問：傳統的心理治療與《奇蹟課程》對「ego」一詞的定義好像不一樣。我接受心理諮詢快兩年了，兩年來，努力在治療師的協助下，建立ego（自我）。她說我必須先建立自我，才談得上放下自我。我感覺她所謂的ego與耶穌所說的ego好像不是一回事，但不清楚兩者具體有什麼區別。
原文：
(Q #1295: Traditional psychotherapy and A Course in Miracles seem to define the term ego in different ways. I’ve been in counseling for about the past two years and my therapist is working with me to build an ego. She tells me that I’ve got to get an ego first before I can give it up. It would seem that what she defines as ego and what Jesus is talking about are two different things, but I’m not completely sure just how to sort them out.)
答：
諮詢師與治療師口中的ego（自我），源自西格蒙德•佛洛伊德的定義。佛洛伊德把人格(human personality)分為三部分:
- 本我(id) – 本我遵循享樂原則，受本能的驅使，追求即刻的滿足。
- 自我（ego） – 在本我、超我和外在世界之間居中協調，為我們找出合乎社會要求的表現方式。自我乃是心理 中的「表意識」部分，也就是我們所認同的人格或個性。
- 超我 (superego) – 像一個內在的道德法官，對本我的衝動予以壓制。
根據他的學說，本我遵循享樂原則，受本能的驅使，追求即刻的滿足。超我則像一個內在的道德法官，對本我的衝動予以壓制。自我則在本我、超我和外在世界之間居中協調，為我們找出合乎社會要求的表現方式。自我乃是心理中的「表意識」部分，也就是我們所認同的人格或個性。到現在，諮詢師心目中的ego，已不再侷限於佛洛伊德的定義，但很大程度上，他們仍用ego指代個體的人格與身份認同。大多數諮詢師都把工作目標定為協助他人成為更健康的個體，或者說幫助他們更好地適應世界。
總之，諮詢師致力於幫助案主或患者培養更健康的自我ego。（they are helping their clients or patients to develop healthy egos.）
一體卻不一樣：ego 小我 （奇蹟課程）→ 用「假我」較恰當
耶穌在《課程》中用ego 一詞代表人類整體的心理世界（the entire human psyche），涵括了表意識與潛意識。( conscious and unconscious)他指出，我們認作自己的那個「人」只是一個虛假的自我(false self=假我)，始於一個錯誤的信念，以為自己能造出一個替代品，取代我們身為上主愛子的真實身份。奇蹟課程為我們指出，如果我們放下對ego（小我）的執著，擁抱聖靈(Holy Spirit )，我們會活得更快樂。因為有這個說法，許多奇蹟學員所認知的實相為「小我是不好的」，甚至對「培養健康的自我」這樣的觀念感到無所適從，畏如蛇蠍。結果恰恰誤解了《課程》的本義，《課程》鼓勵我們活在這個世界，但心知自己不屬於這個世界(to live in this world but know we are not of it.)。要做到這一點需要小我有力量才行。不想培養健康的自我，說明我們感到恐懼，如果我們想超越恐懼，接納上主的聖愛，就得先化解這一恐懼。
因此，耶穌不會讓我們以小我為敵，相反地，他要我們學習寬恕小我（從而寬恕我們自己），以此作為放下小我的第一步。縱然他的最終目的是讓我們放下小我，但他會第一個舉手贊成：如果我們尚未看清小我的真面目，並泰然處之，是不可能放下它的。耶穌像一個高明的治療師，教我們僅僅看著小我，不與它共舞，我們的自我經驗（在我們的人生大夢中，這儼然就是我們的全部），變成一間教室，供我們越來越瞭解自己的內心世界。
《課程》與大多數的心理諮詢在此分道揚鑣，心理諮詢只要讓案主學會與自己和諧相處，能夠適應世界，就大功告成了，而在《課程》看來，這僅僅是邁向覺醒的第一步。不過，兩者雖有這樣的區別，對術語的詮釋也不同，但它們並無根本衝突。奇蹟學員只要把心理治療當成通往另一目標的工具，而非最終目標即可。
原文/ ego and Ego
翻譯：in spirit
“The Ego is a veil between humans and God’.”
— Rumi
完整原文：
Q #1295: Traditional psychotherapy and A Course in Miracles seem to define the term ego in different ways. I’ve been in counseling for about the past two years and my therapist is working with me to build an ego. She tells me that I’ve got to get an ego first before I can give it up. It would seem that what she defines as ego and what Jesus is talking about are two different things, but I’m not completely sure just how to sort them out.
A: Counselors and therapists use the term ego thanks to Sigmund Freud. Freud divided the human personality into three parts: id, ego, and superego. According to his theory, the id operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification for our instinctual drives. The superego is our internal, moral censor that represses the id. And the ego mediates between the id, superego, and the outside world, seeking to find means for us to express ourselves in socially acceptable ways. The ego is the conscious part of the psyche — basically the personality with which we identify.
Today’s counselors who speak of the ego do not necessarily view the psyche from a Freudian perspective. But they have largely adopted the word egoas a shortcut for saying our personality and identity as an individual . The goal of most counselors is to assist others in becoming healthier individuals — helping them to be more comfortable and functional within this world. So, we could say that they are helping their clients or patients to develop healthy egos.
When Jesus speaks of the ego in the Course, he is basically talking about the entire human psyche, conscious and unconscious. He tells us that the person we think we are is a false self, born of our mistaken belief that we could create a substitute for our true identity as God’s beloved Son. Thus, A Course in Miracles is all about recognizing that we would be happier if we released our grip on the ego and embraced the Holy Spirit instead. Therefore, for many Course students, the term ego has taken on a sinister ring — making the idea of developing a healthy one sound contradictory, if not downright frightening. However, this is the result of a misunderstanding. The Course encourages us to live in this world but know we are not of it. And doing that requires ego strength. To not develop a healthy ego represents fear, which must be unlearned if we are ever to move beyond fear to acceptance of God’s Love.
So, far from turning the ego into an enemy, Jesus would have us forgive it (and thus forgive ourselves) as the first step to moving beyond it. While he would ultimately have us let the ego go; Jesus would be the first to agree that we cannot move beyond the ego until we see it for what it is and make peace with it. Thus, like a great therapist, he asks us to simply watch it — turning our experience of being an ego (which, within this dream, seems to be the entirety of who we are) into a classroom in which we learn more and more about ourselves every day.
The Course and most forms of counseling do part ways in that, in counseling, becoming at peace with yourself within this world is typically the final goal, while in the Course, it is only a step toward awakening. Yet, despite both this fundamental difference and differences in the use of language, there is certainly no inherent conflict between the Course and the process of therapy. It is simply important for Course students to hold the aim of therapy as a means to an end and not an end itself.
本文出自：傳統心理學的ego and 奇蹟課程的Ego
♦ 延伸閱讀：
In Spirit 
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