Emergence of Ego

Emergence of Ego

We live our life like a Ferris wheel; one moment, up, another moment, down. You are either trying to manage your emotions or that of others around. This creates a feeling of frustration, helplessness, resulting in outbursts of anger. Do you often wonder if life was meant to be so?

Every human is keen to find happiness in life, the question often remains “how?” In that desire to find happiness, people work hard to get good grades at school, then starts the race for university, then the race for a job, then the race for marriage, children and so on. This race does not end till your last breath unless you choose to step out of the race and actually look for happiness inside yourself rather than through the various races. Each race is temporary and transient and the outcome is dependant upon a multiplicity of factors, many uncontrollable. However, time and again we are made to believe that the outcome of every success is dependant upon “Me” and if we do not achieve it, then “I” am a failure.

For instance, let’s look at a cricket match. The success of the match is not just dependant upon the players of the winning team. Behind the match there is the effort of two teams, the coaches, the sacrifice of the families, the love of fans and supporters, the media, the grass on which they play, the weather and many more. However, we only applaud the winning team or sometimes just the high scorers. What about all those who are silent contributors. As a batsman or bowler of the winning team, you are one of the “mediums’ of action” in the sequence to success. If you are the last one to swing the bat or bowl a ball i.e. pull the trigger and hence take the highest risk, the responsibility for that action also becomes the highest and so does the reward.

We are all like the links of a chain – inter-connected and inter-dependent. No one can work alone or win alone or achieve anything alone. Any such belief is harbored by the “I”. This “I” is the Ego, a sense of individuality. The ego limits our experiences of the world to our sensory judgments of seeing, hearing, feeling, touching and tasting. When we relate to life through these limited senses, we are unable to enjoy the subtle experiences which are actually the privilege of only human beings. We are unable to perceive creatively the subtle messages of Creation. It is this ego that starts thinking and attributing every success and failure to itself. It is this “I” that creates the feeling of joy or sorrow. It is this “I” that shapes the personality of a person, thereby contributing to behaviors such as arrogance or defeatist or skeptic.

People get so used to living in the belief that it is “I” who is successful; it is “I” who is in control; that it is difficult to change. We get caught in a vicious web of our own creation. Either we react to people or people react to us and this process goes on and on. The power to come out of this web is within you. It requires, above all, a desire, a willingness to accept your persona and to change perceptions.



The human personality is the most complex design amongst living and the path of self discovery and the shedding of the “I” is unique. It is painful to shed the persona one has lived with and think that the life you lived was all self created and take responsibility for all the actions. As you peel the layers covering your true self, your heart fills with a sense of calm that is unparallel to any other experience. You can be in control of your happiness. You can design your life and not live a life full of accidental occurrences. If you do your best in relation to others, the room for angst reduces. Your head and heart feel free and your fatigue levels go down. Your energy levels increase, your error levels reduce and you are able to achieve more with less effort. A sense of appreciation, gratitude and abundance starts seeping in.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power,” Lao Tzu