timboucher

Carlos made an extremely interesting observation on my post about consciously using stories. He suggested that the ego is a representation of the self. This to me is one of the most interesting explanations I’ve heard of the role of the ego. Jung always talked about how the ego and the Self were different, and the goal of individuation is to unify the ego with the greater Self. This is all well and good, but it leaves you with a fuzzy interpretation of just what the ego’s purpose is.

Interpreting Carlos’ suggestion though, the ego serves as the representative of the self. It is sort of a projection or a vehicle for the self to act upon the world. But many people get into the situation where they mistake the vehicle for the reality of the self. This happens while driving too. If someone backs into you in a parking lot, you say, “That bastard hit me!” You don’t say, “That bastard hit my car!” You sort of naturally extend your self-consciousness to include your vehicle. And it’s not a bad thing; it helps you operate more seemlessly. So imagine if you were always in your car your whole life, and that was the only way you’d ever experienced the world (Sort of Plato’s allegory of the cave, but with updated imagery). What’s that Stephen King book where a car comes to life?

Anyway, a lot of mystical traditions talk about “extinguishing” the ego. This always seemed questionable to me at best. But using this idea of the ego as eidolon, as projection, it starts to make more sense. Carlos also suggested that part of the vulnerability of the ego as representation is that it’s subject to outward influence. When you’re identifying with a representation of your self, rather than your actual Self, people can change how you perceive that representation. They can say something mean to you, they can make you believe you’re weak or powerless. And as soon as the representation is changed, you’re changed. But if your identification is with the Self, noone can ever take away your identity or really even modify it all that much.

Which leads me to something Jeremy talked about in relation to the upcoming National ID card. He talked about a concept pioneered by the Critical Art Ensemble, something they call your “data body.” Your data body is essentially your identity, but as it is recorded among the various strands of your official life history: your bills, your medical records, your education, your work history, your purchasing history, your criminal history.

Each strand in the trajectory of each person’s life is recorded and maintained. The total collection of records on an individual is h/er or her data body—a state-and-corporate-controlled doppelgänger. What is most unfortunate about this development is that the data body not only claims to have ontological privilege, but actually does have it. What your data body says about you is more real than what you say about yourself. The data body is the body by which you are judged in society, and the body that dictates your status in the social world. What we are witnessing at this point in time is the triumph of representation over being. The electronic file has conquered self-aware consciousness.

And thus we have the increasing fear of identity theft. If you look at the notion up close, it’s preposterous. No one can “steal” who you are as a person - you’re much too complex. But they can affect the electronic representation of your identity, your data body.

Mystics talk about the fear of ego-loss. But it seems that we’re now taking that a step further as a culture. Supposedly, at one time in history, ego-consciousness as we know it didn’t exist. If you look into polytheistic psychology, you’ll find that many small archetypal centers were juggled through the mind, each controlling various types of activity. At some crucial point of development though, we began to get drawn out of this field of dynamic interplay into a sort of monotheistic realm of the ego. Now, we’re being drawn even further outward. Our representation of ourselves in the world used to just be our ego. But now it’s on the verge of becoming our data body. Not only is this reflected in the mythology of identity theft, but it’s shown quite plainly in the mythology of government surveillance and tracking. “They” are building a data profile on you. “They” are attempting to transform your data body into something sinister. But it’s not you. It’s not even your ego. It’s just a representation of you. I think the trick nowadays is to become aware of this gradual process, this pulling of your identity outside of you, and figure out ways to combat it, and how to turn yourself back towards your Self with a capital S. Any thoughts on how to do that?

• Attention Trust Principles
• The Death of The Hyperlink
• Flowing Data
• We Create Moments of Perception to Remember
• Dumb Terminals