Ego: Friend or Foe?

Some modern teachers refer to "The Ego" as if it were the enemy of spiritual or psychological growth. They tell us we have to fight the ego, subdue it and get rid of it in order to really know God, or to develop psychologically. But I ask, "What if the 'ego' is a kind of seed which contains the whole self?" The word "ego" is simply the Greek word for "I," referring to one's sense of conscious identity at any given moment. It seems to me that it is more accurate to say that this "I" is both a great ally and a formidable foe: an ally because "I" am a wondrously unique individual made in the image of divinity, exercising at least some free will and able to personally experience the Good; a foe because some part of the "I" mightily resists the experiences of the Good. The French poet Baudelaire put it like this: "There are in every person, at every hour, two simultaneous postulations, one towards God, the other towards Satan." Or, Ram Dass: "You carry heaven and hell within you." Robert Louis Stevenson captured this ubiquitous human experience in his novel, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Both sides of the "I" are necessary, because as Carl Jung noted, the "I" develops "from...collisions with the outer world and the inner." Just as a solid seed pod keeps the vital contents secure,  it simultaneously provides the obstacle to be overcome when it is time for the contents to escape into the soil for new growth.

This I-seed or original “I-pod” of individual self awareness utilizes every internal and external experience to grow into the mature Human. This process is beautifully illustrated in the Greek Eros/Psyche myth as Psyche moves from self obsession to immortal divinity, and in the biblical journey of Adam from the nascent image of God to Christ as the matured image of God. Both stories begin with nascent "egos" which develop into divine enhumanment. Those who think that his/her "I" (ego) is secondary to “Spirit”, or a superfluous hindrance to real spirituality are in for a difficult and frustrating psycho-spiritual journey. The chick in the egg (eggo) might as well minimize or reject the encumbering and annoying shell which encompasses her emerging "enchickenment". The ego, seed pod and shell all simultaneously protect and suffocate the contents, providing both life and death on the way to new life.

                                                                                       

The “I” contains all that each of us is, and all that each of us is becoming. Our "I-pod" provides that unique selfish identity and resistant “personality” against which the emerging Self must push in order to gain strength and maturity. For theists, I suggest that our "I" is divinity in seed form. Those wits who describe the acronym of E.G.O. as "Edging God Out" would be better served by describing E.G.O. as "Edging God Outward". Treat your "I" like Kenny Roger's treats his cards in The Gamber: "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away and know when to run." The "I" serves us well, until "I" doesn't.

Politics and the Role of The Ego

Psychologically speaking, one's current "Ego" seed-pod typically forms a very hard outer shell of identity, as seed pods must. Certainty and security are absolute necessities for a functioning Ego. Politics and religion make great harbors for forming and maintaining a secure Ego-pod. They are neat and tidy with helpful beliefs, agendas and solutions to painful problems.

But the irony is that, just as with natural seeds, the hard impenetrable shell of Ego identity that simultaneously protects the precious contents, also hinders it from growing into a new entity. To make Eternal souls we must form these thick protective provisional Ego identities throughout life in order to become attached to particular ideas, feelings and intentions. This Ego-pod is not bad as much as it is necessary, until it is ready to crack open, shed the old identity and form a new one. But most of us hang on for dear life when that old identity is threatened; and there is nothing like politics, religion and marriage (close relationships) to assail that old Ego.

The frightening part of getting older is that we often grow so accustomed to our current Ego "order" of things that we solidify and become intractable. Typically, only death and disease can break through. We live in an ingenious Universe because age brings both in spades!

I call this Ego attachment I.M.D., or Ideological Myopia Disorder, which as I said is actually quite a good and necessary "order" until it causes more pain than security. That is why tribes and cult-ures make rites or rituals; to keep things in "divine right/rite order". A culture might be defined as "ones current ego-confirming cult of identity." "Rite" is etymologically related to "Right" (order), and people individually and collectively must carve out order and "rightness" in an otherwise chaotic universe. There is Progressive "Rightness" with their "orderly rites", and Conservative "Rightness" with their "orderly rites". Our political priests and media prophets affirm and confirm our meaningful realities, keeping us comfortably ensconced in our little socio-political "cults" or cultures. The glowing blue television has become the new altar of sacrifice where we slaughter and offer up our offerings in the sacred space of our homes. TV has become the primary medium of scapegoating in the modern world--virtual evisceration of our enemies and bloodless bloody murders.

