• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

WhyWeSuffer.com

Transformative Insights from Depth Psychology

  • BASIC PRINCIPLE
  • About
  • Services
  • Comments
  • Contact
  • Books
  • Show Search
Hide Search

The Four Dimensions of Our Ego

Peter Michaelson · September 26, 2021 ·

You would think one ego would be enough, especially if it’s notably vain, petty, grasping, and needy. But we appear to have four egos. Or, more likely, four dimensions of one big ego. Either way, becoming more conscious of these dimensions can help us to overcome the irrationality and misery we generate from within.

Knowing our ego structure is vital self-knowledge.

The ego’s four dimensions are largely unconscious. Even the first of these dimensions, the conscious ego, is often a candlelight in the wind. This ego largely permits us to illuminate only what its flickering vanity can tolerate.

Even in its pale glow, though, it still manages to dazzle us with the illusion of self-determination. Our inner fears are abated through the mirage of being incisive observers of reality, players who know the score. Our authentic self, in contrast, is highly resilient: It’s immunized against the fear of life.

The conscious ego produces an unstable identity on which to ground oneself. From its perspective, we inhabit a bag of skin and gaze timidly or gamely outward at the world, fixated on how best to cope with self-doubt, keep ourselves safe, fulfill our desires, and make pleasurable connections. Many people collapse into self-doubt, misery, and self-defeat because their conscious ego, while a protective filter, is nonetheless under the influence of conflict-ridden inner dynamics involving its deeper dimensions.

Obviously, an egocentric person can have plenty of “success” in the world. Yet psychological maturity with its enhanced wisdom, consciousness, and ability to avoid negative emotions and outcomes will likely be lacking.

The second dimension, the unconscious or subordinate ego, harbors its own set of dynamics. It produces emotional and mental impressions of ourselves, as well as behaviors, that consist largely of defensiveness, stubbornness, righteousness, and passivity. This ego, guardian of our irrational fears, is a little genius in its own right, conjuring up, in service to our psyche’s inner conflict, scores of clever defenses intended to repel the third ego, the super-ego. As an advocate for our wellbeing, this second ego is highly undependable.

It’s a dependable enabler, though, of the third dimension, the superego or inner critic, a primitive expression of self-aggression. The superego is a psychological drive that pummels and mocks us with accusations of folly, indecency, weakness, and failure. This drive or function derives from the physical aggression that’s built into our biology. In early childhood, this aggression, unable to release all its driving energy externally, turns against its host, our own self. As adults, we’re still prey to this aggression, experiencing it as self-criticism and self-denigration. As we absorb the aggression (by way of the second ego, the unconscious or subordinate one), we experience guilt, shame, and depression. The third ego is a bully of the second.

The more we absorb the superego’s aggression, the more we also redirect it at others and (with cynicism, bitterness, anger, and violence) at the world in general. Many modern psychologists believe the superego or inner critic is a guiding force, a mostly benign inner conscience. If we believe this, we’ll likely not appreciate or be able to regulate humanity’s inborn capacity for wrongdoing and evil.

The fourth dimension consists of the ego-ideal. This psychic structure is an unconscious mentality that arises from children’s instinct to preserve some vestiges of their profound self-centeredness. Children often say and feel with sincere, grandiose conviction: “I’m going to be president when I grow up,” or “I’m going to be the biggest movie star.” (For me, it was faith in becoming Superman.) These over-optimistic claims remain on record in the adult psyche.

When we fail to live up to these claims imbedded in the ego-ideal, the superego pounces on the discrepancy between the childish proclamations and our current state of achievement. Even decent successful people, when under attack in this manner, have difficulty feeling their goodness and worthiness. They’re loaded up with regret and guilt because their subordinate ego fails to protect them from their superego’s ridiculous allegations. They absorb punishment from their superego, thanks to the ego-ideal’s pretensions and the subordinate ego’s passivity.

The ego-ideal is a major player in varieties of human folly. It’s through the ego-ideal, I suspect, that many people refuse to accept the reality of human-caused climate crisis: “No way could we ever be so stupid as to inherit this earthly paradise—and then destroy it!” Even when we begin tentatively to explore the idea of being pawns of unconscious dynamics, the four dimensions of the ego protect their own existence with defensiveness, resistance, and an aversion to being humbled by exposure to inner truth.

