*”How without body, intellect, emotion and will, the ego, can anyone act in this world. The philosophical ideal is a fully developed, mastered, and richly rounded ego.”

By Marty Herling

The ego is not my enemy, has been my constant. The only friend I could find, in the lonely dark inexplicable days of my childhood, when I was under a constant barrage of mixed messages, anger coming suddenly from my gods. It was all I could do, but to stay alive, trying to make sense of my world, not to rock the boat to keep the love of my parents.

The ego has been our refuge from the storm, the only voice we could hear. It is not an alien residing in my body. It is a creation of myself to hold me safe in the storms of confusion. Just as I am not the mind, not the body, not the senses the ego is my tool. Let me get to know this tool, not to shun it, it is part of the whole of us. The gaining of self love (non criticism)  will ease the ego into its proper place in your mind as an assistant. You can then release your unconscious through deep listening. I am the whole. I can only be goodness because I am willing and able to be myself.

This is the order of Paramesvara. **”When you are filled with devotion to the Lord, you are the enlightened ego, that is, there is more Isvara (God) and less of yourself and so your fame (not popularity) increases and you become a source of inspiration to others. When any glory is gained by anyone, only Isvara should be acknowledged for it.”

*”The highest goal in the quest is not illumination gained by the destruction of the ego but rather by perfection of the ego. The ego must be transformed to win truth and find reality. In the end it must surrender itself. The ego’s humility is a pretentious cloak for secret vanity. Surrender the selfish one. The ego must be brought to subjugation to the highest power. It is still there, but is put into its proper place. The ego is the personal self. We need a change in attitude towards the personal self. Then the tyranny of the ego will vanish.”

The ego is a reflection of our higher self, our true self. If we can put the ego into the correct alignment, in submission to the higher self, it would not be a hindrance to the illuminated life, a servant and not a master. We want a fully developed mastered and richly rounded ego acting as a channel for the inspiration and guidance of the higher self. What needs to be overcome is not the entity “ego” but the function of egoism. We need to remove error and establish truth, not merely of the intellect alone, but also of the emotions and the will.

If we analyze the ego, we find it to be a collection of past memories retained from experience and future hopes or fears, which anticipate experience. In fact it never really exists in the NOW, but only seems to. This means it is a phantom without substance, a false idea.

The ego must adjust to two things, to the common welfare and to the source of its own being.

*   Paul Brunton  “Perspectives”
** Swami Dyananda “ Vishnusahasranama, Translation and Commentary”