience life differently. As you move ‘down’ through the states, you become increasingly Ego-less, and you may even end up losing the sense of who you are! Remember that there is no strict boundary between the different states. You can move back and forth between them, and different parts of you can be in different states at the same time. For example, a repressed complex may represent a part of you that is in a lower state compared to where you normally find yourself. If such a complex manages to take control of you, it will cause a lowering of your consciousness to a state which will affect your experience of life and yourself. This can feel like you are losing yourself, and that you develop backwards.

 

A “journey” through the different states is like a journey through different worlds! You can’t quite imagine them until you experience them.

 

When you enter a lower state, you will feel as if there is a gravitational force inside the core of the subconscious, which constantly “pulls” at you. Unless you exercise active resistance to it, you will be drawn closer to this core. This will be more and more pronounced in the lower states.

 

This core is very dangerous to the Ego, as it can dissolve the Ego if you get too close to it.

 

3. When the Ego loses integrity, it will experience pain

It’s important to realize that the different states can be associated with pain – or not – depending on where you come from.

 

If you come from a higher state, ‘state-1’, and are transferred to a lower state (‘state-2’), then you experience a painful loss. However, if you progress from an even lower state, ‘state 3’, to state-2, then there is no pain associated with state-2. In fact, there is the opposite.

 

In the following, I will describe the different states from the perspective of a person who is partially capable of being in the highest Ego state. This includes most people. For such a person, there is pain associated with the lower states.

 

The further down you get in the different states, the greater the pain, right up until you can’t feel anything at all.

 

The pain occurs because the Ego is losing its integrity. This leads to loss of your Ego identity and your individuality.

 

Therefore, when the Ego dissolves, pain occurs. When you lose your individuality, pain occurs.

 

Later in your development, the Ego and Ego identity may naturally give way to another identity (the Heart identity/consciousness), but this is never associated with pain. The pain I’m talking about here is the one associated with the loss of your Ego-individuality, the loss of your ability to be centred in yourself and hold yourself together. This brings you into conflict with the major forces behind this development period – and that always leads to pain.

 

4. The 'compensation' state

Highest goal: The creation of a harmonious Ego and contact with the Heart.

 

In the highest Ego state, you feel a desire to interact with life, and you possess the ability to do so. Unlike the lower states, you do not experience that life is the cause of your pain and your lack of self-esteem. On the contrary, you experience that life is the means to release the pain and to build self-esteem.

 

In this state, you seek life to achieve an affirmation of your person - an affirmation that will strengthen the Ego/self-esteem and compensate for the loneliness that the Ego always (more or less) experiences. Therefore, the state is referred to as the ‘compensation’ state.

 

 

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Figure 18. Characteristics of the 3 Ego states and the first Heart state.

 

It is a state with the following characteristics:

1. You experience a sense of who you are and what you want (i.e., a more or less intact Ego – and the Ego in this state is not in danger of a "breakdown").

2. As in all the states, you can lose the control to repressed material (a condition I call an ‘affect-condition’), and the chance of this increases the more you move down through a state – but in the highest Ego-state it doesn't happen often that a complex completely envelops you.

3. The method of becoming pain-free in this state is predominantly the method called the "compensation method" – that is, seeking affirmation from the surroundings to compensate for your inner loneliness, to strengthen your image of yourself, and to give you self-esteem.

 

Much of what you experience in this state has been described by traditional analytical psychology. We have observed that the Ego (i.e., you when you are dominated by the Ego life-experience) feels alone in the world and is unable to handle this on its own. Therefore, it must use the surroundings to build its Ego-identity and reduce this feeling of being alone. Consequently, you live at the mercy of your surroundings and are dependent on them. The way you relate to life is therefore compensatory. You seek experiences and interactions with life because you ‘hunt’ for affirmations to compensate for the inner feeling of loneliness.

 

When you are in this state and come into in contact with the lower levels of it, you become increasingly negative in your general attitude towards life, and you can even end up in a depression. You’ll also find that it gets increasingly difficult to stop your ‘downfall’. It’s as if there is a willingness in you to be negative/depressive in these lower levels of this state.