How did this four-part ego structure and our identification with it come about? Babies and young children are highly inexperienced and subjective, and they experience themselves as if life revolves around them (just as early humans believed earth to be the center of the universe). As mentioned, this egocentric mentality offers some protection from feeling overwhelmed by chaos, complexity, and instinctive fears. In adults, the conscious ego continues to provide a degree of self-assurance, offering the consolation of thinking we know what end is up. Through this ego, we produce belief systems that we feel make sense of the world, thereby moderating our insecurities and fears.

Our destiny, which is to become more evolved, is resisted. The demise of one’s egotism spells danger: It signifies the prospect of collapsing into nothingness, becoming a nonentity. Identified with the ego, we feel we’ll be nothing without it. With behaviors that are largely unconscious reactivity, people engage in deceit, irrationality, and militant ignorance—even violence—to maintain their old, familiar sense of being. White supremacy is an emotionally based adherence to egocentric values.

Throughout its four dimensions, the ego remains overly sensitive to the first hurts of early childhood: feeling deprived, refused, helpless, controlled, criticized, rejected, betrayed, and abandoned. These hurts are sometimes as prevalent and distressful for us as adults as they were in childhood. Our better self, in contrast, transcends these old hurts and fortifies itself with integrity, courage, and resilience.

I go a bit deeper now into the core of the problem. Many people are willing to conjure up negative reactions and emotions (e.g., aggressively blaming others, wishing harm to others, hating others, hating oneself) when doing so serves to cover up or to deny their unconscious willingness to identify with (and emotionally entangle themselves in) the weak, disconnected, childish if not infantile aspect of themselves, their inner passivity. A person’s superego is able to be only as intrusive and condemning as this person, through inner passivity, allows it to be.

The subordinate ego (the second dimension) is the seat of this inner passivity. This ego is so weak that it’s ultimately masochistic. Masochism means, in this sense, being compulsively and emotionally identified with weakness, submissiveness, and a lack of value, despite the misery this entails. Inner passivity describes the essential nature of the subordinate ego, which is to persistently experience weakness in terms of helplessness, paralysis, indecision, procrastination, cynicism, indifference, and hopelessness. An unconscious identification with the subordinate ego and its passivity blocks people from accessing the impulse to act on their behalf with appropriate assertiveness or aggression.

At the level of the conscious ego, this condition produces, often chronically, the displeasures of self-doubt, self-rejection, oppression, depression, and a sense of being insignificant and lacking in value. This experience includes a persistent mental and emotional processing of unpleasant and painful speculations and considerations.

We’re infused with inner passivity and impeded by it according to how much punishment—usually as guilt, shame, or self-loathing—our subordinate ego absorbs from our superego. In other words, much of the misery we experience in daily life derives from the degree to which our subordinate ego processes the aggression from the superego in a defensive, deceitful, and masochistic manner. Our plight is even more dire when our subordinate ego meekly cedes to the superego’s most preposterous accusations.

The superego can even attack us for what we might just imagine in the sense of wrongdoing, let alone for what we’re actually doing or have done. Even on such bogus grounds, our subordinate ego still accepts and absorbs punishment. The cowardice of the subordinate ego is breathtaking. Its spinelessness contaminates our whole sense of being. It’s no surprise that people hate to see this passive part of themselves: It’s us at our worst. This infirmity of human nature exposes the pretentiousness of the ego-ideal and the ignorance of the conscious ego.

Recognizing this flaw, our willingness to remain entangled in inner conflict and absorb self-punishment, is mind-boggling and profoundly humbling. As this flaw becomes conscious, though, the new awareness liberates us from much of our suffering.

The subordinate ego ought not to be bashed unequivocally. Depending on an individual’s emotional health, the subordinate ego can at times exert sufficient strength and flexibility to curtail inner conflict. This ego often manages through its defenses to produce, in the form of sublimation, a limited victory over the superego. Now an individual can function at an optimal level in at least one particular area of achievement, even for extended periods, although painful dysfunction can persist in other areas of this person’s life.

