End of the Ego - The Mechanics of Thought

[Horuseus]

I thought the idea was to integrate the ego as part of the whole self?

Depends on your definition of it I guess (I simply copied the video title here). Most don't even know what it is let alone how to go about 'integrating' it (Which it already is), given the understanding of the concept is derived from that which postulates it. It is doing it's job perfectly fine, with the beliefs/thoughts that have been allowed to populate it as a framework to work from. The key is undoing those rules/parameters. I suppose the parallel with the Ra Material is the Conscious Mind and the Unconscious (The Outer and Inner Ego/Identity). It's somewhat akin to an operating system for the Human Mind. It's working fine, simply the OS priorities and how it manipulates/processes the data needs to be reorganised to allow for a more 'desirable' experience.

Seth is a good read for this:

The ego, as I have said before, is extremely important. It is however only a part of what you call yourself. Your artistic ability does not belong to your ego, dear Joseph (Robert Butts), though I understand as I speak that anyone on your plane identifies himself with his ego, and when he says “I am,” he means he is his ego, or his ego is.

Nevertheless, the ego is the tool by which the hidden self manipulates in the physical universe as you know it. The ego enables you to use or focus your artistic ability along the lines necessary to make it effective on your plane. However, when the ego becomes involved with fears to a greater or lesser extent, it ceases to be an effective tool and becomes instead a hammer hitting you incessantly over the head.

… The ego must sit lightly, otherwise it can smother the talent that lies beneath. … You are more than your you know. Your subconscious is a greater part of you than you know, and the ego is nothing more than the top most portion of your subconscious. There is after all no dividing line, and you are as much your subconscious as you are your ego, and more.

Now when this ego becomes overly concerned over practical matters it becomes overly conditioned to negative responses. The outer senses are not as quick or as fluent. The creative energies build up their thickly-dimensioned pseudo-realities of pain. For a certain amount of time, according to your condition, they automatically create the patterns of fear that belong to the ego.

These fears do not belong to the subconscious. Then these materializations of panic and pain play about the physical body, projected by the ego and stealing the powers of the subconscious mind from their natural constructive tasks to do so. In other words, the ego becomes a tool to disrupt rather than to create. … I am not suggesting that the ego be ignored in any manner, merely that the tool is not allowed to become the master. (From ES-1 (The Early Sessions, Book 1 of The Seth Material, by Jane Roberts) Pgs. 107-8)

... what you call the ego is a portion of the inner identity that rises to face the world of physical existence.

The ego at any give time in this life is simply the part of the inner self that surfaces in physical reality; a group of characteristics that the inner self uses to solve various problems.

There is an inner ego, an inner self which organizes 'unconscious' material. As the outer ego manipulates within the physical environment, so the inner ego or self organizes and manipulates within inner reality.

It is the daily ego's ignorance and limited focus that makes it view so-called unconscious activity as chaotic. The waking ego (dealing with physical reality) cannot know all the unconscious material directly.

The daily ego is simply not conscious enough to be able to contain the vast knowledge that belongs to the inner conscious self from which it springs. The outer ego is spoon-fed, being given only those feelings and emotions, only that data, that it can handle. This data is presented in a highly specialized manner, usually in terms of information picked up by the physical senses.

The inner self is not only conscious, but conscious of itself, both as an individuality and as an individuality that is a part of all other consciousness. It is continually aware of both this partners and unity-with. The outer ego is not continuously aware of this fact. It frequently forgets its "whole" nature. When it becomes swept up in a strong emotion it seems to lose itself. When it most vigorously maintains its sense of individuality, it is no longer aware of unity-with.

If the ego were aware of the constant barrage of telepathic communications that do impinge upon it, it would have a most difficult time retaining a sense of identity."