 

In contrast, in the upper ‘layers’, you manage to say yes to life.

 

The compensation state has something (in the upper layers of the state) that the other two states do not have – conscious access to the Heart!

 

In the compensation state (especially in the upper half), it is a realistic goal to seek the Heart, confront your inner complexes, and train what I call life-awareness.

 

If you look at the energies in this state, it makes sense since it is the only state where your consciousness can be reached directly by the Heart (see Figure 18, which shows the energies that apply to an ordinary person).

 

The compensation state is the only Ego state,

where you can be reached directly by the Heart,

in a conscious way

 

The ‘Compensation’ state is where you can achieve complete liberation from the Ego. It is also the state that leads to a harmonious and strong Ego. However, not many people on this planet have achieved this liberation, and most people still have an Ego that needs to be further developed.

 

At the higher levels of this state, the Ego-Life theme energies flow more freely into life because we have a reasonably good contact with ourselves. We manage to feel what we want for our life, and to act on it. We are in balance with the Ego-development forces that bid us to have a strong Ego-identity and an individual consciousness.

 

In this state, we have developed a good sense of the forces associated with Ego development. This leads to a greater awareness of life and ourselves, greater satisfaction with life, and an increased faith in life.

 

The autonomous gravity

The Ego states all have a ‘gravitational force’ pointing towards the core that contains the EL. This gravity is however least noticeable in the Compensation state, and most noticeable in the Vacuum state.

 

Although it is almost unnoticeable in the upper layers of the Compensation state, it is always present. If you are not aware of it and do not supply active energy to counteract it, then you can be ‘pulled down’ by it, which will undermine the Ego.

 

When you are ‘pulled’ further down into the state of Compensation, you are more likely to experience what I call ‘affect-conditions’, where you are ‘taken over’ by a complex (or other repressed material), as well as by the will within the complex. That will is different from the will you normally experience. Your Ego loses its power and will slowly begin to dissolve (though only to a certain degree in this state). At the same rate as the Ego loses power, you will experience pain. It is a pain associated with being taken over by the complex.

 

When you discover that you are approaching the lower levels of the Compensation state, it is important to act. Otherwise, you will start to lose confidence in your ability to do anything about the pain.

 

This is important because when this confidence is lost, you are already on your way to the next state, which is a state in which the methods to become painless change drastically.

 

Behind all development lies a will to it. I distinguish between different types of wills. There is your personal will that exists ‘in the Ego’ and motivates the development of the Ego, but there is also a deeper will that exists in your superconscious. Finally, there is a will that exists in your subconscious.

 

You have no direct influence on the superconscious will that drives your entire development. When you live according to this will, you will experience a deep sense of happiness and a feeling of living in harmony with the meaning of your life.

 

Thus, living in balance with this will is the best recipe for happiness.

 

As you move down through the state, the personal will that governs how you interact with life will change, and more and more it will be influenced by the will that exists in the complexes. That will is mostly associated with pain and frustration.

 

One of your most important tasks in life is to discover when your conscious will is about to be overtaken by the will that exists in your complexes. One way to discover this is to become conscious of the complexes. This is, in fact, the purpose of the type of therapy that focuses on the Ego, a therapy that should be used on people who are in the Compensation state.

 

To summarize, the following can be said about this state: In the upper half of the state, you have a good sense of who you are and what you want, and you generally don't feel like a victim of life. You have a willingness to interact with life and an ability to do so. You find that life is not the cause of your pain or your lack of self-esteem, but that life is the means to release the pain and to build your self-esteem.

 

5. The 'anti-compensation' state

Highest goal: Liberation from EL, as well as creating a stronger Ego.

 

Your consciousness can accommodate several states at the same time. The states act as a window into ourselves. As we humans are different, we look through different windows, which is worth keeping in mind when we try to understand each other.

An example of transitioning from one state to another can be when you end up in an emotional affect-condition. The affect-condition determine your experience of the situation, but when it releases its grip on you, you suddenly see the situation differently. The reason is that you are now in a different Ego state, using a different window.