Still, the subordinate ego, in its characteristic passivity, is beholding to the superego, often terrified of it. As another telltale of our ignorance, the subordinate ego doesn’t consult its host—you or me—as to the appropriateness or justice of the defensive bargains it makes with the superego. Its conniving is solely for its own preservation.

Meanwhile, our conscious ego, greatly influenced by these inner dynamics, activates our mind and emotions, leading us in many instances to become unwitting stand-ins or spokespersons for a negative view of life. We can become mindless agents of the dark side, witless promoters of its values, as we regurgitate into our surroundings the hash of negativity that’s generated by the conflict between the passivity of the subordinate ego and the self-aggression of the superego. Ignorant of deeper dynamics, we express a litany of complaints, injustices, grievances, and bitterness, all of which have originated from our own unrecognized inner conflict. The complaining or whiny voice we take on is often the vocalization of the subordinate ego’s own sense of fearfulness, oppression, defensiveness, and suffering.

Sometimes, people become (instead of a voice that parrots the subordinate ego’s values) a clone of the superego, a troll for its prerogatives. They’re more likely to be stone-hearted, malicious, and sadistic. These individuals are likely, as well, to identify with a malignant narcissist or psychopath (or be one themselves) and become an impassioned supporter. When people surrender their will to a political tyrant or cult-leader, they exhibit externally a rendering of how, on an inner level, they have, in unconscious fear and passivity, surrendered their will to their superego and become its surrogate.

This identification with the superego’s values manifests as an authoritarian mentality. The authoritarian’s desire to rule over the weak and dictate the terms of governance derive from his unconscious determination to cover up his identification with inner weakness at the core of his own psyche.

Those identifying instead mostly with the subordinate ego are also prone to becoming blind followers or fervent fans of political, religious, or cultural figures. Decent, kind people among everyday neurotics can easily be pulled into one or the other of these unhealthy identifications.

As we escape staunch ego-identification through these insights, our improved consciousness enables us to connect more steadfastly with our better self. Now we can hold the superego in check. No longer can the superego impose upon us its primitive power-trips, malicious condemnations, and unfair punishments. At the same time, our subordinate ego retreats into a back corner of our psyche, while our conscious ego and ego-ideal give up the ghost. This victory of self-knowledge over the infirmities of the unconscious mind undermines the potency of the ego structure. What emerges is a more evolved person, the authentic self we’re destined to be.

—

My latest book has just been published. It’s titled, Our Deadly Flaw: Healing the Inner Conflict that Cripples Us and Subverts Society, and it’s available here in paperback (315 pages) or as an e-book.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share This:

Filed Under: Consciousness, Depth Psychology Tagged With: grounding oneself, identification, observer of reality, self-criticism, tame big ego

Primary Sidebar

MOST OF OUR suffering is avoidable. Our emotional and behavioral problems can be resolved. We just have to understand how our psyche works. This website is dedicated to teaching vital psychological knowledge. Do you need help to curb drinking or to get off drugs? Are you facing a divorce or a career failure? Are you anxious, depressed, or overwhelmed by life's challenges? Perhaps you're simply unable to get your mind or intelligence into high gear. I can help. I'm Peter Michaelson, an author and psychotherapist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I teach people how to overcome unconscious programming that produces suffering and self-defeat.

WHY WE SUFFER–THE BOOK

My book, Why We Suffer--A Western Way to Understand and Let Go of Unhappiness, is the story of what mainstream psychology has failed to teach the world. The depth psychology in this book has vital insights, answers, and solutions for you. Click on the Books link above for more information. --

