What is the ego?

If you've been studying ACIM for any amount of time, it's a good possibility that you've come across the concept of the ego. This is not exactly the ego that is talked about within psychology, but rather a construct that the Course uses to convey it's teachings of love and forgiveness.

But, what exactly is the ego? Is it a being? Is it a thought? If you search the digital edition of ACIM, there are 1100 results for the word ego. That's way too many to go through, but I will go through the different usages of the term within ACIM that speak to me and provide my thoughts on the passages.

Consciousness, the level of perception, was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a perceiver rather than a creator. ²Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego. ³The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are. ⁴Yet you can know yourself only as you are, because that is all you can be sure of. ⁵Everything else _is_ open to question. (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/74#2:1-5 | T-3.IV.2:1-5)

This passage doesn't specifically say what the ego is, but it provides some excellent context to the term. Consciousness is the domain of the ego, meaning that if there is consciousness, the ego can be found there.

The next sentence is a little more specific, but still quite abstract. It suggests that the ego is an attempt. This fits in nicely with the idea that the ego is nothing. If you attempt to do something, did you actually do it?

The next usage of the word ego in ACIM provides much more information.

The ego is the questioning aspect of the post-separation self, which was made rather than created. ²It is capable of asking questions but not of perceiving meaningful answers, because these would involve knowledge and cannot be perceived. ³The mind is therefore confused, because only One-mindedness can be without confusion. ⁴A separated or divided mind _must_ be confused. (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/74#3:1-4 | T-3.IV.3:1-4)

The ego is the questioning aspect of the post-separation self. If we think about the levels of separation, this passage indicates that the ego is the part of the post-separation self that questions. "What if I were to go out on my own?" "What if there was more than God?"

After the first split of the separation, consciousness was introduced. A part of God seemingly split off, something had to think "What am I?" since it no longer appeared to be part of God. This moment was so monumental that the entire world that we know of was created out of it. Not immediately, but this was the beginning of the universe and cosmos. The guilt, shame, panic, anxiety of that moment are felt throughout all of our lives, since all of our individual egos were born from that one incredible moment.

⁵It merely re-enacts the separation, the loss of power, the futile attempts of the ego at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death. ⁶Such repetitions are endless until they are voluntarily given up. (T-4.in.3:5-6)

There is a context to this passage, which is the "journey to the cross," which I believe is a symbol for the last stretch of time before death. This passage gives clues as to what the ego is up to. The ego is trying (unsuccessfully) to repair what it perceives has happened. This paints the picture that the ego is kind of like the Wizard of Oz, pulling levers behind the curtain to appear very powerful, yet all of it's "powers" are nothing.

These are all great clues, but the question remains, what actually is the ego?

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