Kill my Ego
Kill my Ego?
Most people on their spiritual path say, that they have to kill their Ego. To me that is wrong. Of course, "who am I", but let me explain.
The ego is the innate force, that makes us do the things, that are good for us. It already worked for the animals, our great grand parents. The animals did what they experienced as agreeable and useful and they did not what they experienced as disagreeable and false. The combinations "agreeable and useful" and "disagreeable and false" were innate. And also: the drive to take action in connection with "useful" was innate. Then humans developed and became "intelligent". Wow! It meant, that humans could undo the combinations "agreeable and useful" and "disagreeable and false". Humans can choose the agreeable, also when it is not useful. He/she can even decide to do something false, while evading the disagreeable.
And we do so happily, all the time. Our ego cannot function properly, as long as we do not understand the mechanics of it. It certainly does not follow, that everything agreeable is not useful any more. But it is true, that we cannot rely any more on the combination "agreeable-useful" or the combination "disagreeable-false". What is useful? what is false? When the animal gets hungry, it eats what it likes. It does not eat what it does not like and that is very good, because evolution has taught, that poison tastes bad (disagreeable) and fresh meat tastes good (agreeable). When an animal needs to mate, it does so, by instinct, the way it is successful, useful, because that way is agreeable. The intelligent human is enabled to do the agreeable things without any necessity.
Now, the solution is not: Not doing agreeable things. Many think that following our ego is doing agreeable things and that it is very good not to enjoy the useful things. They have sex in the dark, deep under the blankets, with that obligatory feeling of guilt. Nonsense.
Is the intellect, in this connection, only negative? Of course not. We can, in a completely human way, use our intelligence combined with our ego, to do things the right way. We just have to tell our ego, for instance: That eating a bar of chocolate every day is an addiction and that addictions prevent us from really enjoying... That making love every day is an addiction and that addictions prevent us from really enjoying... That breaking up somebody's functioning marriage is a sign of lack of strength and Love, that prevent us from making headway on our spiritual path.. That lying, is 'grit in the gearbox of humanity' and that, it would be so much better, for us, to provide and receive valid information...
So, when we inform our ego and act in accordance, our ego is our best friend. It is an innate force that should not be abolished. I think I found out what is best for me, what makes me happy, without alternating my happiness with sorrow.