The Ego
We spend most of our time on the surface of our body. The surface knows very little about what is underneath it. It knows something about the brain, but not much. Our body has its purpose and function: It can be likened to the foundation, the walls and the roof of a building. It has indeed been referred to as a temple of the soul. It will turn into the temple when we become permanently attuned to the indwelling Spirit. Until then our body is often just a utility and storage building that houses a limited database containing some memories, skills, records of hopes and disappointments, files of pleasure and pain. All of which validate the existence of the only tenant—our ego. The ego thinks it is in charge of our life. It tells us through the evidence provided by the senses that we are autonomous and independent and completely separate from other people. It knows nothing about God. Our soul does.
When we perceive the promptings of the soul and begin to seek God, our ego feels threatened and employs its entire arsenal to protect its supremacy. It cannot stand the idea of having to share its power with anything or anybody, let alone something that cannot even be perceived by the senses. You probably know the symptoms of the ego: A feeling that we are better than others, a sincere belief that we owe our success only to ourselves, a conviction that we are absolutely wonderful and our mind is brilliant, a desire to take all the credit, a need to be always right and have the last word.
When we are out of touch with the indwelling Spirit most of our conscious time, we allow our ego to run our life. Our ego is never asleep, always ready to fight for its territory at a moment’s notice. Our ego stands between our soul and God. It will never let God enter unless we tame it by regular prayer and meditation.
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