El ego, la conciencia y las emociones: un modelo interactivo

Ego, consciousness and emotions: an interactive model. In this paper, a model of mental processing is presented using as protagonists three of the classic mental instances: ego, consciousness and emotions. After briefly expounding the author's conception of each of these three constructs, two different versions of their possible interaction are outlined. The first corresponds to the most usual working mode in our western cultural setting. The second finds its maximum representation in the oriental tradition of meditation, though it is also present in mystical traditions of all types, including those of the West. The essence of this alternative form of mental functioning consists of breaking the habitual identification of consciousness with ego and emotions, which is characteristic of the first mode. In this way, a new form of relationship between consciousness and the ego-emotions complex arises, by virtue of which consciousness is freed from its habitual strict dependence on this complex, so opening up a whole universe of unexplored human experience.