DISCOURSES Volume II - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

70 DISCOURSESamounts to the destruction of the ego.The problem of erasing the ego from consciousness isvery complicated, however, because the roots of the ego are all inthe subconscious mind in the form of latent tendencies; and theseRoots of ego in subconsciousmindlatent tendencies are not always accessibleto explicit consciousness. The limited ego ofexplicit consciousness is only a smallfragment of the total ego. The ego is like an iceberg floating in thesea. About one-seventh of the iceberg remains above the surfaceof the water and is visible to the onlooker, and the major portionremains submerged and invisible to the onlooker. In the same way,only a small portion of the real ego becomes manifest inconsciousness in the form of an explicit "I," and the major portionof the real ego remains submerged in the dark and inarticulatesanctuaries of the subconscious mind.The explicit ego which finds its manifestation inconsciousness is by no means a harmonious whole; it can anddoes become an arena for multitudinous conflicts between op-Ego heterogeneousin constitutionposing tendencies. It has a limited capacityhowever for allowing simultaneous emergenceof conflicting tendencies. Two personshave to be at least on speaking terms if they are to enter intoarticulate wrangling. If they are not on speaking terms theycannot bring themselves to quarrel on common ground. In thesame manner, two tendencies which can enter into consciousconflict must have some common ground. If they are toodisparate they cannot find admittance into the arena of consciousness,even as conflicting tendencies, but have to remainsubmerged in the subconscious mind until they are bothmodified through the tension exerted by the diverseactivities connected with the conscious