For this new series, I ask the question “What are our ego traps and what can we do about them?“
But I figured someone stumbled across this page wondering what the heck the ego even is, or thought “ego” means “confidence” or “arrogance.”
Photo by Juan Rumimpunu on Unsplash
What is Ego?
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ego as: “the self especially as contrasted with another self or the world.”
Or: “the one of the three divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory that serves as the organized conscious mediator between the person and reality especially by functioning both in the perception of and adaptation to reality.”
Basically, ego is an aspect of being human. But, more than that, ego is our voice of separation of self and our voice of fear.
Famously, Wayne Dyer used to say that EGO stands for Edging God Out.
You remember those old cartoons? Someone would be trying to make a sound decision and a devil would be sitting on one shoulder and an angel on the other? That’s kinda what I’m talking about here, put in simplistic terms.
See, we are in this personality on earth temporarily, right? This is not the totality of us. This is an aspect of time and space, and this person you are in currently has its Soul or Spirit, and it has an ego.
Science explains this as a portion of the brain called the Economo Neuron Group, or VENG. This part of the brain believes in the personality as someone separate from others and needing to self-preserve.
Most faith contexts have an explanation for the ego, as well.
The Bible uses the story of the Garden of Eden to explain how the ego got into our minds and made us embarrassed to be naked, and thinking that we know it all.
Back to the devil and the angel on the shoulder… basically, what is happening inside of you is a loud voice that is trying to preserve your personality and help keep you “safe” on human terms. And then there is the soft Spirit, Soul, or God voice in you that connects to your higher self, the Universe, Creation, etc.
So, how do we know who is running the show?
When ego ran my brain, I completely lost track of my Spirit voice. Though I know She never lost me and never abandoned me (much like the parable of the lost son), I forgot to be still and listen to Her. Instead, I listened to the ego voice. Knowing he had the floor, he got louder and louder, and more and more demanding, which led to a lot of mental anguish, which I would consider to be mental illness. I was terribly anxious and depressed for about 25 years, compounded after having children and struggling with chemical imbalances from hormones and stress.
Once I discovered that the loud shrieking voice of doom and anger was an ego that did not really have any power or control over me, I could shut her down and refocus on the still voice that is my Spirit or Higher Power. This is putting all of it into extremely simple and fast-forward terms. I will tell more about how that transpired in a future post.
So, here’s what I know from my experience:
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God or The Divine delivers decisions that are Loving.
She will not deliver angry, vindictive decisions or instructions. Her place is all of Creation, all of the Universe, so Her lead will be only of Love for All.
2. Ego is the voice of fear.
Please don’t confuse this fear with instinct. If we have learned anything from the animals of the world, it’s that God gives us all instinct. He will raise the hairs on our arms or give us sweats or butterflies to get us out of a dangerous situation, before we even know it’s dangerous.
But ego fear is the sneaky kind of fear. It’s that fear that is coming from a feeling of inequality or self preservation.
Ego will say things like:
- you better do this or you’ll lose.
- the others are wrong and you are right
- get mad or get even
- you’re not good enough
- who do you think you are
See? He’s sneaky like that. He’s not overly egotistical all the time. He might tell you to puff up. He might tell you to cower down. But he won’t tell you to default to love and acceptance.
Do we need ego to be here?
Remember; ego is responsible for the human illusion that we are living in. God is responsible for the abundance, Love, and Beauty we live in. So, without ego, we don’t have rules of space and time, illusions that we need in order to continue on the plane of existence we decided to take.
So maybe as we transition into “World without End” and “On Earth as it Is in Heaven,” then we won’t need ego because we won’t need time, space, and constructs of the human world. But for this space, in 2022, here we are. Ego exists. And we just have to know he has a role in temptation, and in deceitful activity.
Have you noticed your ego voice and your God voice? Can you hear each yet?