Ones current "Ego" shell typically does not crack open to put down new roots without some sort of devastation that disintegrates our current ego. You can be assured, the more emotional we are toward our current "enemy," the more active the Universe is in splitting the old Ego-pod open to reveal the next provisional, soul-making Ego. The "Other" becomes our Satan, which literally means adversary; and in the Bible always works in tandem with Spirit to evolve our souls. That is why Jesus said to "Love your enemies" and "bless those who persecute you." He understood that the trip of soul-making requires obstacles and encounters with emotionally charged material. Our enemies work like erosive soil and fertilizer works on seeds when they are buried underground in the dark. If a seed had personality, it would think it ludicrous that immersion under a mound of suffocating dirt and darkness was the way to life and light. But that pod does not crack without pressure and disintegration.

Our current society does not seem to get this, especially, in my opinion, most politicians, who want to create a painless and dirt free world. Marx and Lenin had great intentions, as do our politicians. The problem is that they are fighting the larger intention of the Cosmos. Our brilliant Constitution guarantees us the "right/rite order" to pursue happiness, but not attain happiness. Yes, we ought to try and create a pain free world, but we must realize that pain and loss are necessary parts of the game. As Jesus said, "In this world you SHALL have tribulation," and "The poor you shall have with you always." This is not an endorsement for neglect or calloused disregard. Our personal compassion toward the less fortunate makes soul; however, it is not the job of the government to end suffering for all people everywhere.

WE CANNOT FIGHT EGO AND OPPOSE WAR

A HIDDEN SOURCE OF WAR

The average westerner believes he or she is in a battle with his or her self, or ego. You hear it all of the time from esteemed spiritual teachers:

1. “The foundation of the Buddha's teachings lies in compassion, and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the number-one enemy of compassion." Tenzin Gyatso

2. “ Ego is the biggest enemy of the human." Hindu Rig Vedas

3. “Give up all bad qualities in you, banish the ego and develop the spirit of surrender. You will then experience Bliss.” Sri Sai Baba

4. “There is a very powerful energy, force, or intention in each of us that violently resists the possibility of real freedom. That is what ego is, and for the individual who sincerely aspires to become a liberated human being, ego is the only obstacle, the only enemy of the longing for freedom.” Andrew Cohen

Those who say that ego is our enemy foster an often unconscious internal war which will sometimes suprisingly erupt into that person’s relationships, and will always erupt into the larger world scene. This person may never blow his top or lose her temper in public. He may be the epitome of peace and love, externally, but inside rages an invisible war of contempt for the ego-self which reminds him of his finite and not quite realized ideal self'. He may be fighting sexual lusts or an insatiable appetite for recognition and success. She may walk by the mirror and see what she feels is an ugly, vain, confused, frustrated woman. He may feel contempt for the self he brings home from work or social situations. Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, “Tonight I was the life of the party; I made people laugh and feel good. I came home and wanted to kill my self.” There it is...the contempt for the ego, the unfinished and sometimes troubling self.

HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD

Self…the ego…the person living in my skin with a name feels like the number one enemy of many otherwise tranquil appearing spiritual persons today. These people meditate, ‘wage peace’, promote non-violence and voice an open disdain for war and those whom they feel cause these wars. Yet by fighting their own egos, they are unconsciously creating a psycho-cultural matrix for the very wars they oppose.

The Universe is a Unified Cosmos, an organic body, a single living organism. Each individual is a little psychological cell in the larger Soul of the Cosmos. While these ego-fighting peace advocates may see themselves as peaceful people because they work to promote peace and world harmony – they are a raging battlefield internally, hating their own selfishness, lust, greed, envy, jealousy and a host of other secluded thoughts and emotions comprising the pesky ego.

They are convinced that by keeping their psychological war criminals locked away in solitude, inviting God in to conquer this enemy of selfish ego, they are promoting peace. I don’t think so. Their subdued ego-adversaries may be shackled behind carefully guarded lips and politically correct prison bars, but the energy will show up in other places – the appearance of cancer cells, street gangs, a war in Iraq and social hate crimes. The point here is not to make people feel guilty or responsible for violence, but to suggest that the roiling magma of our own internal warfare against ego will emerge somewhere else on the surface of the social landscape. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, "Men have talked about the world without paying attention to the world of their own minds, as if they were asleep or absent-minded."