 

Much of what you feel in the anti-compensation state is painful, and your faith in life is reduced. Therefore, instead of seeking out life to feel better, you do the opposite (hence the name ‘anti’).

 

In the Anti-compensation state, you tend to say no to life. The reason is that you see life as being the cause of your suffering. In short, you have taken on the role of a victim, and you try to become pain-free by cutting yourself off from the ‘source of all pain’, i.e., life itself.

 

In the Anti-compensation state, your challenge is to strengthen a weak Ego and reduce the feeling of being a victim to life’s injustice.

 

Your goal in this state is to desire something for yourself, to feel alive again, and to strengthen the boundary to the subconscious, so you can protect yourself from being overtaken by repressed material.

 

The goal is not to contact your Heart since you cannot perceive the Heart energy in this state with your consciousness.

 

To feel like a victim

In the Anti-compensation state, one feels the influence of the will that exists in EL more clearly. Unlike the Compensation state, where you predominantly experience a will to live, in the Anti-compensation state, you experience what I call a “will to non-life”.

 

This is a reaction to the strong feelings of hopelessness and loneliness that you experience in this state. It is also a backlash against life, since you feel that life is to blame for all your suffering and pain. You find that you are a victim of life’s injustice, and you are unable to take responsibility for your life.

 

When you come from the upper state, “compensation”, and find yourself in the Anti-compensation state, you literally experience that you cease to be a self-conscious being. There is a good reason for that because your Ego, which is the centre of your identity (in the Ego period), quite literally begins to dissolve in this state. This has the consequence that your ability to experience yourself as a self-conscious individualized being is reduced. Of course, it becomes more extreme in the vacuum state, but it already starts in the Anti-compensation state.

 

Your method of reducing the pain is thus “anti-compensatory”, which means that you start to say no to life and sincerely feels that this ‘no’ is the best way for you to become pain-free, the best way to protect yourself.

 

The characteristics of this condition are the following:

 

1. You have a reduced sense of who you are and what you want (i.e., a less intact Ego).

2. You are affected even more intensively by a negative will from the complexes, but now also by a direct contact with EL, that gives both your reaction and your depression the character of something existentialistic.

3. Your method of becoming pain-free will now increasingly use the "Anti-compensation method".

 

The encounter with the Anti-compensation state

Most of us can end up in the Anti-compensation state. You can see it as if you consist of a “spectrum of consciousness”, that includes all the 3 Ego states. In this spectrum, we also find what I call ‘your current consciousness’, which describes what is currently dominating you. The Anti-compensation state is part of your “spectrum of consciousness”, which means that even if you are not dominated by it, this state is nevertheless a part of you when you are in the Ego development period.

 

So, there is a part of you that does not want life, and experiences that the solution to pain is to renounce life – because no life means no pain, and no pain means freedom.

 

This part of you may be latent or it may come to dominate you – depending on how you manage your life. For most people, it is not the dominant part of their attitude towards life.

 

When you encounter this part of you, the first sign is an increasing negativity, and then a more depressive attitude, but as you work your way deeper and deeper down the layers of this state, you will approach an existentialistic depression.

The objective is to identify when you are descending towards the lower levels and intervene before it becomes critical. It is important to recognize that as you progress downward through these levels, the inclination to reject life increases, making it progressively more difficult to halt this descent, because you do not wish to stop it.

It feels appealing to stay in the lower layers, to be surrounded by their pain. The temptation to give up and seek 'peace' grows stronger, making you believe this is the right path, despite others urging you to resist.

 

The Anti-compensation state can block the Ego-development forces

When you are in the state of ‘anti-compensation’, it becomes difficult for the Life theme energies to flow through you, and thus for you to live in balance with them. This is because they represent an energy that you are unable to perceive in the Anti-compensation state, and because they represent what you have ‘said no to’, namely life.

 

The pain in the Anti-compensation state leads to the ‘will-to-non-life’

Your problem in the Anti-compensation state is that you have no contact with your Ego, that your Ego identity has started to ‘dissolve’, and that you therefore seem to lose ‘yourself’. This is accompanied by an unbearable pain that becomes more and more existential in character.

