Spiritual Ego/Intellectual Ego

• What did Perls mean, when... by James W. Patterson, Ph.D., 5/3/98
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    • Claire Salisbury by Spiritual Ego, 5/6/98
      
      

It is my understanding that the spiritual self (ego) aspires toward a better understanding of two questions. Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? It appears to me that the intellectual self (ego) attempts to address two significantly different questions. What is existence all about? How can we better understand our existence? As you can see there is overlap between these questions but I feel that there is enough difference to distinguish them as seperate persuits. It is my point that we have much too much of the intellectual ego on these forums and not nearly enough of the spiritual side. I do not feel that discussion of the spiritual deminishes the intellectual in any way but rather it enhances it, extends it, revitalizes it and illuminates it! It is rather a strange role for me to infuse spirituality into to an intellectual forum for all my life I have been accused of being overly intellectual or rationalistic. Finally, I heard an item on TV the other day that stated that 85% of Americans believe in God. If this is true why do we as therapists spend so much time ignoring or cicumventing this fact. For example, if 85% of our caseload were female or African American or one legged would we ignore this? Ed Riemann

• ego vs something by James W. Patterson, Ph.D., 5/17/98