Oh!
Don't get caught up on a useless dichotomy regarding strengthening or dissolving your ego. Your ego itself will tell you whether it needs to be strengthened or dissolved. Or rather, perhaps it is better to say that the self that resides behind the ego and safeguards the vitality of life will tell you what the ego requires at any point in your life. If the ego has taken a battering, you need to strengthen it. No point dissolving it at that point. You will only do damage to the self. But as Nietzsche said, sometimes when the winds are up on the high seas, you need to pull down your sails -- that is fold up and protect your ego so that it isn't damaged. Different strategies for different times. But if you haven't developed a very strong sense of self yet, it is imperative to do so by challenging oneself and by overcoming those challenges. That is really ego-strengthening.
The paradox is that you cannot really risk losing some sense of your ego unless it is first built up and really strong. That is, I think, what is meant by the "left hand path". It's not ego-strengthening, as such, but relies on having a pretty robust ego to begin with, because, actually, it is so ego-depleting.
The right hand path might be better geared toward shoring up a really weak ego, by encouraging people to lean on each other and form a group ego. It's not that individualistic.
The left hand path relies on being able to replenish your own ego by yourself, so that you can lose it and replenish it. Most people don't even think in these terms about their ego because they have been taught to think in very fixed terms about identity, as if it were something constant and impossible to change. But the amount of energy that runs through us, and how it runs is very important. As Nietzsche said, the difference between a generally mediocre person and a mountain climber who has neared the peak is narrowed by the latter's fatigue.
In any case, very immature people do not understand that constant states of "ego on" and "ego off" are not conducive to emotional health. You don't go around full powered all the time unless you want to repel everyone around you. I know that some people have interpreted Nietzsche as saying this would be a good idea, but I think they misunderstand him pretty much, as their own lives will show when they burn out suddenly.
That's all I can think of for the time being.
Don't get caught up on a useless dichotomy regarding strengthening or dissolving your ego. Your ego itself will tell you whether it needs to be strengthened or dissolved. Or rather, perhaps it is better to say that the self that resides behind the ego and safeguards the vitality of life will tell you what the ego requires at any point in your life. If the ego has taken a battering, you need to strengthen it. No point dissolving it at that point. You will only do damage to the self. But as Nietzsche said, sometimes when the winds are up on the high seas, you need to pull down your sails -- that is fold up and protect your ego so that it isn't damaged. Different strategies for different times. But if you haven't developed a very strong sense of self yet, it is imperative to do so by challenging oneself and by overcoming those challenges. That is really ego-strengthening.
The paradox is that you cannot really risk losing some sense of your ego unless it is first built up and really strong. That is, I think, what is meant by the "left hand path". It's not ego-strengthening, as such, but relies on having a pretty robust ego to begin with, because, actually, it is so ego-depleting.
The right hand path might be better geared toward shoring up a really weak ego, by encouraging people to lean on each other and form a group ego. It's not that individualistic.
The left hand path relies on being able to replenish your own ego by yourself, so that you can lose it and replenish it. Most people don't even think in these terms about their ego because they have been taught to think in very fixed terms about identity, as if it were something constant and impossible to change. But the amount of energy that runs through us, and how it runs is very important. As Nietzsche said, the difference between a generally mediocre person and a mountain climber who has neared the peak is narrowed by the latter's fatigue.
In any case, very immature people do not understand that constant states of "ego on" and "ego off" are not conducive to emotional health. You don't go around full powered all the time unless you want to repel everyone around you. I know that some people have interpreted Nietzsche as saying this would be a good idea, but I think they misunderstand him pretty much, as their own lives will show when they burn out suddenly.
That's all I can think of for the time being.
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