 

If you are completely enveloped by the lower layers of the Anti-compensation state, then you can get so influenced by it that the will to ‘non-life’ can create a wish in you to end your life. However, this is an extreme reaction, and not the one I’m talking about here. There are many other ways of saying no to life that does not involve ending it. What I’m talking about here is the situation where you partially become susceptible to the very negative life-view that prevails in these low regions. If this happens, then the will to ‘non-life’ will influence you to become negative and depressive, and to say no to life situations and people, who would otherwise have been good for you.

 

In such circumstances, you are not fully engaging in life. Instead, you are standing 'on the sidelines' with only a partial involvement, neither wholly committed nor entirely disengaged.

 

You say neither yes nor no to life and mistakenly believe that you have the freedom to choose life as you see fit. The will to ‘non-life’ dominates you to such an extent that you do not fully engage in this “dangerous” life. However, you have been deceived into thinking that you can say no or yes to life as it suits you.

 

This is how many people live. The reason is that you are in contact with the lower layers of your consciousness, and thus partially under the influence of the will to 'non-life'.

In addition, this no to life will block more Life themes/Life forces and thereby lay the foundation for even more complexes, and this becomes more pronounced the further down into the state you get. The result is that the strength of the unconscious will increase, the strength of repressed material will increase, which may lead to an ‘inner explosion’.

 

In the state of 'anti-compensation' you encounter the will to non-life.

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The longer you stay in the state,

the more you will be guided by this will,

and the more you wish to follow this will,

and to use the Anti-compensation method to reduce your pain

 

One of the consequences of being in this state is that the will to 'non-life' will increase. The will to 'non-life' is a reaction to a strong hopelessness and loneliness, as opposed to the will to life, which is born out of the positive experience of being a part of life.

 

We should remember however that this will to 'non-life' is born out of a firm belief, that is able to convince you that life that is to blame for your suffering. In accordance with this, this belief is actually trying to protect you from this source of pain.

 

By distancing yourself from life, you can take a break that allows you to rebuild your Ego (as long as the break is not to long). This will eventually lead to a renewed desire for life, via a more centred Ego.

 

This part of you can cause pain, but it is attempting to protect you through its ‘anti-compensation method’. It is important to acknowledge this aspect of yourself but also take steps to ensure it does not dominate your life perspective.

 

As mentioned above, the following applies to the Anti-compensation state: "you are affected by a negative will from the complexes, but also from a direct contact with EL, giving both your reaction and your depression the character of something existentialistic".

 

In this state, you are beginning to experience a direct contact with EL. The goal of any therapy that targets the Anti-compensation state is to reduce this contact with EL, and for you to regain a willingness to interact with life and use the compensation method.

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However, this cannot happen without strengthening the Ego and increasing your sense of yourself. The energies in this state do not include conscious heart energies, and the heart cannot be used in the same way as in the compensation state (see Figure 18, which shows the energies associated with the different states). Although heart energies may be part of your consciousness space, your current consciousness in the Anti-compensation state is not able to receive the heart energies.

 

Likewise, engagement with complexes, which is an essential and natural aspect of self-work within the compensation state, should constitute only a minor component of therapy directed at the Anti-compensation state, and should be applied solely to the upper layers of this state.

 

In general, concerning the Anti-compensation state, one must focus on restoring the ability to be centred in oneself, on strengthening the Ego, and on re-establishing the will to be part of life.

 

The different states require different therapeutic methods, and the failure of a therapy is often because it targets the wrong state. You can read more about therapy aimed at the different Ego states in Appendix 4.

 

Your will in the Anti-compensation state comes in part from the complexes, and it will be increasingly influenced by a growing frustration at not being in control of your life, and by lack of acceptance of who you are.

 

Thus, you are in conflict with yourself, which always leads to loneliness. This complex-induced loneliness is the direct path to a more existential loneliness, manifested via contact with EL.

 

Summing up on the Anti-compensation state

We have seen that this state brings you one step closer to EL, which has several consequences. The Ego-focused therapy that works in the compensation state begins to lose its effect here. This is because it ‘shoots over the target’ and seeks to target an Ego that in this state has started to ‘dissolve’.

