My analysis of the ego

  We exist as a three-part entity. There are individual bodies and egos, which live in the world of time. They both eventually cease to exist. There is also the Spiritual Being, which is eternal, and is one with God. There is only one Spiritual Being, or Holy Spirit, and we are all joined.

I will analyze two parts in this essay, the problems the ego causes and the purposes it serves.

This is a world of perception, not one of knowledge. Our perception is one of scarcity, poverty, and famine. We seem to exist at the expense of each other. Some must starve, while others live well. Constant warfare has existed for thousands of years. The ego tells us we have to kill others before they kill us. The ego tells us to store up material wealth far in excess of what we need. The ego tells us we must maintain a physical body that in the end perishes no matter what we do. An example of this is the useless medical procedures people undergo, such as cosmetic surgery and hair transplants.

That’s a brief overview of the problems the ego causes. In light of this we could ask, do some people exist without an ego, and if so what are they like? In asking that question we also have to ask if there are those who exist without being part of God. A superficial examination of these questions would seem to indicate that there are indeed individuals who exist without an ego and conversely there are people so depraved and predatory it would seem there is no question they exist in the absence of the Holy Spirit.

However Course has much more to say on this subject and in truth no one exists without an ego and/or apart from the Holy Spirit. These entities are present in each of us. A Course in Miracles explains it in chapter 13, page 267, paragraph 5, and sentence 4 of the foundation for inner peace version. Whatever your reactions to the Holy Spirit’s Voice may be, whatever voice you choose to listen to, whatever strange thoughts may occur to you, God’s Will is done. The ego and the Holy Spirit are present in each one of us in the form of a voice. Note in the sentence I have highlighted the v of the voice. The capital V is the voice of the Holy Spirit; the lower case v is the voice of the ego. What we do with the physical body depends upon which voice we choose to listen to.

In the entire history of mankind there are only a few individuals who have listened to the Voice of the Holy Spirit exclusively. They are Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, The Twelve Christian Apostles, John the Baptist, Moses, Abraham, Mother Teresa, and perhaps a few others. Needless to say the list is quite short.

On the other hand history is full of examples of those who listen exclusively to the voice of the ego, and indeed if I listed all of them you would be reading for hours if not longer. Since I don’t want you to have to read for hours I will list only a few of them. They are Attila the Hun, Hernando Cortez, Ivan the Terrible, Genghis Khan, Nero, Adolf Hitler, Karl Marx, Pol Pot, and Joseph Stalin. Those should suffice for the purposes of this essay. 

In reality the world of time we inhabit is made up of individuals who listen to both voices at different times for different purposes, and this world is a sum total of this activity. As an example Bill Gates needed a strong ego to build Microsoft. However after he became a multi-billionaire he established the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. This is an excellent example of listening to both voices at different times. Another common example is one of people “mellowing” as they mature. This is because as we mature we learn to listen to the Holy Spirit instead of the ego.

That’s one of the purposes the ego serves. It enables our leaders to build or tear down civilizations. Here is the other purpose it serves.

The world of time is a playground for immature Spiritual Beings. We come into this world to play. The games we play are war, racism, and the acquisition of material wealth and idols. It’s similar to scuba diving in the ocean. We need to use an aqua-lung to do that. We couldn’t live underwater without it. The ego serves a similar purpose, although a Spiritual Being can live in this world without an ego. It just can’t play the games we play. That’s why a Spiritual Being needs the physical body and the ego.

That’s an overview of why we come into the world. There’s only one problem with this. In this world when children go out to the playground for recess they play all kinds of games, pretending to be all kinds of people. But when recess is over they go into the school and back to work. And even while they are playing they never forget who they really are, and they know it isn’t real.

Now let’s take a scenario where we as Spiritual Children come into this world to play war and be soldiers. But once we get here we forget whom we really are. If we really remembered it would not be a big deal to fight in a war and come back with three body parts missing. But that’s not the case. We don’t remember so it seems all too real.

I have to admit not everyone likes to think of war that way. But in all seriousness ask yourself, why do we call military training war games? And why are the paintball games adults’ play such a big industry?

As another example of forgetting whom we really are consider the people who have high stress jobs so they can live in the best neighborhoods and send their children to the best schools. They often have major health problems because of this. If they remembered who they are they would not take these games so seriously.

In the end there’s really no need to transcend the ego because it and the physical body allow us to function in the world of time and they go away eventually.

The ego and the physical body are relatively hardy entities, even though they are not immortal. They do not just go quietly into the night. For instance let’s say you were sailing a boat across the ocean and you’re 1,000 miles from land in the middle of a terrible storm. Your boat capsizes and sinks. You are all alone in the middle of the ocean at night, no life jacket, and huge waves crashing over you, sharks swimming all around. Your demise is 100% certain. You have no hope whatever. Yet even it these totally hopeless circumstances the ego and your physical being will not quietly surrender to the experience of death. You will keep your head above water as long as possible.

RR-ESM