Coming back to the main example, since this is a formal dinner; your conscious mind may start considering the social norms and it may be of the opinion that you should not have ice cream more than once at a formal dinner as most people don’t do so. Hence your conscious mind convinces you not to have more ice cream as doing so may give other people reasons to think negatively about you; since you may go against the established norms of such formal dinners. This opinion is rising from your intellect corrupted by your ego which is acting on the basis of certain calculations of profits and losses.
It means that though your subconscious and conscious mind seem to engage in a conflict; in reality, this conflict features your heart verses your intellect and ego. The reason your ego is also involved is because the filter imposed by your conscious mind says that having more ice cream can have negative impact on your social image, which may result in some type of disadvantage later on. Since your social image is maintained by your ego in most cases; your ego is stopping you from having more ice cream at this formal dinner; and it is using your intellect and conscious mind to its advantage.
It should be noted that the need to be good as a person comes from your conscience though your heart and intellect may support this need. However, the need to be perceived good rises from your ego. Since your image is not about being good and it is rather about being perceived good; the need to have a good public image rises from your ego. As long as you’re really good deep down; the need to be perceived good doesn’t rise because the goodness inside you is sufficient on its own. As soon as this goodness drops below a healthy level; the need to look good rises. It means as long as goodness comes natural to you; you don’t need to assert it by engaging in conscious efforts to prove you’re good.
As soon as goodness stops being a natural part of you or it drops below a level; the need to create goodness through assertive acts arises. This need to create goodness through assertive acts of goodness is what results in your public image in such cases. Hence your public image is natural only as long as you don’t do anything to build or maintain it. The moment you start engaging in conscious efforts to build or maintain it; it becomes unnatural which means your ego gets involved.
For instance, in this example, you’re a person who loves eating a lot of ice cream. Hence if you choose to go with this preference at this former dinner also; your image projected through this action is natural because this is what you feel like doing and this is what you’re doing. However, if you feel like having ice cream and you don’t do so in order to keep a good image; this image is unnatural.
This is because you’re not the person you’re trying to appear and hence this act is an assertive act of building or maintaining image; and so it rises from your ego. Kindly understand that by suppressing your wish to have more ice cream for the purpose of maintaining a good image; you’re giving false information about you, to other people at this formal dinner. You’re trying to look someone who you’re not, deep down. It means this act of yours is illusionary since it doesn’t match your personality which is real; and hence it rises from ego.
The reason this goodness may drop below a healthy level is that you may develop more ego, and increased ego creates the need to be perceived good. This is because deep down; you know that you’re not that good. Hence your ego fears that other people may also find out this fact about you and they may start assigning less value to you. Accordingly; it creates the need to look good so that other people may be fooled that you’re good though you’re not in reality. This is why your ego pushes you not to have more ice cream since it needs to be perceived good.
If there’s no ego involved and the reason to avoid having more ice cream comes from your intellect alone; this reason is different. If such is the case, your conscious mind may apply a filter to the wish of your heart and this filter says that eating a lot of ice cream is unhealthy and hence you should not eat more. It should be noted that as long as your intellect is not corrupted by your ego; the reasons given by it in such situations may be good ones in most cases; which means your intellect may try to stop your heart from engaging in practices which may prove harmful for you in one way or another.
Hence your intellect may warn you to stay away from more ice cream because it knows a lot of ice cream can affect your health negatively. It means that the filter applied by your intellect in this case is a fair one as the need to apply this filter is rising from the need to maintain good health. However, when it comes to your ego; the need to apply this filter is rising from imaginary or illusionary profit and loss; and it is not rising from valid facts. For instance, if your heart wishes to have boiled eggs at this formal dinner; and you keep having one boiled egg after another, say until you have four eggs; the situation may change.