 

Thus, a therapy that focuses on the Ego will fail.

 

In addition, contact with EL, and the will that exists in EL, begins to affect your method of becoming painless. Supported by your lack of confidence in life, your method will now become the anti-compensation method.

 

Concerning the Ego development forces, these are largely blocked (in the sense that they do not flow freely through you). This will lead to new complexes, basically due to the imbalance with the superconscious.

 

6. The "vacuum" state

Highest goal: to decrease the contact with EL, so that you can begin to ‘reassemble’ your dissolved Ego, and start to experience yourself as an individual being, with some degree of will to live, and some degree of feeling joy and pain.

 

In the vacuum state you are beyond

a Yes and No to life,

and beyond joy and pain.

 

In the “vacuum” state, the focus is on re-establishing a lost Ego, on breaking free from indifference and numbness towards life, and on experiencing that you’re a person with a will.

 

In this lowest Ego state, you have lost your identity, due to the disintegrated Ego, and you have lost the connection to life. You feel neither joy nor pain. The predominant emotion is meaninglessness, and as we shall see, a kind of emotional numbness.

 

I have named this state Vacuum. Just as a physical vacuum is a space without matter, in the vacuum state there is gradually nothing more left of you. You see life through a vacuum. It doesn’t seem to reach you anymore.

 

As you move deeper into this state, you move beyond a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to life, and beyond compensation and anti-compensation as your methods to become pain-free. The reason is that a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ require something that you no longer possess in the vacuum state – a certain sense of who you are, and what you want/don’t want.

 

Although only a few people end up in this state, we all have it inside us and can be affected by it to some extent. Fortunately, only a few people fully experience the Vacuum state, but many know the feeling of losing the sense of who they are and the feeling of meaninglessness on an existential level.

 

In this state, you are about to revert to the pre-Ego consciousness state, which is what the Ego fears more than anything else. You are about to lose that which is most precious to you.

 

The characteristics of this state are:

1. You have no sense of who you are and what you want (i.e., you experience a dissolved Ego identity).

2. You experience a deep meaninglessness and hopelessness and an emotional numbness.

3. You experience a lack of will and an indifference to become pain-free.

 

Stepping into a new world with new laws and rules

First of all, losing one’s sense of identity is like stepping into a new world with new laws and rules, which also places new demands on the methods that can help you to be free of the state.

 

It is almost impossible to understand this experience if you have not experienced it yourself, and luckily only a few have.

 

You lose more and more of yourself

The complexes of the subconscious play a crucial role in paving the way towards the Vacuum state. As you move down through a state towards the feeling of existential loneliness, you experience a will to stay in the pain.

 

Your person becomes more and more dominated by negative energy and a conviction that life itself is the source of all your sufferings, and that the solution is to say no to it.

 

Slowly, and often without you realizing it, your conscious will, associated with the Ego, is taken over by the will that exists in the subconscious, and the longer you remain like this, the more the conscious is undermined.

 

In the Vacuum state, your will is almost completely gone. Therefore, the feeling of meaninglessness increases. You lose your sense of reality and gradually your ability to feel anything at all.

 

You flow along with the pain, and it becomes all that is. You experience a state where you cannot differentiate it from your Ego, your Ego identity, and you therefore stop experiencing it as pain. It’s as if there’s a shielding veil of fog between you and life (to everything in life, even the pain of life).

 

In this way, you are more and more approaching a state where you are an emotionless human being, filled with a lack of life purpose. You’ve lost the person you were, to the point that you barely remember who that person was.

 

You are filled with an indefinable feeling of having lost something important. But it is like a faint memory, and you seem to have forgotten what it is that you have lost.

 

You have completely lost control of your life!

 

As I said, it can be difficult to understand the Vacuum state if you have not experienced it yourself, and it can also be difficult to detect if you are approaching the state.

 

So, try to read this, and the following, with an open mind and accept that there are people who do not experience life as you do, and who do not experience the same emotions as you do.

 

Your experience of life has a reference point, which is your sense of yourself, or your Ego identity. Everything in your life is experienced and recognized from this point. It’s almost impossible to imagine that this point, this sense of identity, does not exist. Nevertheless, there are individuals who experience such a loss of identity. These individuals ‘do not live’. They survive.