Other Articles

  • The President Hears from Dr. Freud
  • People Who Hate Love
  • The Language that Liberates the Self
  • Dare We See the Trump in Us?
  • The Emotional Catering Service
  • Are You Addicted to Self-Punishment?
  • A Hidden Cause of Loneliness
  • The Impulse to Destroy Democracy
  • We Get Stronger by Seeing Our Weakness
  • The Warmonger in Our Psyche
  • Armed with Stubbornness, the Weak Go on the Warpath
  • How to Rescue Yourself from Suffering
  • My New Book (of Poetry!) Is Versed in Depth Psychology
  • Finding in Self the Richness of Being
  • Sports Fans and Their Discontents
  • Two Terrible Voices in Your Head
  • Why People Support Donald Trump
  • The Vital Knowledge We Disown
  • Climate Anxiety and the Psyche
  • Abandonment, Self-Abandonment, and Democracy
  • Our Readiness to Feel Controlled
  • The Key to Emotional Self-Regulation
  • Seven Villains in a Sad Love Story
  • The Latest Pandemic: Feeling Overwhelmed
  • The Blindness of the Species
  • Why Americans Are So Wretchedly Divided
  • Are You Passive to Your Mind?
  • What Freud Knew That We Still Hate to See
  • The Emotional Conflict Behind 50 Mental-Health Symptoms
  • A Novelist’s Quest to Unravel His Madness
  • When Inner Growth Feels Impossibly Difficult
  • Haunted by Incessant Wanting
  • My New Book: Healing Our Deadly Flaw
  • Inner Conflict’s Role in Child Suicide
  • Putin’s Psyche
  • The Flaw Wars that Sabotage Relationships
  • Can You Be Your Own Therapist?
  • The Difference Between Learned Helplessness and Inner Passivity
  • The Sad Sordidness of Inner Conflict
  • The Deep Knowledge that Liberates the Self
  • The Four Dimensions of Our Ego
  • Are You Overly Sensitive to Rejection?
  • Evolving Consciousness is the Lifeblood of Mental Health
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 9)
  • Don’t Be Duped by Your Defenses
  • The Shocking Secrets of the Psyche
  • The Undercover Enabler of Habitual Oversleeping
  • Understanding the Assault on the U.S. Capitol
  • The Sheepishness of the Psyche: A One-Act Play
  • Three Self-Defeating Reactions at the Heart of American Disunity
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 8)
  • Our Compulsion to Self-Punish
  • Ego and Self Do Battle for the Soul of America
  • The Hazards of Inner Conflict
  • A Toxic Inner Process Afflicts Humanity
  • Don’t Let America Betray Herself
  • Inner Conflict Ripens in the Hothouse of Pandemic
  • Living and Dying with Coronavirus
  • How the Coronavirus Plays with Our Mind
  • Access the Genius Within
  • How Meditation and Depth Psychology Overlap
  • Guilt: A Favorite Way to Suffer
  • Understanding the Psyche of Boys
  • The Joy of Militant Ignorance
  • Answers to Questions From Readers (Part 7)
  • Breaking the Chains of Self-Imposed Oppression
  • Jordan Peterson’s Blind Spot
  • Learning to See Ourselves Objectively
  • When Food is Used to Feed Inner Conflict
  • How You Can Save the World
  • The Inner Critic is a Primitive Brute Force
  • The Self-Defeat of Passive Morning Thoughts
  • Get Rid of Guilt with Deeper Insight (II)
  • Discover Sublimation, the Agent of Success
  • The U.S. Government’s Flawed Intelligence on Clinical Depression
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 6)
  • 12 Ways We Fail to See or Experience Reality
  • Is Ambivalence a Hidden Factor in Much of Human Misery?
  • Inner Conflict is the Source of Cognitive Distortion
  • A Psychological Hindrance to National Unity
  • A Technique for Overcoming Insomnia
  • Liberals Need More Psychological Insight
  • Why We Urgently Need Inner Truth
  • Notes to Psychotherapists on Addressing Inner Passivity
  • Are You Living Your True Story?
  • Another Visual Portrayal of Our Psyche’s Dynamics
  • Get to Know Your Psyche’s Operating Systems
  • Illustrating the Characters Who Mess With Our Mind
  • How to Love Yourself
  • Don’t Let Inner Passivity Undermine Democracy
  • Connecting With Our Best Self
