The Gift & Curse of The Ego
As Elusive as it is Mysterious
“The Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it — just don’t get lost in it.”
-Ram Dass
For clarity’s sake, when I say “ego”, I am not necessarily referring to the Freudian definition as the mediator between the id and superego. I mean “ego” more in the sense of identity, of character and sense of self. We all have (at least) one, and it can be a tricky beast to tame.
The Buddhists and other Eastern mystics would argue that one should forsake this ego entirely, practice ascetism in pursuit of a state of oneness with all that is, but I would argue that this trajectory is just as vain and moot of a pursuit as unchecked hedonism. One may be able to adopt this stance, and live austerely by it, but to what end?
I believe it’s by the acceptance of one’s own soul, and the subsequently paradoxical acceptance that one cannot save one’s own soul from its tendency towards misdeed and selfishness, that one can actually be freed from suffering and incarnation into this human experience.
You, in the egoic sense, at least by my estimations, are not quite the same thing as your body, your thoughts, or even your actions.
There’s few things quite as unknowable or mysterious as the concept as “The Will of the Creator”, but if one is willing to concede a Creator, one ought to be at least trying to facilitate that Creator’s will in their daily life, and I know I certainly don’t always live up to that standard. The demanding nature of the sinless standard of Christ has been a large part of my reluctance to accept the label of “Christian”, despite believing in the virgin birth, crucifixion, and subsequent resurrection.
This reluctance has been, as it turns out, a massive gut-punch of irony, as the resulting consequences have been far more than I would’ve been willing to suffer through, if I’d properly understood the message and accepted it by faith instead of insisting on picking holes in everything.
We are mini-Creators, made in the image of God. That said, we are also fallen and thereby “sinful” creations — incapable of independently behaving selflessly and appropriately under God’s perfect authority. If we were, we’d still be kickin’ back in Eden.
Mark 10:18
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered, “No one is good — except God alone”
Knowledge is a double-edged sword, but one must be more patient with nescience than with ignorance. What you aren’t told, what you’re lied to about, or what you aren’t aware of, can hardly be held against you with the same fervor as what you willingly and knowingly transgress. Most of us have a conscience, even if we don’t always listen to it. Right and wrong are not just culturally subjective — they are written into the building blocks of reality itself.
