Viscosity is defined as the resistance of a fluid to flow. For example, the viscosity of water is orders of magnitude lower than the viscosity of honey, meaning water flows easier than honey. In comparison, rocks have a much higher viscosity, which can be reduced by increasing the temperature and the applied shear stress. The concept of fluidity applies to all states of matter, including solids that can behave fluid-like in large temporal scales; for instance, folded large layers of rocks in the mountains is evidence of deformation of rocks under pressure and temperature in time scales of thousands to millions of years; in other words, even the rigid crystalline framework of solids can experience deformation except with much higher resistance.
Viscosity is an attribute of matter that is understandable qualitatively, formulated mathematically with exact and empirical formulations, and measurable quantitatively. Viscosity is a parameter depicting the resistance of matter to flow; in other words, the resistance to deform can be increased or decreased by changing the dependent parameters, such as applied stress and temperature. Let’s use viscosity as an analogy to understand the ego concept.
Ego is a vague concept to define and explain, such as freedom, God, and love. Different schools of thought, religious circles, and normative cultural perspectives assert many definitions of ego. Some of the qualitative descriptions of ego regard it as a bad or a combination of good and evil entities, a personality trait, an intrinsic human characteristic, or whatnot. Let’s use an example from my personal life to explain. When I was going through my Ph.D. program, there were many times that I put a pause on my research and wanted the painful experience to stop even though I never thought of quitting the program- I had lost all interest in continuing it, but eventually, I finished the program with outstanding findings and a well-written thesis. Someone might say the good side of my ego pushed me through the program and forced me to complete it so I wouldn’t feel like a loser in the coming years. Someone else might say my drive to sacrifice many good things in those years and the potential guilt of not finishing it was the act of the wrong side of my ego. So, what is the driving force when we push through or quit an experience; maybe there is no driving force but rather an underlying mechanism, or it’s just an intrinsic characteristic of the mind that can be altered.
If you recall from earlier articles, I have defined the mind as a framework of virtual entities created by the brain throughout life experiences. These entities are ideas, dreams, perceptions, concepts, perspectives, interpretations, biases, etc., and they are all connected analogously to a complex web of nodes and edges. The nodes represent the entities, and the edges depict the degree of influence between the entities. So, for instance, one’s concept of race and ethnicity influences their interpretation of the behaviours of their colleague at work who is from a different race or colour.
The rigidity of the entire framework is a function of the flexibility and rigidity of the edges, and the person determines the rigidity and strength of the edges. For instance, one might attribute the quality of their relationship with person A to being strongly affected by their past relationship with person B; in contrast, an outsider might say they have very little to do with each other. Therefore, it is the person who has heightened and may continue to strengthen a connecting edge between two entities; in other words, we intentionally intensify the connections and hence increase or decrease the rigidity of the mind’s network, or simply put, we are responsible for the rigidity, inflexibility, and stiffness of our minds and its resistance to transform; we build its nodes and edges, and we reinforce them realistically or unrealistically. In this context, the ego becomes the inherent resistance of the framework of the mind to change. In other words, the ego is nothing but a characteristic of the mind’s framework; not evil nor divine; it’s just a variable characteristic.
The network of the mind’s entities and their connections is a fluid-like and virtual organism that transforms and evolves with time and life experiences, with an intrinsic resistance. Therefore, when the person intends to revise or replace certain mind-objects, such as changing their interpretations of a particular person, concept, or event, they will experience mental resistance- that is, the ego. In other words, ego is the mind’s characteristic depicting resistance to any change, transformation, or reformation, whether constructive or destructive.
Therefore, according to this concept, the ego isn’t an inherently good or bad characteristic; it’s just an innate attribute of the mind’s network. Given long enough time, even the rigid crystalline structure of rocks and minerals deform, analogous to the unyielding and hardened mindset of many individuals we have met. Everyone’s mind is amenable and reformable, and the beauty of it is that the person’s intent and circumstantial parameters can increase or decrease its resistance- the resistance to change.
One might claim that the above concept of the mind’s general resistance is more or less depictive of stubbornness rather than ego. I argue that a stubborn individual, at any given time, selects a few nodes and edges and stresses them. For instance, a stubborn person might believe that to reach goal A (node A), they must stick to idea B (node B) because A depends on B and B is the cause for A, and there is no other way around it. This idea represents a local resistance in the network limited to a few nodes and edges. Stubbornness might appear as a generalized quality, but it has a local focus and scope at any given time. In other words, stubbornness is a local characteristic, whereas ego is a global characteristic of the mind.
The ego is a natural characteristic of a person’s mind representing resistance to change. When we understand how our mind is formed and constructed of conceptual/virtual entities, we can perceive it as a network created by us and, therefore, recognize that it is also subject to our intentional choices. Understanding the mind’s framework helps us gauge and evaluate its general resistance to modification and transformation. When we take control of the resistance factor, we take control of the ego. The ego is neither evil nor divine; it is only the mind’s resistance to change; it is the viscosity of the mind’s framework of thoughts and concepts and can be controlled through internal and external factors. The ego is not a foe nor an enemy; it’s a characteristic you and I can change.
Through the mindful and intentional practice of living, we can work on the viscosity of the mind, in other words, its general resistance to transformation. As we reduce the viscosity of its framework, the concepts in mind flow more readily, enabling us to observe the wrong dependencies and eliminate them. A mind that is less resistant to change can reconfigure itself or be reconfigured on demand faster and easier to reach more efficient and optimized states. A person with a fluent mind is in the knowledge, awareness, and control of their ego- they are less resistant to evolve.
Payman Janbakhsh, Ph.D.