 

Let’s take a closer look at what happens when you lose yourself and your control over life, in the ‘anti-compensation’ and ‘vacuum’ states.

 

In the beginning of the Ego period,

the focus is on developing and maintaining control

of the subconscious.

 

For the Ego, it’s about control – which is why the vacuum state is so ‘dangerous’, because this is where you lose control.

 

But why is it so dangerous when control is lost?

 

The control is important because the only way the Ego can sustain itself is by exercising control.

 

The Ego does everything to maintain control over life, and control over your interaction with it. One could say it’s the Ego’s job – and it’s an important job, because without this control, your individuality is at risk. Without this control, your Ego is in danger. Without control, it is not possible to become a centred being, which is necessary for taking further steps towards the heart.

 

Only when the Ego integrity is assured will you experience a desire, which point towards the Heart. This happens about a quarter into the Ego period.

 

Control is crucial for your development, and it’s the Ego’s responsibility to achieve this control.

 

During the Ego period, it is important to maintain control over your subconscious and your interaction with it. This control is necessary to maintain the integrity of your Ego, despite the influence of the subconscious (and EL). There are many who believe that it is important to reduce control over the subconscious to become one with it. However, this is a mistake that can lead to the breakdown of the Ego.

 

Only when the Ego’s integrity is assured will you experience a desire for more and be able to start actively living what I call the ‘Heart trust’. This will initiate a new chapter in your development, one that has being present in the ‘here-and-now’ as an important ingredient, and one where your confidence in your future is so pronounced that you no longer need to control it.

 

However, before this happens, you must develop a strong Ego, and that requires, among other things, control over the subconscious.

 

Let us see what happens when this control fails, and you are exposed to the pain that follows.

 

Persistent pain dissolves the Ego

Being physically beaten in the same place for a long time will eventually make you feel numb. This also happens when you are ‘beaten’ by the subconscious for a long time. You end up feeling emotionally numb and you lose the feeling of who you are! Your identity is undermined by subconscious painful structures.

 

A sustained influence by ‘lower’ energies from the lower Ego-states will slowly ‘break down’ the Ego and your ability to sense yourself.

 

This also affects your ability to recognize the ‘negative’ energies that affects you. Instead, you become one with them and lose your ability to control them, since control requires that you can separate that which needs to be controlled from ‘yourself’.

 

You feel like a spectator to life, and all this happens as a reaction to persistent pain.

 

When control is lost

When the Ego loses control, you may find that you quite literally lose the ability to maintain yourself as the being you are. This can be an unpleasant and painful experience, where you feel that you are ‘disappearing’ and that your personality is ‘dissolving’ without anything taking its place.

 

You react with anxiety, but since your centre (your identity), which would normally deal with this anxiety, is reduced, it has free rein to fill you up.

 

It can almost be felt as claustrophobic, as being invaded by uncontrollable unpleasant emotions, while at the same time slowly ‘disappearing’. It’s like being invaded by a foreign entity that slowly takes over who you are.

 

This is an extremely uncomfortable experience, and it is made worse by the fact that on top of losing yourself, you have no way of knowing if this will never change.

 

It is very painful to feel this way, and my description of it should be taken quite literally! You really do experience that you ‘cease’ to exist, without any guarantee that it is only temporary!

 

It is precisely this experience of lost identity that the Ego is always fighting so hard to prevent from ever happening!

 

It is difficult for people, who have their lives under control, to understand and help people, who are dominated by an Ego, that struggles to maintain its integrity. Often the advice that is given mistakenly assumes some kind of Ego integrity.

When you lose contact with who you are, you start to experience a kind of homesickness – without knowing where this home is. You know you’ve lost something, but you are not sure what you’ve lost.

 

In the vacuum state, you cannot objectify the pain, and you are therefore one with it. When you are ‘home’ (as you are in the compensation state), it’s impossible to imagine a state where you don’t know if you’ll ever return home!

