“Don’t let your ego consumes you so that in the race of getting ahead from every one you don’t lose those who truly cared for you.”
– Unknown
“…the human being to lack that second skin we call egoism has not yet been born, it lasts much longer than the other one, that bleeds so readily.”
– José Saramago, Blindness
Kabir – The couplet
मै मै बड़ी बलै है, सकै तो निक्सो भाजी ।
कब लग राखौ हे सखि, रुई लपेटी आगि ॥
Transliterated:
Mai Mai Badi Balai Hai, Sakai To Nikso Bhaji |
Kab Lag Rakhau He Sakhi, Rui Lapeti Aagi ||
Translation:
“I“ is an overpowering word (thought) – though entrancing, get rid of it if possible|
As cotton wrapped around a fire cannot contain it (it succumbs), so also ego will consume you||
My understanding:
Ego – everything seems to be visible only through this lens, and all input seems to end up at the table that ego serves itself.
So then, all action finds direction from the ephemeral construct that we call ego, instead of from the true self. Hence, nothing we do seems to be able to satisfy us or satiate a need – for how can something done under the direction of an opinioned entity that is not me truly help, satisfy or serve me?
When we understand this, we can begin the battle that starts with identifying ego through its various manifestations, and whose end goal needs to be understanding and learning to ignore ego – for we can never truly destroy or overpower it. Ego never dies – it only re-manifests itself under a new cloak!