The battle is in the mind, not in the loins . . .

Yes, I agree. For the sake of brevity, hyperbole often has to be used. I see escaping the ego in terms of it being permeable, not being obliterated permanently. It is part of life, but not everything. The tragedy of the modern world is people have lost the means of transcending themselves from time to time. This is our most deep seated of desires, and if it is not found in an upward movement it will regrettably be found in the downward. As we all know, drugs, alcohol, P etc are all examples of this... not to mention fanaticism, where one identifies with the mass.... not the Catholic one.

And yes, self is also kind of central. I guess I would identify the self, in abstract terms, with the Will, and reason like a faculty of it, as opposed to the ideology of the cogito that has dominated since the time of Descartes. That is just a return to Plato's cave. But even in Rationalism, the Will is central - I must first choose to doubt everything. But why. Fear? Fear that I do not know? Fear of being powerless? But knowing there is no knowledge is liberating. You then have room for belief. And then one walks as a god lightly on this earth. A very attractive quality to woman I might add.

 

And I'd add that the essence of 'upward' is it's a 'metaphysical' move, it's about your understanding of reality. And then it's not so much that you have some definite blueprint of it [you stand under it, not above it], like a World of Forms or whatever, but a belief that something like it must exist. Even though Plato recognized his World of Forms was a hypothesis, he was quick to add something like it must exist... the great 'as if'. Fast forward and we have the four transcendentals of the medievals - Beauty, Truth, Unity and Goodness. We believe they exist, they are what we strive towards.

When I get the downward urge, I listen to something like this, and find it very effective:

 

What is the superego but a set of prejudices. I'd suggest that the prejudices of today are very anti-institutional/ individualistic ones.

What I think classical culture offers us, in practical terms, is the recognition that we are also social, political and religious animals besides thinking and metaphysical ones. It is about integration of the varying aspects of our existence in a life of harmony and balance. Or, in other words, about the wholesome sublimation of our baser instincts.

Does this mean we outsource our intelligence? Not at all. It is not either/ or; the individual or society/ superego. We have gone further than Rationalism's obsession with binary opposites. It is this and that- synthesis. Given the limited nature of language, we now have to talk in metaphors. Take the image of the ancient's concentric view of the cosmos, circle within circle, or the Jewish Temple, wall within wall. We have here everything, but in order, where at the centre, as far as the metaphor goes, is us.

 

I was struggling with this today, but you give some really great advice. Thank you!