The ego, the illusion

This article was inspired by a question that one of the author's friends asked. A close friend who has been reading the articles on the blog, asked the author what exactly is meant when we talk about the ego.

Knowing the person who asked the question, and understanding the background and the culture of this person, the word ego has quite a different meaning, and therefore it can easily be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Especially due to the fact that this word is used so much in the articles on this blog, the author thought that it would be worth doing an article related to the ego, giving the readers a clear understanding of what is meant when we talk about the ego.

So, what is the ego? The author studied Buddhist philosophy, and in Buddhist philosophy, the term 'ego' is quite often used. However, this does not mean that the ego is only applicable to Buddhism, or Buddhist philosophy. No, in fact, the ego applies to all of us, regardless of our culture, philosophy, religion, or nationality. It may have different names or labels, but it remains the same thing.

This means that even when we are following the Christian religion, the Islam religion, or even if we feel that we can be seen as Atheists, the ego still applies to all of us.

With that said, let's go into this a bit deeper. 

Searching for the ego

Now, let's ask ourselves the following question, but, be honest! Ask "Who or what am I...?"

When we ponder upon this, we may come up with ideas such as that we are a man or a woman, an African, an Indian, a Latina, a student, a Hindu, a mother, a soul, or something similar. We come up with identities of who or what we are. These identities are usually influenced by our societies. We see ourselves as products of our societies. Identifying ourselves by our religion, race, nationality, sex, etc.

Yet, is this who we really are, or is this just an abstract idea, a belief?

See, we get to caught up in ideas of who and what we are, and we start to identify with these ideas so strongly, that we end up truly believing that we are this or that. It does not end there. We believe that we are this person, this nationality, with this sex and race, and we spend our whole lives defending this identity! Whenever anything happens which places our identity in a vulnerable position, we feel threatened and we either defend or attack the threat. Is this not true?

Let's be completely honest with ourselves for a moment. When we ask ourselves who or what we are, can we locate this anywhere solidly? Do we say that we are the body? We are the mind? The thoughts? Or, as some of us may feel, that when we frown and we contract the muscles between our eyes, behind the forehead - that part there, this is 'me'.

Check up. Let's scan the body, the mind, and see if we can find any true, any separate 'self' or any solid 'I' existing as a separate entity, separate to our universe? We shall find that there is no real 'me' existing, no separate 'self' existing. This is only an idea, an abstract concept, and this is what we refer to as the ego. 

The ego is simply a thought. 

The source of unhappiness and suffering

At this point, some of us may feel that yeah, so what, what if one cannot locate a fixed point of 'me' - it still exists, and that this is just mind games, playing games with ourselves. And, what is the point of all of this? What is the point of pointing out the ego?

Well, let's consider the following... who has been the greatest source of all our unhappiness and suffering? Hmm? Yeah, it is none other than the ego! Don't believe this? Again, check up, it's simple.

There is this false idea of 'self' existing. The ego. The ego believes that it is real, solid, and it always needs to justify itself, always wanting to be fed with emotions, ideas, anything that makes it appear real. We spend our lives in conflict, defending this ego because we need to defend who or what we believe we are. 

It is also the ego that is the source of attachment and desire. Think about this. Who generates attachment? It is the ego. The ego wants to cling to objects because it makes the ego feel more real, more solid. The same goes for our desires. Who desires? It is the ego. The ego, believing that it is really something and desiring objects to satisfy it.

See, if the ego is constantly clinging to objects, constantly desiring objects, then how can we truly be this ego? We, who we truly are, are already in peace, in happiness, in an absence of suffering, and in a sense of fulfillment, not lacking anything. It is only the ego that is constantly grasping and bringing suffering.

Renouncing the ego

When we realize what the ego is, and we realize that we are not the ego, we can start to renounce it, we can start to dissolve it. We can invest time into meditating on what the ego is, and we can slowly, slowly start to dissolve it. We start to dissolve the attachments of the ego, the desires of the ego, and we shall notice that the less we feed the ego with emotions and ideas, the less powerful it becomes.

At first, this may be difficult to accept or to understand, because we feel that wow, if we are not the ego, then what is left? What are we then? But when we check up, when we really take the time to check up, we realize that this ego is nothing but an illusion, and when we start to see through the cracks of this illusion, we can more easily start to renounce the ego. 

Important to note, in short - we do not want to play this game where the ego is trying to get rid of the ego. Does this make sense? The idea that there is a separate self and this separate self must get rid of itself. This is just another game of the ego. If we have this approach, we shall find ourselves running in endless circles. 

To conclude, please do not merely accept this article blindly, do not simply accept it as being true or false. Don't simply fall for another theory, don't believe. Know, know through experience.

Invest a few minutes each day, quiet the mind, observe the ego, search for a separate sense of self. Scan the mind, scan the body, scan the emotions. We shall find that all of these objects are bound to impermanence, and therefore it can not be who we truly are. Check up on how we feed our egos with emotions of anger, fear, attachments, and desires. When we look closely, we can clearly start to identify the culprit of all our suffering, the ego. When we know that we are not this ego, we can turn our attention to the one observing the ego, the one witnessing how it acts and reacts. It is there, or rather here, where we want to rest our focus.

If anyone is interested in reading more about the ego and how to renounce it - in the books section on this blog, there is a very simple book, very easy to read, named 'Discovering peace and happiness within' which goes deeper into this topic. Please feel free to have a look and to share any feedback.

Like a flower growing from the soil and flourishing, we can renounce the egos and flourish in the same way.