Dangers of Ego: Master Manipulator and Sneaky Torturer Of Your Life
The Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty was a national hero for his success as both a statesman and military leader. But despite his fame, power, and wealth, he considered himself a humble and devout Buddhist.
Often he visited his favorite Zen master to study under him, and they seemed to get along very well.
The fact that he was prime minister apparently had no effect on their relationship, which seemed to be simply one of a revered master and respectful student.
One day, during his usual visit, the Prime Minister asked the master,
“Your Reverence, what is egotism?”
The master’s face turned red, and in a very condescending and insulting tone of voice, he shot back,
“What kind of stupid question is that!?”
This unexpected response so shocked the Prime Minister that he became sullen and angry.
The Zen master then smiled and said, “THIS, Your Excellency, is egotism.”
Explanation Of The Wisdom
Ego can be a subtle, tricky and sneaky thing.
Our sense of self (ego) effects our relationships to our happiness to our personality. Usually if one’s ego is developed and strong, it can manifest itself as arrogance.
If one’s ego is undeveloped and weak, it can manifests itself as depression and low self esteem.
- Have you ever thought how your life would turn out without the ego?
The current problems you have would be a non-issue.
So you’d neither be arrogant nor depressed. You would just exist as you are. This is a non-issue for you. You wouldn’t even think about these stuff. You would not let other people’s opinion’s effect you at all. Neither positive nor negative. You would not even have a self-image.
Because without the ego, you can’t have these imaginary social constructs. All of these “personality triats” creeps up on your life and starts ruining your relationships and happiness.
Life with no ego has no resistance. Everything is as is.
If someone makes fun of you and calls you “an unworthy little twat”, guess what your reaction would be if you had no ego?
Nothing. Because other people’s opinions are a non-issue for you. You don’t have to defend your sense of self because it doesn’t exist.
You don’t have to prepare counter-arguments because that only makes the problem worse. You don’t have to plot revenge scenarios because you are not even offended.
All of these “problems” are generated by your ego and if you want to be unconditionally happy in your life, there is no other way but to transcend it.
Ego is just too sneaky and subtle. You can only waste your life away forcing and debating with it.
Theories, debates, reading, listening, talking, arguing and knowledge will only get you so far.
If in doubt, remember the priceless wisdom.
“Meditate on the breath (mindfulness meditation to build concentration and awareness skills) and then self-enquire (the teachings of Ramana Maharshi) until you are free of all psychological sufferings and ego. (aka enlightenment)
Do this everyday and trust in the process that eventually your mind will be healed.
Why?
Because all good things require training and patience.
Know that as long as you do the work, the results will eventually follow.”
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It would be wonderful to be completely happy and full of the joys of spring, but I wonder whether it is truly possible to be entirely devoid of ego. You say ego can affect you in either way; arrogance or low self-esteem. But isn’t arrogance a sign of low self-esteem? Is it not good to enjoy our achievements and plans, and if so, isn’t their a difference between having a pride and satisfaction in what you are doing compared with pride in the form of arrogance? Part of the journey to enjoying achievements without taking yourself too seriously is some of the negative parts of the process that lead to the end goal. During this journey there will be moments when you become aware of low self-esteem. Part of overcoming that is recognising it and facing fears. We discover that we are more capable than we thought and learn about ourselves. This suggests that, perhaps, you cannot know true happiness without experience of unhappiness. What exactly is happiness? How would you describe it? You can induce happiness naturally in the body in the form of euphoria with exercise, which produces serotonin. Looking at something vibrant can bring about feelings of happiness. It does not have to be just with meditation. Unhappiness does have a role to play. Without it we would not be able to empathise with other peoples pain to enable them to heal.