Your heart wants eggs now and when it comes to your intellect; it may find that having three, four or even five eggs is fine since it may assign high value to eggs as it thinks eggs are good for health. Hence your intellect may not oppose the wish of your heart to have eggs. However, your ego may still oppose this wish of your heart since the problem remains the same for your ego. If you keep having one egg after another, people may think negatively about you and that may affect your public image. Hence your ego may push you to stay away from having more eggs even if they’re healthy for you; whereas your intellect may support your heart on this issue; as it finds eggs are good for you.
As long as your intellect is uncorrupted; it tries to suggest you what is practically good or bad for you; though it may fail to understand certain things related to your heart, like the need to have any quantity of ice cream at all; since it finds ice cream unhealthy. However, even when your intellect suggests you so; its intention is to bring benefits for you or avoid losses you may face. Hence your intellect may end up doing bad things for you in some cases; but its intentions may not be bad; until it is corrupted by ego.
It means your intellect genuinely wishes well for your body and for some other things which are important for your existence. Therefore, the conflict between heart and intellect is more like the conflict between feelings versus reasoning. Hence it is a good type of conflict since it helps you keep a check on your feelings which can go too far at times; and it also helps you keep a check on your reasoning since your life may become dry if it is operated by reasoning alone. It means in the deepest sense; your heart and intellect are not opponents and they complement each other, as long as they’re both healthy.
When it comes to ego, it doesn’t care about your body, intellect, heart or anything else for that matter; and all it cares for is to feel satisfied by engaging in illusionary acts. Hence it may offend or abuse your body, heart, intellect and your mind; in order to get what it wants. That is why it is your biggest enemy because even though it lives inside your body; it doesn’t wish well for your body and all it cares for is to get what it wants. We’ll discuss this topic in detail; later on.
As this conflict rises whether or not you should have one more portion of ice cream; you may start feeling nervous, restless or confused inside. This is because two options are available now, and this is what is causing confusion as you’re trying hard to choose one of these two options. Suppose your subconscious mind wins and your conscious mind loses though it may not surrender. Hence you ask for one more portion of ice cream and you start having it, just like you did before.
Though everything looks the same from outside, which means an onlooker may find you having ice cream just like you had it some time ago; things are a lot different inside this time. While your subconscious mind is executing your heart’s wish of having more ice cream; your conscious mind is still posing resistance against this wish. It means you’re having ice cream and at the same time; you’re thinking that you shouldn’t have it. In the first case, you were having ice cream and you were thinking you should have it or to be precise, you weren’t thinking at all. Hence there was no conflict between your subconscious and conscious mind in the first case. Therefore all you did was to enjoy having your ice cream, without much conscious thought.
However this time; you’re having ice cream and you’re thinking against having it. This is where conscious effort rises since your conscious mind is working in the opposite direction to that of your subconscious mind. Hence it needs to put in effort, in order to succeed against your subconscious mind. It should be noted that you need effort to do something against a force and you don’t need effort if you choose to go with that force. For instance, you need effort if you choose to swim against the flow of a river whereas you need little or no effort if you choose to relax your body and allow it to go with the flow.
Similarly, your conscious mind doesn’t need to put in much effort as long as it chooses to go with the flow of your subconscious mind. However, as and when it chooses to go against the flow; it needs effort. Whether or not it may succeed depends on a number of variables. Hence while your subconscious mind enjoys this ice cream; your conscious mind keeps observing people who may be looking at you or who may be talking about you, since your conscious mind fears that they may talk or think negatively about you.
In this case, only your subconscious mind may be able to enjoy this ice cream and that too in part. In other terms; only your heart may be able to enjoy this ice cream and that too in part. This is because your heart is not able to receive the same amount of energy sent to it by your subconscious mind in enjoying this ice cream as that in the first case; since parts of this energy are being used by your conscious and subconscious mind in fighting each other over this issue.
It means in the first case; all the energy was being used by your heart to enjoy the ice cream and hence you were able to enjoy it perfectly. This is because there was no conflict between your conscious and subconscious mind due to which, the latter was capable of sending as much energy to your heart to enjoy ice cream; as much it could.