World without Ego

World without Ego

By Tony DeLorger © 2011

Imagine a world without ego, in the sense of the common vernacular, without the forced will of judgement and the greed of self-attainment. Without the need to be better than someone else, acquire more wealth and have a higher position of respect or power, what would be our motivation in life? Would it be to maintain and care for our family and friends, become an integral part of society and share the burdens of upholding our existence? In a sense it sounds rather Socialistic, but without the motivation of ego, personal gain and self-centeredness, we would place more emphasis on what matters most to us.

The idea is akin to socialism, everyone working for the common good. But the difference in practice, is without abusing the ideology for self-gain, there would be no corruption. Indeed egoless life would affect any ideology with the same impact. Corruption is the ultimate expression of a negative ego, in one way or another.

The ego in a psychological sense is part of the psyche and represents the organisation of the conscious mind: memories, perceptions, thoughts and feelings. It is the gatekeeper of consciousness and filters what will come into full awareness. Ego provides both identity and continuity to the personality and gives us our individuality. A highly individualised person is one whose experiences are greatly permitted by the ego to come into consciousness. This person as a result has a broader viewpoint of life because the experiences are not suppressed. A feeling type person experiencing thoughtful experience is often not acknowledged consciously, as is feeling experiences for a thoughtful type person. We have propensities that guide our ego to filter certain experiences with which we are ultimately unaware. Otherwise we would be overwhelmed by this avalanche of daily occurrence.

What I am talking about here is a conglomeration of psychological aspects that are expressed as what we commonly call ego, the driving force of our personality and will. This ego is that aspect that so often becomes larger than life and extreme in its expression. Many leaders and people of position and fame gain this level of ego, which can be seen as arrogant, and self-serving. This quality is what I am questioning.

Human beings are flawed and driven by ego, life seen as a training ground for competition, struggle and success. This rudimentary fact created by primeval experiences fighting for survival, still rules our consciousness. We believe that forcing our will and being launched into individual ascension is the way to happiness, as is wealth.

But consider if that drive was non-existent and our lives were driven by less contentious attitudes like compassion, love, humanitarianism and we became altruistic beings. The world would no longer be at war, there would be the sharing of resources and the care of all human beings would be at the forefront of consciousness.

What a different world that would be.