What is Wrong with the Ego?

Peter Hausamann
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read
The ego at the point of losing face

Our ego has been with us from the very start. We mostly first identified with our ego when we were about two years of age. We started to us the words “I, me and my”. Our ego is part of our ‘self’. So how did our ego arise out of self?

Since consciousness, our mind has been busy trying to make sense of the world we walk through. Our sensory organs continually send signals to our brain for the mind to make sense of its world and categorize it for later identification. However, there is one organ that the mind cannot receive sensory signals from, and that is the brain itself, for it has no nerve ends of its own. And since the mind is a by-product of brain activity, the mind cannot sense itself either.

To overcome this dilemma the mind had to create its own identity, from whatever has been stored in memory, about the human organism it is in. This self identity is known as the ego-self. It is the ego’s sense of self-esteem, or self-importance, which keeps the mind’s identity, to make sense of itself, alive.

However, the mind also knows that the ego is not really valid, because it’s just a fabricated story about self. The mind does not want to be aware of this truth because it would invalidate its own sense of itself. So to keep the false identity alive, the ego-mind continually looks for any validation to support its self-esteem, or ego-energy. The more energy it can get from validations, the more confident the ego story becomes.

What is wrong with the ego? It’s not valid. The ego fears its own truth. Anything that it censors to be a threat to its self-esteem will cause fear and tension throughout the body. All our experienced stress related feelings and emotions are caused by believing in our ego-fears. By doing this we are actually scaring ourselves.

Anger, resentment, anxiety, depression, dread, jealousy, envy, and all other forms of stresses, stem from our ego-fears of invalidation. Most people live a fear-based existence. It is an existence largely based on invalidity. That is why the truth about self can be so difficult to grasp. All our life the ego has created cover-stories of validity to veil over its (our) own invalid truth. We have basically lived a life of self-denial.

To change our life of self-deception to one of truth will take some doing. The reason is, the truth is the opposite way of being who we have been. Because our mind will not let go of its identity for fear of losing itself, we simply cannot kill the ego off. The best we can do is to becalm the ego so the truth can reveal itself.

The old saying, the truth hurts, is not true. What hurts is our ego squirming while losing face, or self-esteem. To becalm the ego is to remain soft and gentle (humble). Don’t be surprised if your ego does not like the word humble. It will be its undoing if you embrace the word.

Future blogs will be largely based on further truths about who we really are.

)

Written by

B Hlth Sc (Rehab Couns)[SYD]. Retired Addictions and Palliative Care Counsellor. Revealing the Truth of who we are.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade