The Higher Self and HGA = Super Ego

[Dindin]

I've got the longest thought the HGA was some type of idealistic personified version of ones full potential. Like a Tupla built to represent you in your highest level of development . That then is given life and takes over the slot of the indoctrinated super ego in freuds model.

And the Higher Self is just the general term for anyone's psyche which is configured and functioning at its higher potential .

Higher Self is the perfected concept.
HGA is the internalized archetypal form we can interface with that represents the higher self.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this ?

 

[HoldAll]

I think the danger here is creating an idealized image of oneself (what Freud called the '

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') that will still retainn some flaws one mistakenly regards as one's strengths or virtues, only now hypertrophied to supernatural proportions. In fact, if I ever occupied myself with HGA work seriously, I'd first look into tulpomancy and then try hard as hell not to create such a custom-built entity unwittingly because my own specifications for such a being would be inevitably limited by my preconceptions as to what such a being could (or should) be like. I wouldn't want to create a 'mega-me' but encounter something completely different.

In my mind, the main advantage of considering your guardian angel an external and separate entity is that it could offer you perspectives completely different from your own. It'd be like talking to a close friend, a good therapist, or reading a brilliant book - you receive input from an outside source which you'd have never thought of yourself coming from totally unfamiliar angles. In other words, I'd want my HGA to surprise me instead of going over the same familiar old ground defined by me in circles. I tend to take the guardian angel concept quite literally: for me, it is an angel, i.e. neither me nor a perfected version of myself. Angels are said to be a superior being by nature, with quite different motives than humans and infinitely wise; on the other hand, I wouldn't entirely trust my own Higher Self because I'd still consider it slightly tainted by my own personal opinions, petty likes and dislikes, etc., although it should be above all those things in theory.

From a practical side, an externalized HGA could be conjured up like any other spirit, which adds another layer of 'insulation' against involuntary narcissism. I was very impressed with Damon Brand's "Magickal Destiny" where you invite your guardian angel into your life and befriend it; I love his approach. However, the more you try to define the HGA in psychological terms, the more you disenchant it and conceptually constrict its nature, retaining control at all times where it's better relinquished from a certain point onwards.

 

[sahgwa]

I've got the longest thought the HGA was some type of idealistic personified version of ones full potential. Like a Tupla built to represent you in your highest level of development . That then is given life and takes over the slot of the indoctrinated super ego in freuds model.

And the Higher Self is just the general term for anyone's psyche which is configured and functioning at its higher potential .

Higher Self is the perfected concept.
HGA is the internalized archetypal form we can interface with that represents the higher self.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this ?

Short answer, in my opinion and learning, 'no, not at all'
the HGA is more than your idealised self. It is more than your self, your small s self is just your ego and current incarnation in this body and time.
The HGA is your Higher Self, and is thus outside of time and reincarnation.
It is a more developed, higher dimensional being, that is you because it is linked to you.
Like you are the HGA's foot. In a manner of speaking.

 

[Jonathan Strange]

Can I direct you to Internal Family Systems? In this model of psychology we divide the person in many parts, one is ego, called self, there are child parts with other parts that protect them that could be called the superego. On the subject of the HGA, there are parts that do not indentify as you at all, some are guides, that could be understood as the HGA, or a personal Daimon. (There are parts that could be seen as evil and be exorcized as well). I recommend "The Other Within Us" by Robert Falconer.

 

[Beyond Everything]

I've got the longest thought the HGA was some type of idealistic personified version of ones full potential. Like a Tupla built to represent you in your highest level of development . That then is given life and takes over the slot of the indoctrinated super ego in freuds model.

And the Higher Self is just the general term for anyone's psyche which is configured and functioning at its higher potential .

Higher Self is the perfected concept.
HGA is the internalized archetypal form we can interface with that represents the higher self.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this ?

Yes, the HGA (when not some external entity taking you for a ride) can be described as a thoughtform, and often one also molded by religious collectivist energies- which is a big problem.

(Freud has zero validity -he provably dissimulated about his patients' results, for one thing, so I see zero benefit incorporating him into any esoteric model you might have)

I don't see the fantastic results people claiming their HGA are getting, from my years of observation. And an interesting aside- two of the individuals other than crowley who popularized the concept were Regardie and CS Hyatt. Regardie ended up stating he wouldn't have even been involved in magic if he could live his life over again, and CS Hyatt in his radical undoing program pretty much dismissed the HGA's value (this despite earlier writing books about it).

There are unknown parts of the self that need to be tapped and brought onboard for the highest magical development, but the discourse around the 'higher self' is really quite mediocre. As well as the techniques (like imagining things above your head) are the weakest of the weak sauce. More profoundly, there isn't an already perfected self somehow waiting for you. You have to develop that, and it is achieved post-mortem.