We often encounter confusion in people when we talk about the need for some to construct Ego. Most people are convinced that ego is something to get rid of, based on teachings from the oriental traditions. The path towards illumination is the path towards an egoless state of Being, this is true and sounds beautiful but a lot of people look only at the destination of this journey and they forget to look at the first few steps that they will have to take. They read a book on the subject and think that their journey has begun. The journey has begun long before you started to read the book, I do not know when the journey really started, probably it has been forever. It may be part of the Soul that incarnated the fetus in the whom but it does not matter when it started, more interesting is looking at where you are now!
Who are you now?
There are persons with an excess of Ego and there are persons with a complete lack of Ego, the latter we call the Unborn Self, the others are tough guys or girls. To enter the journey of loosing Ego, you will have to be aware of the ego that you have. Awareness is the first step and you cannot lose something that you do not have and I can tell you that those with no or little Ego are no illuminated persons. Therefore the lack of Ego does not define the egoless state of Being that the Orientals talk about. It takes Awareness, a lot of awareness that you have harvested through all of life’s difficulties. You do not gain that awareness by sitting on a Zen pillow and starring at the wall, it may be a help to develop focus. Awareness becomes possible in the contact with other human beings. We all know the stories of monks or even Buddha, they had to leave their safe monasteries and wander into the world to become aware and through this enlightened. Even Jesus had to leave his parents house and step into the world to find his most difficult tasks in life to finally die and alone then be prepared for resurrection. It is a metaphorical story but the symbolism in there is so true and applies for all of us.
The lack of Ego is a disaster for the person. They normally have little limits and surely do not know how to put limits on others. The result is that they are usually easily invaded and have no protection. Emotions hit them like tidal waves and the abuse of alcohol or drugs is a common way of escaping from reality. You cannot call them Saints and I would not call them sinners either, they are victimized, drifting without any direction, feeling miserable.
It takes some ego to be able to deal with all the challenges of life. It will give you security and self-esteem but most of all it will provide a structure that you need to start contacting others in a way that facilitates awareness. When you do need feel lost in the social context you can start reflecting on your relations, your contribution and your needs. This will bring you in contact with your essential Being, once you are in contact with this Essence it will take over the structure that Ego brought and losing Ego is a logical desire there. It is just, the next step! Constructing Ego is an important step to start losing it afterwards.
