The Ego
All pain arises from the ego. We create a container for pain
with the ego. The ego is a mechanism of Consciousness by which Consciousness
can identify itself. It is a contraction from the infinite into the finite. If
this doesn’t make sense think of it this way. Pain arises as a sensation of the
body. It is interpreted by neural signals from the pain sight to the brain and
due to the neurobiological reactions occurring, the brain perceives the pain.
But until it is categorized at unpleasant, there is no perception of the pain.
It is only a sensation. It is only a stimulus literally arising out of 1s and
0s, the binary mechanism of the neural circuitry in the body that either turns
a nerve on and sends a signal to the connecting nerve fiber or the nerve lies
dormant and doesn’t send a signal. Our bodies operate this way – they are more
or less complex computer systems with incredibly variable and infinitely
responsive software installed into a hardware that took millions of years to
get just right. Our bodies, and the minds that seem to inhabit our bodies, are
indeed the pinnacle of all creation. As we know it, we human beings are the
absolute pinnacle piece of technology in the entire Universe. Everything inside
of us was perfectly placed there for adaptive purposes according to the needs
of evolutionary biology and it has been refined over and over and over again.
Even the ego. Especially the ego.
So why? Why do we have a mechanism that allows for us to perceive pain? Why can’t we just notice
the sensation and withdraw from it so as to not damage our living tissue any
further? The ego is the activity in the mind that enables what I would call a ‘learned
response matrix’ to occur. In this way, the ego creates patterns that support
our survival on a more advanced and intricate level. We become intimate with
the world through the ego. It learns how to like and dislike, so that our
organism becomes geared towards the pursuit of pleasurable experiences and the
avoidance of painful ones. This makes complete sense in an evolutionary model
and I believe we can always use science to point us back to the truth, if
applied correctly. Because all organisms before us had to adapt in the best
possible ways by learning the environment they live and knowing how to extract
all the necessary juice out of life to not only survive but pass on genes to
the next generation. Of course all organisms are given the raw materials
necessary to live and maybe even survive on a fundamental level. Yet the moment
they are introduced to an environment that is also filled with other organisms with
their own agenda, they must acquire the necessary tools to compete. The
acquisition of these necessary tools to be a competitor is the ego.
Through the ego we learn all about the world in which we
live. We find out that if we do something a certain way, we are likely to get ‘x’
result, and if ‘x’ result somehow seems like a ‘good’ thing to us, then we go
on pursuing that particular behaviour to get more of ‘x’. Who determines what ‘good’
or ‘bad’ is, though? Why is it that what is ‘good’ for one person is ‘bad’ to
another? Is there a so-called ‘Universal good’ that we can all strive for?
Maybe the ‘Universal good’ is simply letting go of the idea
that we ourselves have created around what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’? Because if we
have learned something then we surely can unlearn it, right? I don’t even know
if any of this is making sense, so let’s go back to the ego as the container of
pain.
We have to have something
to interpret the sensations that are sure to come into our system during our
time as an alive and conscious being. We need an interface, a medium of
exchange, so that the sensations can be somehow judged and categorized and we
can respond accordingly if they occur in the future. But – what happens if we
just let this mechanism run its course? It doesn’t seem like such a bad thing,
right? Aren’t we just letting what nature has provided us to do its thing
anyways? We go on repeating our behaviour according to what we’ve allowed the
ego to determine is best for us. Life becomes a very narrow-minded pursuit,
literally, as we do more of what we’ve always done and less of what is
uncomfortable or labelled as ‘bad’.
Are we even living? Or are we just surviving? Sure, we can
probably go on making what appears to be even a great life in this way. We can
just hardwire ourselves to pursue financial success and a discipline is imposed
to make such a thing possible; maybe we even end up finding a beautiful mate
and pass on our genes successfully. Our lives end up an external triumph over
nature. Or do they?
Maybe nature gave us something else? Maybe nature, in all of
Her incredible intelligence, gave us something that enables us to take look at
our actions with more clarity? Something, I don’t know, perhaps we can call it consciousness? After all, when we do a ‘bad’
thing in pursuit of a ‘good’ result we may end up feeling bad about it, for a
little bit at least, whilst we relish the reward of our ‘good’ achievement.
Ever do something that you feel deep down inside is not right, only because you
expect some higher reward out of the doing? Where do we get these ‘feelings of
not-right-ness’? Are these our little internal compass pointers to that ‘Universal
good’?
I think that is what nature gave us. Whilst She has built
this incredible piece of technology that has enabled us to totally dominate our
surrounding environment, and even go on to explore the outer reaches of space,
etc etc… She included something very, very special inside of each one of us.
That is Her voice. Her song sings inside of each human being, only we’ve arranged
the loud speakers of the ego to drown it out and tell us to keep doing what it
wants us to do. The funny thing is that even though the song, nature’s voice,
is quiet, it is the loudest thing we know. It resonates with each action we
take through our whole being. Somehow, we know
what is right. We try and try to distract ourselves from this inner knowing and
all it that is does is create tension in our lives.
The tension we accrue in our lives in only a result of the
workings of the mind and the ego. They are the tools by which we can respond to
the environment and therefore become a reactionary being, dictating our future
behaviors on past events. It doesn’t have to be like this. It shouldn’t be like
this. Nature gave us something else – and that is Her ever-present guidance in
each moment. Do we even think for one moment that we are separate from Her? The
ego likes to believe so because it will build up a fortress to protect itself
from her. Literally. What happens if we give ourselves to Her?
We relax. We breathe. We let life in. She is always there to
guide us, just waiting to welcome us home.
