The ego takes on different roles. We are often unconscious of this. The more we see through the thoughts of the ego roles, the more we can renounce the ego. Unless you want to live out of this. The ego has the positive function of serving as a protective mechanism. When the ego feels attacked it will defend itself with all its might. The negative function of the ego is that it creates illusions, separation, fear, sadness and stress. When we live from the ego, we see the self-created illusions as truth and convey them to the outside world in words and actions. Someone who does not live from the ego has rid himself of illusions. They experience reality as it is. That there is only unity that only knows peace and love. Every person is able to live continuously from unity, peace and love. Only the ego can stop you from living this out.
We shed the ego by becoming aware of our thoughts, emotions and actions. We do this by observing. If we sit in silence for 5 minutes, we can already hear that little voice within ourselves. It is that voice that judges, that sees shortcomings and wants to be considered important. This makes us feel special, wonderful, sad, anxious or stressed and we adopt this attitude in our actions. It is often a recurring cycle in which these temporary emotional states are experienced again and again only in different situations. None alone provides real satisfaction. It only gives attention, comfort and nourishment to the ego.
The ego feeds on the positive attention it receives when it is sad, important or helping people. You could describe the person who is sad as a victim. The person who wants to be considered important could be described as a violent person and the person who helps could be described as a helper. Three roles are described here that the ego can play. I will explain this further below:
The victim
The victim role shows self-pitying behavior and often shows this to others. In this role, the ego attempts to evoke pity, attention, and devotion in others. The so-called cause has nothing to do with the victim but always with situations outside themselves. An example that we sometimes see in children is the following: It wants a candy and does not get it from its mother. Mother is the culprit and starts screaming and shouting, causing the mother to still give the child a candy.
The violent
The violent person feels more and better than someone else. It is quick to judge others. Wants to be considered important by others. Will do anything to gain status and power over others. Once it reaches that status, it starts showing off and telling others how special it is. Example: Two men are sitting at a bar and one brags even more than the other about how many women he has hit on that night.
The helper
Someone who helps others to get something in return. This can be a compliment, gift or money. In some cases it is so eager to help create a good feeling for itself that it does not consider the interests of others.
Example: An old woman loaded with a large bag of groceries stands at an intersection and a young man says I’ll help you without asking, he grabs the bag and drags it to the other side. Once on the other side, he puts the bag down, says hello and continues walking with a good feeling. Now the old woman seems to have to go the other way and not through the intersection.
It now creates an unpleasant situation because the old woman now has to cross a busy intersection with traffic that she did not have to do before.
There are a number of relationships between the above roles. Victims mainly seek out victims. They talk together about their complaints and how pathetic they are. The attention they give to each other feels familiar and good. If one person comforts a victim, he or she no longer becomes a victim but a helper. The violent don’t care about victims. They see them as weak and the lesser species. They look for violent people who are on the same wavelength. The greatest threat to violent men is a greater violent man who destroys his own. It then feels threatened, which can result in conflicts.
We have described above the roles that the ego can play. Now that we have an idea of these roles, we can deal with these roles within ourselves more consciously. This awareness allows us to distance ourselves from these roles when we are in them . By renouncing these illusionary thoughts you create a more balanced balance in emotion instead of impulsive emotional reactions. This is the beginning of experiencing the natural state of unity, love and peace within ourselves.
Whenever you see through the ego through observation it loses its power. The next pitfall is that you react to the voice you observe. Reacting in thoughts creates a vicious circle. Thoughts maintain thoughts . You observe a problem with the associated emotion. What we often do is think about it. Chimeras arise and maintain emotions and thoughts. The solution is to observe without reacting. You then break the vicious circle of thoughts. The moment you stop spending energy on it, the associated emotion also disappears.
This observation ensures that you return to the present moment. That moment you observe thoughts that take place. Pure observation does not mean thinking and being present at what is happening at the moment itself. This observation brings you back to the natural state of love, peace and unity within ourselves. Observation does not arise on its own, it requires focus.
A strong focus on an activity leaves no room for thoughts. When you climb a high mountain, there is no time to wander. You are focused on the next step you are going to take. This focus keeps you in the moment. This focus allows you to experience life at its fullest. This is where happiness lies and we can see this reflected in everything. When you listen to music and become absorbed in the song, you are merging yourself with the song. Your focus is on the music track and your thoughts do not wander to other things. It’s the same when you read a book that completely immerses you. You read the words and nothing escapes your notice. YOU do not wander but are focused on what is written. In these moments you feel a completeness of love within yourself. That is the natural state from which we can live every moment of the day if we choose. Speaking out of duality is a creation of the ego. Our natural state knows only unity, love and peace. We can overcome through observation so that we become aware of the ego. Another way is focus, which gives thoughts no space.