  • The Deeper Roots of Social Unrest
  • The Las Vegas Killer’s Hidden Motive
  • My Latest Book is Now Available
  • Insight that Conquers Incessant Negative Thinking
  • New Editions of All My Books Now Available
  • The Exhausting Race against Time
  • The Perils of Past, Present, and Future
  • The Mocking Voice of Inner Resistance
  • The Essentials of Empowerment for Enablers and Codependents
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 5)
  • The Appeal of Alternative Facts
  • Are You a Clone of Your Identifications?
  • Unmasking Fear Itself
  • Fundamentalism and the Psyche
  • Ascending to Joy
  • Now’s the Time for Heroes
  • Feeling Like a Fraud or an Imposter?
  • The Invisible Wall of Psychological Resistance
  • Cognitive Therapy’s Flawed Premise
  • Dealing with Election Aftershock
  • After the Election: Healing the Divide
  • Collapsing into Helplessness
  • Solve the Mystery of Your Suffering
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 4)
  • An Insightful Case of Self-Injury
  • Understanding Inner Evil in Mass-Killers
  • A Common Theme in Relationship Strife
  • Breaking Free of Inner Passivity
  • Are You Hopeless of Ever Finding Love?
  • Words to Enlighten Younger Children
  • Deeper Reflections on Inner Passivity
  • Escape the Misery of Moodiness
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 3)
  • Emotional Fortitude for Anxious Times
  • Follow Your Fantasies to Self-Awareness
  • Answers to Questions from Readers (Part 2)
  • The Art of Self-Regulation
  • The Thrill of Fear
  • Answers to Questions from Readers
  • “Why Am I so Easily Discouraged?”
  • Paris and Our Discontents
  • Unconscious Bias in Race Relations
  • Acquiring a Feel for Natural Aggression
  • Defensiveness for Dummies
  • Exposing the Roots of Emotional Suffering
  • Who Wants to Be a Celebrity?
  • Say Goodbye to Your Regrets
  • How to Recognize Good Psychotherapy
  • Visions of Human Destiny
  • Tears of Self-Deception
  • Westerners Who Identify with Terrorists
  • A Decisive Look at Indecision
  • Neurotics on Capitol Hill
  • Inner Passivity Impairs Leadership Skills
  • Hidden Dynamics of Racism
  • Unconscious Factors Fuel Abortion Fight
  • The Two-Minute Inner Workout
  • Defeating the Inner Bully
  • When Life Becomes Unreal and Dreamlike
  • Releasing Inner Passivity
  • Deliverance from Addictions & Compulsions
  • Life’s Painful Entanglements (Part II)
  • Insight into Gender Identity Disorder
  • The Psychology of Wealth Disparity
  • How Do We Achieve Self-Control?
  • Anger and the APA
  • A Painful Game People Play (Part I)
  • Prisoners of Guilt
  • Neurosis Unbound
  • The Lingering Pain of Old Shame
  • Emerging from Shyness
  • An Unconscious Factor in PTSD
  • When in Doubt about Sexual Orientation
  • Why Students Fail to Learn
  • How to Enhance Your Verbal Skill
  • Be Brave when Truth Comes Knocking
  • What Warps the Mind of Domestic Terrorists?
  • Greed as a Mental-Health Disorder
  • The Core of Being
  • The Folly of Modern Psychology
  • The Scoop on Intimate Partner Abuse
  • Tormented Mothers, Endangered Babies
  • Terrific Knowledge for Trying Times
  • Stung by Ingratitude
  • How to Be Your Own Inner Guide
  • Does Inner Growth Require Practical Steps?
  • A Remedy for Feeling Trapped
  • The Golden Rule Needs Depth Psychology
  • A Deadly Case of Inner Conflict
  • Vital Knowledge for Marriage Intimacy
  • Stressed Out in America
  • Four Steps to Stifle Our Inner Critic
  • Oh, Sweet Narcissism
  • The Pain We Lock Away
  • Cognitive Therapy’s Distorted Thinking
  • Indecisive No More
  • Chasing the Shadow
  • How Inner Passivity Robs Men of Power
  • A New Understanding of Bipolar Disorder
  • A Chaos Theory of the Mind
  • Free Yourself from Inner Conflict
  • Curbing Our Appetite for Brutality
  • The Futility of Compulsive Approval-Seeking
  • How Worriers Unconsciously Chose to Suffer
  • Get to Know Your Psychological Defenses
  • The Love Song of the Self
