The ego is an artificial self created by family, society and culture. A mask, one more face over many other faces. Alejandro Jodorowsky
It is not easy to identify the ego, recognize it and distinguish it from our true selves . We have been led to believe that he is us, that our ego is who we are. We believe that our career, our possessions, our relationships with other people, our socio-economic status are us. And we usually describe ourselves through some aspect of the ego : I am an architect, I am the mother of two children, I am Juan's friend, I drive a car last model.
But really these descriptions are all masks that we have imposed and we come to believe that they have greater value than who we really are within us. Masks that we exchange according to who we have in front of us.
We let the ego control us, dominate us and carry on our lives. We feed him and give him the power by giving him our energy and trying to grow more and more, be more important. We compare ourselves with others and feel insufficient.
But in reality you are not your ego. You are much more than all the masks you use.
How do you dominate the ego, instead of him dominating you?
# 1 Recognize it
The ego constantly sends us false messages about who we are. It makes us believe that the outside is reality and drives us to promote our personal importance, while within ourselves we desire a deep and simple life.
The first step to overcome it is to recognize it . You can't get rid of something you don't recognize . As Osho tells us in his talk # 30, From ignorance to innocence, “right now you are the ego, your way of being, your manners, the words you use, your education, you have been accumulating them since you were born. Childhood is usually the most beautiful and pure part of life because there, at that time, we were ourselves for a few moments, until we began to learn to please others and "make ourselves a place" in society. "
Recognize it and little by little you can go letting out your true self.
# 2 Is submitting the ego possible?
The ego does not exist therefore it cannot be submitted, it is simply the absence of light, of consciousness. If you want to remove the darkness of a room you don't fight it, since you won't be able to remove it that way. You just have to bring the light. A small source of light is enough to begin to dispel the darkness.
Bringing light means bringing awareness to your being, some knowledge and clarity. This will begin to dissipate.
# 3 Avoid falling into ego traps
When you start to believe that you are more spiritual because you practice yoga, reiki, meditate, listen to spiritual music and you are vegetarian, and that is why you think you are in a position to criticize and judge who does not behave in the same way, at that moment you are falling In an ego trap.
He always tries to sneak somewhere, tries to make you believe that you are better than others in some aspect. That is why you must be attentive to its appearance, slow but effective, silent and sudden.
Our true self is eternal . It is the strength of God within us that wants to reflect our inner reality rather than the outer illusion. The description given by Sogyal Rinpoche in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is a wonderful explanation of this discovery: “Two people have been living in you all your life. One is the ego, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose calm voice of wisdom you rarely heard or attended . ”
When we learn to transcend ego-sponsored illusions, we can access our inner wisdom .
SOURCE: Osho, http://www.osho.com/es/read/osho/osho-on-topics/ego.
Wayne Dyer (2012). Wishes Fulfilled. USA: Hay House.
