The EGO - your evil twin?
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
What is my purpose?
Where am I going?
This identification with form gives rise to a false identity, a false sense of self. The ego is an identity of our own creation, an identity which is false. It is most basic part of the personality, and wants instant gratification for our wants and needs. If these needs or wants are not met, a person becomes tense or anxious. If we take all our beliefs of who or what we are as it relates to our personality, talents, and abilities – we have the basic structure of our ego.
When we have thoughts about ourselves we create a self-image. The kinds of thoughts that feed the ego are:
“I’m not a good test taker.” “I am a better teacher than you.” “I am ugly.” “I am not smart enough.” “I am better than you.” “She is prettier than me” “I am a failure”
The ego lives within the “I” and “me” thoughts and statements about our self-identity.
Many times our thoughts are unwavering. They never stop… they always creep up. When you wake up in the middle of the night they start and loop over and over again. When you are work they play in your mind after a meeting that might have not went as well as you hoped. When we have these thoughts we come into agreement with our ego. Then these ideas define us and this will reinforce the ego. We first start having these thoughts when we are kids, when we were on the playground, or when reprimanded or praised by a teacher or parent. This happens in every single culture. Where we see the biggest problems arise is when the self-image is overly negative, inaccurate, or even overly positive. Considering that we develop our concept of “self” as children, it is expected that our self-image shapes us as adults.
Becky Lottridge
