I am tempted to just say that there are no such things as the ego. but that would make this a very short and meaningless blog post. Although that statement is true, I suppose that is a post for some other day.
So what is the Ego?
Let's just assume that there is this thing called the ego, what is it?
Short answer, it is everything you are not.
So the real question is not, "what is the ego" but rather "who am I if I am not the ego". And the answer to this question I have repeated many times on this blog and I am pretty sure I will be repeating again later in this post. But for now, we'll stick to the ego.
A teacher once said to me, 'let's call the ego, the conditioning". I love it. I think it is something we all can understand and relate to easily. Because that is what the ego is. A mere belief that we are an individual entity, with name and form and all of the characteristics, personal history and sometimes, the truckload of emotional baggage that come along with it, separated from Source.
Now go back and read that last sentence again, paying close attention to the last 3 words.
You see, many people have the misconception that the ego is bad. That it is that prideful part of us that we need to get rid of. We think of it as that part of us that judges and looks down on others, that is selfish, greedy, jealous and manipulative, too flamboyant and thinks too highly of ourselves, the part of us that needs to win every argument and gets triggered when challenged. Although all these descriptions are true about the ego, that's not even half of what it is.
The ego is not just the grandiose view of the self, but it is every single belief about who you think you are. You think you are not good enough? That's the ego. You think you lack what it takes to be successful - the ego. You think you are not pretty, not intelligent, lack confidence? That's right, ego, or we can call them our conditioning, can we not?
Again, that's not all.
You are diagnosed with a disease, so now you believe you are sick - that's the ego. You just turned 60 and believed you're old - ego as well. You feel that your religion is the only true religion. You believe that you should put your family ahead of other people, or race ahead of other races, people with the same ideology or political affiliation ahead of people with opposing views. All ego.
So it is clear. The ego is made up of your beliefs about who you are whether positive or negative, about others in the world, about how things should be, it is about your fears and desires and much more.
So what does removing the ego mean then?
If all of this is the ego, and the ego is everything that we are not, we then come back to the question "who am I".
Who is left when we remove the ego then? Or what? Have we given any thought to that?
The stars and the planets need space in order to exist. The clouds and rainbows need the sky to appear in. Paints need a piece of canvas to become a painting. Surely the ego too needs something to manifest in.
Time for a deep dive
If we are willing to entertain the idea that perhaps what is left once the ego is removed is our true form, then we have taken a huge leap forward in our search for true enlightenment. This is called self inquiry. It is by no means a small feat but the reward is huge.
The reward is liberation from the misidentification that you are the body-mind and the view of the self and the world from this limited standpoint that brings about suffering.
The reward is living a life free from bondage of desire, fear, guilt and shame but with full trust and acceptance.
The reward is knowing that the ego is nothing but a belief that separates us from each other and from source and that there is no need to remove it, but to simply know that you are not IT.
Thank you for reading. God bless <3.
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