End of Ego

Ego is the source of all that is separate, and all that is suffering. One can never learn the true nature of self as long as ego remains. We see ourselves separate from others because we identify that which we perceive as being separate. When there is identity, there can not be unity. In order to cast off the chains of ego, we must first define ego. So what is ego?

Ego is
 personality
 judgement
 desire
 pride
 morality

One can not say that ego is good or evil because it is both good and evil. Ego is identifying good as good and evil as bad. In nature, there is no separation, no distance between what is good and what is evil. In truth, the ego is nothing more than a grand illusion. It gives us the notion that there is a self, and causes us to divide reality indefinitely through identity. This is how we describe our world, by segmenting the whole into many parts, then dividing these into ever more specific pieces. This is the real corruption of our nature. What we see as advancement is really advancing away from the eternal source. All things learned are as a burden to the soul.

To understand ego, and to learn how it may be dissolved, one must look introspectively at its origin. When we are born, we are like a seed that has just been planted, a blank slate, a crisp sheaf of white parchment. We exist in a state of purity, in that we are innocent and new. So why should we ever move away from this purest state of existence? Why do we sacrifice the eternal self for ego? Simply put, humanity has been conditioned as so. If you do not believe me, then take a look at your life. Society is built around this false ego - we have rulers who feel that they are better qualified to lead than the lay man. Businesses and corporations are built around these governments, based on greed and a reluctance to give what is in excess and take only what is needed. Greed is the origin of currency. The many yield to the few, and the few own the many. When there is currency, the elite few thrive while a great many suffer. There is lack only because there is greed.

Further, we see ego as evident in the fact that lines are drawn between nations, people are divided between belief systems, and children are directed down a path of mandatory education - not that all education is harmful, but it is certainly a means of conditioning youth. So we see that society is one massive construct of building up and defending ego. Without ego, society would cease to exist, or rather, would blossom into something new. Society breeds ego, because ego is its very foundation. So we are born unto this world, and from that moment we are bombarded with conditions in which only ego can flourish. It is not the individual's fault, it is simply how humanity has come to be. Therefore, we must accept the nature of ego without fighting it. In fact, it is not something that can be suppressed. To be free of ego, it must be released all at once.

So now we have reflected on what ego is, but that alone is not enough to dissolve it. To release the ego, one must understand where it lies. If we further examine ego, we see that it is composed of the ideas we have collected about ourselves over time. Here, time is the keyword. By that I mean that all of the pieces of ego lie in the past, culminated by experiences that we have had which have given us ideas about ourselves. But that is not the only resting place of ego, it also sits in our future aspirations. This is because the ego has a survival instinct and it will do anything it can in order to persist. This can be seen in the form of hopes, aspirations, and desires. So how can one use this to throw out ego? By allowing it to remain in the past and future, without going back to fetch it. All culminations of self identity, learned knowledge, perspective, desires, future aspirations, moral codes, and beliefs must be dropped at once, left in the buried past and the unborn future. It is a matter of realizing that both the past and future are illusions, and that because ego resides therein, it too is just as flimsy of a construct. To be free of ego, one must hold fast to the eternal moment that is now, which is without a beginning or an end.