  • Finding Inner Longitude
  • Overcoming a Type of Resistance to Studying
  • Understanding Anorexia
  • The Human Weakness behind Alcoholism
  • Rebutting 9/11 Conspiracy Beliefs
  • Achieving Inner Freedom
  • The Mysterious Allure of Kinky Sex
  • Hooked on Deprivation
  • Aspects of Women’s Empowerment (Part II)
  • Men’s Resistance to Women’s Empowerment
  • The Missing Link in OCD
  • A Hidden Reason for Suicidal Thoughts
  • Overcoming Fear of Intimacy
  • O Shame, Where is Thy Secret Source?
  • The Correct Interpretation of Our Dreams
  • Escaping the Clutches of Helplessness
  • The Double Barrels of Gun Mania
  • Exterminate Infestations of Negative Thoughts
  • The Psychology Behind Mass Shootings
  • Our Messy Mix of Aggression and Passivity
  • Speeding Up Our Evolution
  • Why Our Emotional Suffering Persists
  • Easing Tension and Stress at Family Gatherings
  • Wallowing in the Lap of Bitterness
  • The Hidden Dynamics of Marital Strife
  • The Psychological Roots of National Disunity
  • The Futile Dialogue in Our Head
  • Psychologists of the World, Go Deeper
  • When You Feel Bad About Yourself
  • Cultivating a Life of Disappointment
  • Lost in the Fog of Inner Passivity
  • The Private Joke behind Our Laughter
  • Why We Fear and Hate the Truth
  • When Eyes Are Blinders of the Soul
  • How Deeper Insight Relieves Stress
  • When Money Enriches Our Suffering
  • The Common Ingredient in Human Misery
  • The Infantile Basis of Our Fears
  • Cynicism: The Battle Cry of the Wimp
  • Desperately Seeking Validation
  • Being Seen in a Negative Light
  • The Need to Believe in Yourself
  • Why We Dither on Climate Change
  • Avoidable Miseries of the Workplace
  • Taming the “Little Monsters” of Insomnia
  • A Plague of Neurosis Upon Our House
  • The Origins of Feeling Overwhelmed
  • Teach Your Children Well
  • Why We’re Quick to “Go Negative”
  • 8 Ways We Sabotage Physical Health
  • Occupy the Psyche
  • The Astonishing Basis of Our Addictions
  • Deliverance From the Lonesome Blues
  • Our Global Strategy for Self-Defeat
  • The Mayo Clinic’s Bogus Psychology
  • The Meaning of Evolved Consciousness
  • The Hanky-Panky Behind Our Anger
  • Lincoln’s Integrity, Our Integrity
  • Stubbornness: The Guts to Fight Reality
  • A Participant in National Self-Sabotage
  • Underlying Dynamics that Breed Bullies
  • Deliverance from Low-Level Anxiety
  • The Politburo in Your Psyche
  • Nagging: Love Destroyer, Marriage Killer
  • A Singular Cause of War
  • The Temptations of the Injustice Collector
  • The Dire Determinants of Divorce
  • Enjoy the Quality of Your Consciousness
  • The Helplessness Trap in Cravings & Addictions
  • Mark Twain’s Mysterious Misery-Machine
  • Obesity and the Dopamine Fallacy
  • Four Favorite Ways to Suffer
  • The Deeper Issues that Produce Meanness
  • Panic Attacks Arise from Within Our Psyche
  • The Overlooked Factor in Criminal Behavior
  • The Three Amigos of Woe
  • Overcoming Incompetence and Its Miseries
  • Three Great Truths from Psychology
  • The Hidden Cause of Clinical Depression
  • Terrorism and the Death Drive
  • Welcome Aboard the Voyage of Self-Discovery
  • The Bittersweet Allure of Feeling Unloved
  • How Inner Fear Becomes Our Worst Nightmare
  • The Problem with Positive Psychology
  • Respect, Disrespect, and Self-Respect
  • Neither a Procrastinator Nor a Dawdler Be
  • Prose to Shatter Writer’s Block
  • Stop Smoking through Psychological Insight
  • The Secret Allures of Pornography
  • How Deeper Awareness Can Eliminate Shame
  • When Sexual Desire Covers Up Self-Sabotage
  • The Dreary Distress of Boredom
  • Problem Gamblers are Addicted to Losing
  • The Tyrant that Rules Our Inner Life
  • The Negative Emotions Behind Addictions
  • Beware the Limitations of Superficial Psychology
  • Get Rid of Guilt with Deeper Insight
  • Riding the Emotional Wave of Turbulent Times

Article Archives



Copyright © 2025 WhyWeSuffer