NAZI GERMANY: LUTHER AND THE WAR WITHIN

I conjecture, because there is no ‘proof’, that Nazi Germany may be a glaring example of internal ego warfare spawning external violence. Here was a 'Christian' nation. It was filled with genuinely good Bible reading people, moral Lutheran and Catholic people, kind people. They were not monsters, but decent, family loving, patriotic, God fearing folks. But, they had lived with a doctrine called Original Sin which taught that their natural internal self (ego) was evil and separated from God. For 400 years they had sung Martin Luther’s militant hymn:

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing…
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.

According to this theology, the very core of each German soul was bad. One had to fight, or let God fight hard to subdue the vile enemy within. Luther and Germany were informed by what they felt was the God-inspired theology of Saint Paul who wrote, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.” (Romans 7:18) And before we exclude ourselves as being done with that old negative Christian theology, change one word in this verse and many of us will find ourselves still very much believing the same thing: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my ego nature.”

If we change the world sinful to ego, we find that there is little difference between those who believe in Original Sin, and those who are at war with their egos.

Is it possible that Germany's collective internal warfare had to erupt somewhere, first in World War I and then in World War II? Might this help us to understand how an otherwise calm culture can find itself immersed in violent conflict? I think it very possible that the more ‘decent’ a person or nation acts while battling the enemy within, the more likely they are to witness outbursts of violence around them. I think it is possible that the war in Nazi Germany began in the collective war against sin and ego in the souls of the good citizens of that internally conflicted nation.

THE NECESSITY OF EGO

The solution is to stop fighting the ego. One may recognize the ego as selfish and at times quite troublesome personally and socially, but it is a necessary and wonderful gift of human consciousness. For theists, think of the ego as the seed of God, the ovum of consciousness. It is planted in the soil of existence and develops through stages. It cracks apart and puts down roots in selfish actions and impure motives. The process is often dark and dank as the ego-seed pod dies and cracks open. Carl Jung said, "We spend the first thirty five years of our lives developing an ego, and the second thirty five getting rid of it."

The ego or self is a little like the human body – it has many features and functions, some noble and others not so noble. We feed and exercise both. Sometimes both cause us great pleasure and other times great pain. They may produce creative works of art and stinking feces. This is normal and natural for the physical body and the psychological ego. Most of us don’t declare war on our bowel movements or full bladders. We recognize these functions as normal and necessary, and find ways to deal with them appropriately. We teach our children to use the potty and clean themselves. Ego is often like a little child being taught and trained to expand in awareness.

Any doctrine or psychology which denigrates the ego creates a human being who is split internally. This phenomenon will always move a culture toward war.

To castigate a part of ourselves, in fact the very center of our self, is the precursor to all violence. When we fight our own self or ego, selfish and petty though it may be at times, we create a state of internal agitation, mostly sublimated. When we awake in the morning and begin the day feeling we must fight our bad attitudes, greedy desires, negative thoughts and selfish motivations, or that we must battle against some religious or political ideology – we are setting the stage for war. In fact, we are war.

This is a very subtle and seldom detected battlefield in many of us. We just assume that our ego is bad and must be conquered or surrendered, terms we use of the enemy. Our fight with our egos, like magma, boils beneath the collective consciousness and will always erupt somewhere. Often, we blame the politicians for causing the wars – but the politicians are put in the unpleasant position of having to manage our sublimated psychological battles which burst open in national or international conflicts. We slap bumper stickers on our cars, march in the streets, rail against the war mongering bureaucrats – and spend the day fighting our egos.

A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

I can't provide a list of Ten Ways to Make Peace with Ego. We have enough lists that we never apply. If you find yourself sympathetic with this blog-o-bull, begin to watch your self; pay attention. Are you fighting the ego? Do you see the self in the mirror, especially when flawed, petty, selfish, addicted, failing and a little nuts - and behold God's perfect seed cracking apart, putting down roots, growing from a tiny soul seedling toward the sun? Or do you despise it, declare war on it, vow to exterminate it? This is not a justification for narcissism or self centeredness; it is an attempt to suggest that all external war begins internally, and often in places we may not even realize.

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