 

Summing up on the Vacuum state

It is rare to end up completely in the vacuum state, but this state nevertheless have an impact on your life. After all, we are complex beings and can be in different states, with different parts of us.

 

One can almost imagine how the Ego has risen from the Pre-Ego ‘vacuum swamp’, which is why this swamp is still the foundation underlying your identity. The vacuum state is still a part of you, even if it no longer dominates your consciousness.

 

Complexes are repressed experiences that, before being transferred to the subconsciousness, managed to prevent an Ego-Life force (e.g., a Life theme-channelled energy) from having an optimal flow through you. Thus, complexes represent a situation where you lived ‘against’ the strongest inner will in you. Complexes are not wrong. Their creation is a healthy way of responding to a situation that is not good for you, and they are important for your development.

 

All complexes represent a conflict with an Ego-development force – without exception – and for many, this Life force is one of the Life themes.

 

If you stay long enough in a state where you are controlled by a complex, you can reach a point where there seems only one solution to reduce your pain – and that is to stop sensing the Ego/Heart-Life forces and to stop feeling the desire to live in harmony with these forces. There is only one way to do this, and that is by dissolving the Ego – which happens in the vacuum state.

 

The Ego dissolves as a form of self-defence and

it's not negative as such. It's for your own sake. At the same time, however, it is something you must do whatever you can to prevent.

 

The vacuum state is a reaction to the fact that you have lived too long in conflict with what you desire deep down, and that you have completely lost confidence in that it can ever change. This state is seen as a freedom from pain. However, it works as intended only until the Ego starts waking up again, which will eventually happen.

 

Complexes are mini-vacuum states that can grow large

if we remain under their influence for long enough time.

They have an inner program

that tries to pull us further towards their core.

 

In a way, you experience the vacuum state every time one of your complexes are activated, every time you find yourself in an affect state. Most times, you will have enough integrity and strength to hold your Ego together. But if a ‘complex storm’ becomes too strong there is a danger that the Ego will start to dissolve.

 

7. The fourth State – the State of the Heart

The fourth state is the first state of the next development period, the Heart period. This state is fundamentally different from the three Ego states, and it represents a completely new view on life and a completely new Life experience - the Heart Life experience.

 

In this state, the Ego identity is replaced by a holistic view of life, as well as a Heart identity that is much stronger than the Ego identity. It is an identity where unity has replaced separation and loneliness, and trust has replaced distrust.

 

When you reach this state, everything changes for you - your view of the world, your view of yourself, and what you want to do with your life. It starts a new strong desire inside you, and your life will start to focus on whether you are living a life that allows this new desire to be lived.

 

This condition is already a reality for many people, and more and more you will experience that it is no longer enough to satisfy your Ego. It is as if your world is changing, and you’re slowly ‘losing’ what you were (but not in the way I described for the lower Ego states). You are transforming into something else and in the process, you lose the person you know and feel comfortable with.

 

The Heart identity comes with new ‘demands’ regarding how you should live your life, and if you live according to these new inner demands, then you will experience a meaning in your life that you did not think possible, and which is certainly beyond the imagination of the Ego.

 

8. Final words

We have seen that different states determine your prerequisites for the therapy you can receive. 

 

The three different Ego states are like three different worlds, each with their own rules, prerequisites, and purpose. The goals that apply in the states are very different, and the energies that you need in order to realize these goals, are just as different.

 

In the lowest state, it’s about conscious Pre-Ego and (low) Ego energies, as well as superconscious Ego/Heart energies. In this state, your goal is a restoration of the Ego.

 

In the next state, you make use of conscious Ego energies, and superconscious Ego/Heart energies. In this state, your goal is a strengthening of the Ego.

 

In the highest state, you can receive and use high conscious Ego energies as well as Heart energies, and you will be influenced by superconscious Heart energies. In this state, your goal is a harmonious Ego. The highest Ego state is also the state that leads to the next development period. The key that opens to the next period is that you begin to experience the Heart consciously, which enables identification with the Heart, as well as provide you with a taste of what it is like not to be identified with the Ego.

 

All in all, you must learn to be aware of what state you are in, and what you therefore need the most, and what methods/energies/therapies is required to achieve it.

