It’s not meant to be easy or difficult but simply it is to BE! I reckon that’s why we are human BE-ings.
A word – the meaning of which was difficult to understand or fathom ever since I first heard it and then of course without having really understood it, I too was using it in its limited “conditioned” way.
Anger, pride, self importance – all absolutely inflated in the sense of having some degree of superiority over others. This is how I understood EGO. And it was always the “Thing” – don’t be EGO-istic or one was humble only if one did not have an EGO or the most common one that I heard “we have to KILL our ego” in order to arrive in LIFE!!!
But as I progressed along life’s journey of finding my true nature – I realized how shallow we were in using this massively used and equally misunderstood word.
EGO – Heard some wise people define it as “Edging God out”. Which in a way is correct – because FEAR is the subset of EGO. And the opposite of love is fear. And love and fear cannot co-exist simultaneously.
But the one that resonated more with me was “Earth Guide Only”. Which fundamentally means that it is something that is necessary as a Guide/ tool to exist on this planet, in this form – in this form as a human being. I don’t think anyone would argue otherwise – NATURE is perfect and as corollary the Creator of this nature is perfect. The gestation period of nine months in the mother’s womb is nothing but absolute wondrous perfection. What comes forth is nothing but a jewel brighter than even a diamond – pristine, pure and life itself which brings joy to every single life this new born touches.
But then the spell is cast and something triggers – which starts making the identification or rather the difference between “I” , “me”, “mine” and everyone else. In the grandeur of things, without darkness we would not have understood or appreciated light, without hunger we would not have understood or appreciated food, without bad we would not have understood or appreciated good , without death we would not have understood or appreciated life, and the list goes on. Which means nothing but that we live in this world of Duality. When one thing is, the other thing is not. When light is there, darkness is not. When love is there, fear is not. Yet both have to be there for us to experience the either. Masters call it as one of the critical laws of Universe – the Law of Duality.
So what possible purpose could EGO have in our existence? If this entire UNI-VERSE is one Song, Divine is one presence, one Essence, God is one unit and we are all part of that Unit, Ego must be a necessary part of this law of duality. Something which helps us experience the divinity within us – because in absence of it, we in any case are ONE.
Which is why its no-thing but an “Earth Guide Only” because in the absence of which we wouldn’t be able to experience this life. This realization at my core was one of my big AHA moment!- no wonder Enlightened masters said “It’s A Great tool to have, but an extremely poor master”. So if we want to live a life of a master, then we need to know how to use this Earth Guide Only tool. But this tool is like the AI ( Artificial intelligence) – which learns by itself, through its own experiences. And as it learns, it grows.
EGO was essentially given to us to put the food in our own mouth, protect ourselves from danger, an essential tool for survival. Obviously this AI with these essential principles or core has grown so big that LIFE is no longer easy. The chase for happiness is absolutely endless and is pretty much elusive. Since this chase comes from that part of EGO which holds all the opposite of LOVE i.e., fear, insecurity, jealousy, anger, hatred, a sense of lack, a sense of not being enough.
It’s time that we introduce the bug of wisdom for the process to reverse this AI and get us back to use it for the purpose for which it has been created in the first place and then experience life with LOVE, with GOD, in alignment with the entire UNI-VERSE. Don’t be scared of EGO, embrace it for the purpose for which IT IS with compassion and love.