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Page Update:
Saturday, February 28th, 2004
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Ego
Click for larger view
David Berry, 2004
Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 30"
Ego is our sense of self. It is the sum total of our thoughts, perceptions and the motive of our actions. Meher Baba defines ego as Astitva or the “very Being as the Real I" (Lord Meher, page 3712).
The “mind working” or false ego is the “is-ness” of the universe. We have an illusion of being individual, unique and alone. We imagine possessing and controlling the people and things in the world around us. This is part of a false attitude behind which we can discover the “Real Ego.” When we reach beyond ego to find a sense of ourselves as part of the word, then we move beyond the selfishness and impressions of life and glimpse the eternal reality of God.
As basic as the idea may be of shedding ourselves of our own ego in order to discover God, it is neither a simple nor practical task. Our minds are a product of our physical nature and a critical part of living. The persistence of our collective past is so overwhelming that many people can live a lifetime without realizing that there is any limitation of the false ego. It is impossible to completely become rid of our ego, but it is possible to overcome being a slave to ego.
Human beings are unique among living things by virtue of language and the ability to communicate thoughts and perceptions between one another without actually sharing a physical experience in the world. When we communicate with each other we discover that we are individually alike in many ways. Even our innermost private thoughts or feelings are not exclusively our own, for there are inevitably others that have similar internal experiences. By appreciating a range of human experience beyond our own we can discover true love and compassion that allows us to do things in the world for reasons that are not our own.
As long as we are the center of our own universe we are ruled by ego. If we can expand the universe so that we think about it as if the center is more inclusive, then we spread our love beyond our selves. Ego is never destroyed; it is stretched and diluted. When we fall in love and have children it is possible to include family as an extension of who we are. True love involves centering the universe around someone other than ourselves in a way that brings other individuals into our core sense of self - our ego. We surrender part of ourselves to the needs and wants of others.
For those who can stretch the ego to include every one and every thing, the ego looses individuality and selfishness. To act only with God in mind does not eliminate ego; it simply means that the transformed ego emerges as a servant, friend and extension of God.
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