 

Therefore, when you encounter obstacles or when things do not work out as planned, it is likely because you either do not need it, or you are using methods for which you lack the necessary prerequisites.

 

Ego and soul psychology

Where the Ego stands for the 'Ego-will' and the ‘Ego-identity', the Heart stands for what in psychology is called the self or 'the higher self', and according to esoteric psychology it is the 'Heart' that mediates the contact to a higher aspect of your being. It can be said that through the Heart consciousness you become aware of new higher dimensions in yourself and in life – including the more 'spiritual' dimensions. The Ego is the target for traditional psychology, but the Heart is the target for what we might call a 'soul psychology'. This is a 'psychology' on a higher level, a psychology that is the beginning of a 'psycho-spiritual' process, which leads to new growth – and to the integration of the Heart into our consciousness.

 

Any therapy must understand that conflict and pain are signs of a missing balance between the inner desire and the conscious life attitude, and that the goal of the therapy must be to correct this imbalance - taking into account what state of development the individual is in

 

You can see a summary of all the states here:

​

The goals for the "Vacuum" state:

• To centre/restore your Ego.

• To start rebuilding the boundary to your subconscious and EL.

• To focus on non-demanding life experiences, a solid grounding, body exercises, creativity, and interaction with people, nature, and animals.

 

The goals for the "Anti-compensation" state:

• To centre/restore your Ego.

• To strengthen your centred Ego.

• To build a strong boundary to your subconscious and EL.

 

The goals for the "Compensation" state:

• To practice using the compensation method.

• To create a strong and harmonious Ego.

• Confronting the inner pain-inducing structures, such as the complexes, traumas, and other repressed things (which can also be hidden abilities and talents).

• To create maximum balance between the superconscious energies and your conscious attitude.

• To take in the Heart consciously.

• To prepare for the next development period.

The goals for the first Heart state:

• To further strengthen your Ego through contact with the world.

• To use the Heart in your life.

• To strengthen your Heart identity through active contribution to people and communities and the world.

• To seek out your innermost essence through meditation, presence, and silence.

 

Both the Ego and the Heart are like a pair of glasses that show you a version of life/the world. The glasses themselves are based on a unique set of Life themes, which leads to a unique Life experience based on the dualistic life-view concerning the Ego and a more holistic view concerning the Heart.

 

One question is then, who is looking through the glasses? Who is experiencing? The very ability to see through the glasses is one of the most remarkable things about us.

 

It requires two things: a desire to experience and an ability to experience.

 

Where does this desire come from, what does it consist of, and what does it mean to have an ability to experience? I will get more into this in appendix 6, where I will introduce you to the “transformed Life-self” that possesses this ability to experience, as well as the “Life-self” that possesses your innermost desire for such an experience.

 

Another fascinating thing about our being is that the glasses you put on show you a world and a reality that is based on life laws and life rules (determined by the Life themes). However, it is also based on a development structure that is perfectly suited to help you experience this world. The development structure adapts to your stage, offering a personalised experience that evolves as you grow.

 

Thus, a human has one development structure, and a bird has another. Moreover, your development structure may even change during your own life (of course not fundamentally, but still in ways that will have a major influence on your life) to continuously constitute the optimal foundation for your Life experience.

Your current development structure allows you to repress (because it contains a subconscious part), which is essential to the Ego Life experience. It is important that you can repress, and it is important to have a subconscious, for your overall Life experience.

 

In summary, you have now heard about the creation of the Ego. You've seen that the Ego is a temporary ‘structure’. You have seen that the Ego is both an identity and a way of experiencing life, which in turn is linked to a unique development structure.

 

All this leads to the creation of all the individual identities that together make up humanity (Figure 19).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 19. From superconscious energy to individuality and interaction with humanity.

The Ego identity is linked to a completely unique development structure, a structure that, in addition to consciousness, allows the repression of split consciousnesses into the subconscious, as well as a superconscious to set the overall direction of your life. This identity is founded by rules of life, which in turn are founded by the active Life themes. These themes are activated by the personal superconscious energy, an energy that represent a part of the collective superconscious energy spectrum.