A surgeon said to his patient ‘I removed your Ego as that’s what was clogging your sense of reality!
What is our Ego?
The term ‘Ego’ virtually means all of a person’s thoughts, the feelings that flow from those thoughts, and the sense related physical reactions to those!
The Ego exposed:
Most people think the word ‘Ego’ means self-pride or arrogance exhibited by an individual. In fact it covers all of the above! How many people are conditioned by their upbringing? As we undergo life experiences (Example: guidance from parents, other family members, authority figures, relationships with others, we form likes and dislikes about a wide range of thoughts.
Do any of these apply to you?
- Get agitated or frustrated easily.
- Frequently justify your actions.
- Find it hard to relate to others.
- Find it hard to control anger.
- Sick of feeling ‘off key’.
There is a way out!
Identifying the Ego:
Our feelings and inner self-talk will very quickly reveal how happy or unhappy we are. Our feelings in particular, have a huge bearing on how we tend to process them into mental compartments such as – this is bad, this is good, this is so-so! (Example: Why did that person give me the ‘cold shoulder’?, I worry about not earning enough money, I’m not really happy in my job, I wish I could find a real ‘Soul Mate’, I feel awkward relating to other people! Or, I really enjoyed last night’s dinner with friends, or, on my morning walk, it’s nice to see other walkers acknowledge my ‘good morning greeting! I notice my re-actions to silly things, selfish thoughts, my insecurities and sometimes my strengths!
We are probably aware that one’s personal ego if not well supervised and controlled, can be more of an obstruction than a help in business and personal life! We don’t have to look too far to see examples of ego’s out of control:
- Observing debates that include all political party leaders.
- Marital and other relationship problems.
- Religious fanaticism.
General attitudes develop with age as we attempt to make sense of our own self-worth and emotional security in line with our dreams and finding our place in the world around us. This involves a range of thoughts and feelings about ourselves, other people, relationships, religion, politics, race, colour, culture, the business world, earning a living, and the outer world in general.
How secure or insecure is our ego?
One’s personal ego needs a story line because:
- It feels emotionally insecure.
- It needs to keep bolstering and justifying itself to others.
- It needs to give itself goals to justify its existence.
- It knows deep down, that it has no real basis upon which it has based its opinions and beliefs other than its reactions to previous experiences.
This can develop into a general or more specific ‘belief system’ which is: Tolerant of others and their differing points of view, or a complete rejection of others views, including the ‘need’ to win arguments or debates to prove itself to others and itself!
Of course there are many varying degrees of the above.
Since our opinions and beliefs have developed from our personal reactions to experiences in life we have undergone so far, we can only see ‘that which we think is correct’ or ‘would like to believe is reality itself’!
Learning to ‘stand aside’ from our own ingrained thoughts and feelings, can open our minds to higher more intuitive thoughts and feelings and enable us to understand and ‘feel’ the reality of life as it is!
A saying from Albert Einstein comes to mind which is quite profound:
“Intuition is a sacred gift, and the intellect is its faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant, and has forgotten the gift”!
Any comments are welcome!
The next blog will deal with the Ego’s potential.
Derrick