Ego

Ego is a Latin word meaning "I", cognate with the Greek Εγώ (Ego) meaning "I", often used in English to mean the "self", "identity" or other related concepts.

H. P. Blavatsky defined it as follows:

Ego (Lat.). “Self”; the consciousness in man “I am I”—or the feeling of “I-am-ship”. Esoteric philosophy teaches the existence of two Egos in man, the mortal or personal, and the Higher, the Divine and the Impersonal, calling the former “personality” and the latter “Individuality".

The quality of Ego-ship is a feature of the fifth principle, manas. The meaning of the word "ego" in Theosophy is not restricted to the one modern psychology gives. It is used to refer to the sense of "I-ness", which can manifest in different ways to the plane in which it expresses. It can appear in a personal and selfish way through the lower manas (lower ego), in an impersonal form through the higher manas (higher ego), or as a divine self-consciousness through buddhi (spiritual ego).

Higher ego

The human Ego is neither Ātma nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas: the intellectual fruition and the efflorescence of the intellectual self-conscious Egotism—in the higher spiritual sense.

The higher ego is the human individual element (atman and buddhi being universal) which provides self-consciousness, thus acting as a bridge between the monad and the body:

This is the real Individuality, or the divine man. It is this Ego which—having originally incarnated in the senseless human form animated by, but unconscious (since it had no consciousness) of, the presence in itself of the dual monad—made of that human-like form a real man. It is that Ego, that "Causal Body," which overshadows every personality Karma forces it to incarnate into.

When the higher ego has to incarnate, it sends a "ray" to animate the body, giving origin to the lower ego:

Manas is, as it were, a globe of pure, Divine Light, a Ray from the World Soul, a unit from a higher sphere, in which is no differentiation. Descending to a plane of differentiation it emanates a Ray which is itself, which it can only manifest through the personality already differentiated. This Ray is the Lower Manas, while the globe of Divine Light, a Kumāra on its own plane, is the Higher Ego, or Higher Manas, Manas proper.

On its own plane, the higher ego must srtive to assimilate the influence from buddhi.

In every incarnation, [the Ego] is under the direct ray of Buddhi, if he wants to assimilate [it]. If he does not want to, it is his look out; his personality will drop out. It is only in the case which assimilates Buddhi that it really lives throughout, and will belong to that string of personality which forms consciousness after the Manvantara is at an end—the direct, immortal ray.

When this is accomplishe and the self-consciousness is raised to the buddhic level, the passive spiritual soul becomes a self-conscious spiritual ego.

Lower ego

The lower ego is frequently referred to as "kama-manas" because it is the outcome of the union of these two principles:

During life the Lower Manas acts through this Kâma-Rûpa, and so comes into contact with the Sthûla-Úarîra; this is why the Lower Manas is said to be “enthroned in Kâma-Rûpa”

Manas and its vehicle—the Kama rupa, or body of passions and desires [are] the two elements of Ahamkara which evolve individualized consciousness—the personal ego.

Online resources

Articles

• Ego at Theosopedia
• Remembering the Experiences of the Ego by W. Q. Judge
• The Self, Science, and Religion by Anna F. Lemkow