Ego Is Just A Human Being In Panic
EGO is that one room inside of the human construct we all retreat to when we feel afraid and besieged –– I call it “The Panic Room.” It’s that bunker within, that place we go to in order to execute full on defensive maneuvers against an enemy––or more often––an “imagined” enemy.
EGO flares up when we imagine someone is making us feel small and vulnerable inside. As a result, we secretly start competing for a power that we ourselves are taking away from ourselves––psychologically––but erroneously believe someone else is taking. After that, an absolutely insane phantom power-struggle begins.
Our chests get bigger, our lipsticks get redder––we peacock and we puff-up and we dangerously buffoon ourselves without even knowing it. We swell up in all kinds of magnanimous and subtler ways.
In one of our many fear-based chess moves, we find some self-defensive way to assertively tell the world we are not powerless or less-than––and they’d better not dare think we are. So we posture, we flex, we argue, we fight, we war, we tantrum. It’s so simple to see.
Our anger, our rage, our grandiose brandishing of self as bigger, better, prettier, stronger comes from one condition. This is us––when we are insecure. Ego is us––when we are secretly afraid.
When we don’t feel powerful within we attack those whom we feel are, or those whom we feel will grow into a power that will rival our own.
Our personal problems, our social problems and our private interpersonal problems ALL stem from one root––this out of control human ego. Turn on the television and watch the world news and tell me if you are not watching a hot, smoldering cauldron of boiling ego against ego. Man against man. Nation against nation. Everyone against everything.
What’s really going on within when we go on our ridiculous little binges of attack, domination, destruction or defensiveness when we do it? How are we secretly seeing ourselves, within, when we go into defensive or offensive attack? Do we even know? Are we even conscious of what is driving us and owning us?
To the wise, our actions are clear. To them, we are exposing the gaping and secret wounds of self-insufficiency and deep insecurity we’re holding inside. The wise know two things:
1. We only attack whom we fear.
2. We only attack when we fear.
This is the root of a tyrant or even the root of our own tyranny when we go tyrannical on the people we love, or the closest people within our reach––it’s the same. The root is entrenched pain, entrenched fear and entrenched insecurity. When our brains have gone that dark, we are just wounding others with our wounds. “Entrenched” means an unwillingness to heal, with only a willingness to suffer––and suffer on everyone else.
Ever notice how the loudest barking comes from the smallest dog in the pack? (Okay, we won’t generalize. Not all small dogs bark. Only the small dogs who feel small about being small do the barking and brandishing.) The littlest dog who internally sees himself as externally inadequate, goes on the offense to loudly compensate for his personal inner view of himself––being overly aggressive, defensive, flamboyant, obnoxious––and often, just ridiculous. But are we, as humans, any more enlightened than this insecure Chihuahua, suffering from a canine version of The Napoleon Complex? Are we any different when we feel small?
Being little and being belittled are two different things. Belittlement never comes from an outside source. Belittlement can only happen within. So who is the ego truly posturing to fight? Itself? Quiet as it is kept… It is its only enemy.
When we don’t feel powerful within we attack those whom we feel are, or those whom we feel will grow into a power that will rival our own. But people who are truly powerful, and truly secretly understand themselves as powerful, are self-secure and almost docile or resigned in appearance. You are a non-factor to them. No one else is worthy enough for them to come out of their peace for war. They see no threat. But for those who do not see self as TRULY powerful, everyone is a threat. And everyone must be dealt with––usually in advance. This is who we become when we are entranced with diminishing ideas of self, posing as powerful ideas of self.
If you take away nothing else from this little talk on ego, take away this one little bit of clear understanding:
Ego is just a human being in panic.
No more. No less.
It’s time we understand the true psychological DNA of tyrants. It’s time we understand the psychological DNA of even ourselves when we turn tyrannical. This is a time we should reexamine our behaviors as individuals, groups and nations. This is the only way we will solve human conflict within our relationships, families, nations and broader humanity.
If there is ever to be peace –– peace will start from an accurate and compassionate view of self, so we can have an accurate and compassionate view of others.
Ponder what is being said. Evaluate the layers of truths available here. Really see the reflections of self and everyone else that we know. Knowledge of why we do what we do is the first step of escaping the powerful clutches of unconsciousness.
