And that is the great mystery of creation, for it is the same consciousness, the Consciousness is one. But the very moment this Consciousness manifests itself, exteriorises itself, deploys itself, it divides itself into innumerable fragments for the need of expansion, and each one of these fragmentations has been the beginning, the origin of an individual being. The origin of every individual form is the law of this form or the truth of this form. If there were no law, no truth of each form, there would be no possibility of individualisation. It would be something extending indefinitely; there would be perhaps points of concentration, assemblages, but no individual consciousness. Each form then represents one element in the changing of the One into the many. This multiplicity implies an innumerable quantity of laws, elements of consciousness, truths which spread out into the universe and finally become separate individualities. So the individual being seems constantly to go farther and farther away from its origin by the very necessity of individualisation. But once this individualisation, that is, this awareness of the inner truth is complete, it becomes possible, by an inner identification, to re-establish in the multiplicity the original unity; that is the raison d'être of the universe as we perceive it. The universe has been made so that this phenomenon may take place. The Supreme has manifested Himself to Himself so as to become aware of Himself. (The Mother, 3 March, 1951) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/3-march-1951#p29</ref>
= What is the Ego? =
What is this strongly separative self-experience that we call ego? It is nothing fundamentally real in itself but only a practical construction of our consciousness devised to centralise the activities of Nature in us. We perceive a formation of mental, physical, vital experience which distinguishes itself from the rest of being, and that is what we think of as ourselves in nature—this individualisation of being in becoming. We then proceed to conceive of ourselves as something which has thus individualised itself and only exists so long as it is individualised,—a temporary or at least a temporal becoming; or else we conceive of ourselves as someone who supports or causes the individualisation, an immortal being perhaps but limited by its individuality. This perception and this conception constitute our ego-sense. Normally, we go no farther in our knowledge of our individual existence. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/the-eternal-and-the-individual#p3</ref>
'''Before it's Formation'''
“...the first state of your being is a state of an almost total mixture with all things from outside, and that there is almost no individualisation, that is, specialisation which makes you a different being. You are moved—a kind of form which is your physical being is moved—by all the common universal forces, vital forces or mental forces, which go through your form and put it in motion. (The Mother, 14 December, 1955) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/14-december-1955#p18</ref>
'''It’s not the Cause of Individuality'''
It is purposely, mind you, that I have not mentioned the ego as one of the causes of the sense of individuality. For the ego being a falsehood and an illusion, the sense of individuality would itself be false and illusory (as Buddha and Shankara affirm), whereas the origin of individualisation being in the Supreme Himself, the ego is only a passing deformation, necessary for the moment, which will disappear when its utility is over, when the Truth-Consciousness will be established. (The Mother, 3 March, 1951) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/3-march-1951#p31</ref>
''' Growth towards Integral Self-Knowledge '''
Our self-ignorance and our world-ignorance can only grow towards integral self-knowledge and integral world-knowledge in proportion as our limited ego and its half-blind consciousness open to a greater inner existence and consciousness and a true self-being and become aware too of the not-self outside it also as self. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/knowledge-by-identity-and-separative-knowledge#p9</ref>
== The Role of Ego ==
The ego was created for the work of individualisation; when the work is achieved, it is not unusual for the ego to accept its own dissolution. (The Mother, 7 December, 1968) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/7-december-1968#p2</ref>
...before speaking of merging one's ego in the Divine, one must first know a little what one is. The ego is there. Its necessity is that you become conscious, independent beings, individualised—I mean in the see of independent—that you may not be the public square where everything goes criss-cross! That you may exist in yourselves. That is why there is an ego. It is like that; that is why also there is a skin, like that... though truly, even physical forces pass through the skin. There is a vibration which goes a certain distance. But still, it's the skin that prevents us from blending into one another. (The Mother, 28 July, 1954) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/28-july-1954#p56</ref>
The "I" or the little ego is constituted by Nature and is at once a mental, vital and physical formation meant to aid in centralising and individualising the outer consciousness and action. When the true being is discovered, the utility of the ego is over and this formation has to disappear—the true being is felt in its place. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-true-being-and-the-true-consciousness#p2</ref>
In order to become a conscious, individualised being, one needs his ego; that is why it is there. It is only when one has realised his own individuality sufficiently, has become a conscious, independent being with its own reality, that he no longer needs the ego. And at that time one can make an effort to get rid of it. (The Mother, 22 September, 1954) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/22-september-1954#p42</ref>
Individualised life-force here is an energy of individualising and ignorant Mind, Mind that has fallen from the knowledge of its own Supermind. Therefore incapacity is necessary to its relations in Life and inevitable in the nature of things; <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/death-desire-and-incapacity#p13</ref>
== The Paradox of the Ego ==
The ego is what helps us to individualise ourselves and what prevents us from becoming divine. It is like that. Put that together and you will find the ego. Without the ego, as the world is organised, there would be no individual, and with the ego the world cannot become divine. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-ego#p14</ref>
Certainly, if one were to lose one's ego too soon, from the vital and mental point of view one would again become an amorphous mass. The ego is surely the instrument for individualisation, that is, until one is an individualised being, constituted in himself, the ego is an absolutely necessary factor. If one had the power of abolishing the ego ahead of time, one would lose one's individuality. But once the individuality has been formed, the ego becomes not only useless but harmful. And only then comes the time when it must be abolished. But naturally, as it has taken so much trouble to build you, it does not give up its work so easily, and it asks for the reward of its efforts, that is, to enjoy the individuality. (The Mother, 12 January, 1955) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/12-january-1955#p25</ref>
When we have passed beyond individualising, then we shall be real Persons. Ego was the helper; Ego is the bar. (The Mother, 28 November, 1956) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/28-november-1956#p7</ref>
So, for everyone—except for those who are born free, and this is obviously very rare—for everyone this state of reason, of effort, desire, individualisation and solid physical balance in accordance with the ordinary mode of living is indispensable to begin with, until the time one becomes a conscious being, when one must give up all these things in order to become a spiritual being. (The Mother, 28 November, 1956) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/28-november-1956#p15</ref>
...to begin with, a tremendous labour is required to individualise oneself, and afterwards one must demolish all that has been done in order to progress. (The Mother, 20 February, 1957) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/20-february-1957#p16</ref>
I suppose the ego came there [into human activity] first as a means of the outer consciousness individualising itself in the flux of Nature and, secondly, as an incentive for tamasic animal man to act and get something done. Otherwise he might merely have contented himself with food and sleep and done nothing else. With that incentive of ego (possession, vanity, ambition, eagerness for power etc. etc.) he began doing all sorts of things he might never otherwise have done. But now that he has to go higher, this ego comes badly in the way. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/ego-and-its-forms#p1</ref>
== Safety and Limitations of Ego ==
To live without a fortress is extremely difficult—people have the feeling that they are not living, that they are not individualised, that they are floating about. It is extremely difficult to live in something infinitely vast, moving, constantly changing, perpetually in progress, not to be held by anything to which one can cling, saying "I am this; this is my way of thinking." It is very difficult, one must not try it too soon; there are those whose mind gets deranged by it. (The Mother, 12 March, 1951) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/12-march-1951#p19</ref>
… it is impossible for a divided and individualised consciousness with a divided, individualised and therefore limited power and will to be master of the All-Force; only the All-Will can be that and the individual only, if at all, by becoming again one with the All-Will and therefore with the All-Force. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/death-desire-and-incapacity#p5</ref>
= Psychic - The True Individual =