In Defense of the Ego

    by Gary Barnes


    I believe the much maligned ego is getting a bum rap. The ego has been the target of the best and worst intentioned of individuals and groups. On one hand we have governments and organizations that insist on ego annihlation and subjugation of individual will for the "good of the state" or some other group. Because the ego questions,because the ego insists on its individual freedom, does not willingly submit to the unreasonable, destructive demands of a totalitarian government or organization such as the military, or some religious groups, those organizations set out to destroy any semblance of individual will.

    Then there are those who espouse destruction of the ego as a means of, or enroute to, enlightenment. The view here is that the ego is somehow evil, or seperate from the total being. While one could hardly question the desirability of achieving a higher state of awareness, one definetely should question the wisdom of ego annihlation as a means to that end.

    I see the ego as one aspect of the total self. The ego is that aspect of ourselves that our higher selves or(here, dear reader, you may insert whatever name you give the divine creator), created to interact with all other aspects of the physical universe. Its task is to survive these interactions and thrive. The ego takes its task seriously. It looks after its various individual selves and thrives, and forgets. In forgetting, the ego may become so centered on its purely physical self that it acts in ways detrimental to other individual egos and its environment, and it is out of balance with the universe and its purpose.

    Eventually though, the questions always return; the who, why,or what am I? And, what is it that asks the question? What is it that struggles to find the answer; that builds temples to its answers? What is it that contemplates the possibility of eternity and a universe of unlimited possibilities? It is not the higher self, or the god within, because it knows! It is the ego that struggles to awareness. It is the ego that becomes enlightened. It is the ego that continues to interact on the physical plane even as the answers become clear. But, once enlightened, aware of who and what it is, it acts and reacts in a totally new way. It knows that its individual well being is connected at the very deepest and highest level with its environment and all other entities in this creation.

    The goal then, should not be to destroy the ego(unless you're planning on disappearing in some spectacular pyrotechnic display upon achieving satori) but to bring it into balance with the rest of your individual aspects and the aspects of all the other entities manifest in this timespace construct. I propose that our purpose in being here is not, as the Buddha said,"to suffer", or as others say, to learn; considering the all knowing nature of the one mind, it would be a dismally short play and boring to boot... "let me tell you about suffering".

    Rather I believe we are here to experience this creation, both its joys and its sorrows. The ego in balance can appreciate the joy and the sorrow without becoming attached to them because it knows these things only have meaning in the duality of the physical universe. The ego in balance, the aware ego, that aspect of the all that makes you you, will willingly give up its attachment to this world when it is time. There is nothing you have to do to the ego but remember who and what you are. I honor the light within you.



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