EGO AND SPIRITUALITY

The ego could be called the core or nucleus of the Conscious Mind. Most people spend the vast majority of their conscious time in association with the ego during their waking hours. The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality in day to day life. The ego develops from the individual’s personality and his growth years since childhood in the company of parents. The ego develops and operates on the principle of reality, which strives to satisfy the individual’s desires in realistic and socially acceptable ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to accept or reject those impulses.

When you try to analyze the Ego and its subtle manifestations with respect to spirituality, one realises that there are two obvious aspects to ego, namely the life-affirming ego and the life-negating ego. Life-affirming ego is that aspect of consciousness which permits an individual to function in the physical world and the parameters of consensual reality. Life-negating ego is that aspect which considers the ego as evil, an illusion, as imprisoning limitations that need to be transcended.

It can be said that the life-affirming approach to the ego yields better physical and mental health than the life-negating approach. Suppression of natural propensities will only move them underground in the unconscious. We find that checking inappropriate tendencies of the ego coupled with the nurturing of its experience yields a more balanced and natural personality expression. Moreover, the fixation in altered states of consciousness engendered by the life-denying approach can interfere with normalized personality expression.

There are different kinds of egos and they manifest without one realizing its impact at all. Swamiji has said in many of his discourses that having a feeling of not having an ego is also a kind of ego. When one says I feel so sad for so and so person and you end up saying “that poor fellow” – that too is ego in a very subtle form. This is because “I” am feeling bad for that persons’ situation in life. You have to just become a witness – because feeling bad for any person in life is pointless as that person is living his destiny and getting the fruits or stones of his destiny. Similarly, when you feel good for any person to the point where you express it boisterously, that too is the ego in action – because “I” am happy for so and so person. You have expressed overwhelming joy for a certain person – that too is your ego in action. You need to attain a balance and be happy and in bliss regardless of events occurring in your life and in and around you.

It is only through meditation and by becoming a witness to your thoughts that you can try to control your ego. Any anger, joy, jealousy or other extreme emotion is your ego manifesting into your reactive behavior. You will be in a position to eliminate your ego only when you achieve the ability to control your emotions to the extent that you do not get affected by transpiring events – you just become a witness. You may be called hard-hearted and cruel if you do not react the way society expects you to with regard to situations in life. But those reactions are based on societies understanding of events and reactive emotions. One should not get affected by this too – people will have a lot to say, but not reacting or remaining calm with an equitable disposition will help you control your emotions and remain in balance. Remaining in balance in such troubled times is difficult and a huge challenge in the modern world.

Even life-affirming ego will become a hindrance in spiritual growth, when one starts feeling superior about one’s goodness. The idea is to rise above all this and reach a state of non-existence – NOT BEING as opposed to BEING. The moment you reach this high state of consciousness you will have reached the door of salvation and you will be close to seeing the light, as the saying goes. Let us all try to lose ourselves completely so that we can see the light and attain salvation.