OUR EGO MAKES US SUFFER
In this journey of realizing the truth about the ego, the ego along with the mind becomes ME, the Mind and Ego, our biggest enemy. It then envelops us in ignorance and doesn't let us discover the truth of who we truly are. What does our ego do? It makes us suffer.
No human being likes to suffer. From the time we are born, a human being is created to live with the 'Pleasure-pain Principle.' Every human being wants to be happy, just like no human being wants to suffer. Unfortunately, because of the 'I' and the ME, the mind created by the ego, we suffer.
Most of humanity thinks that we are a body-mind complex. We think we are a physical body. While we say, 'This is my hand' and 'This is my head,' we actually don't mean it. We think this hand and this head, and everything else in this body is ME. That's why we suffer physical pain of the body. Most of us say, 'I have a headache' because the ego believes that the head is 'me', otherwise we would say, 'My head is aching.' Some of us do say this, without realizing what it means. It is just like saying, 'My car had an accident.' It is very different from saying 'I had an accident.' My car is not 'me', but we human beings believe our body is 'me'. Very few people are fortunate to realize that we are not the body. Those who do, don't suffer the physical pain experienced by the body. No doubt the body suffers pain when there is an injury to our skin, muscle, or bone or any of our organs. These pain signals are transmitted to the brain, which in turn creates the physical pain that the body suffers. Most of us go through this, but a few realized ones transcend physical pain and suffering.
I know of people who believe in the philosophy – 'Kill the pain before the pain kills you!' At the slightest sign of a headache, they take a tablet because they don't want to experience pain. While it is easy to comprehend this physical pain and the way we deal with it, it is a little tricky on how we deal with the misery of the mind.
What is mental illness that we all talk of? It is not physical. Either it is purely stress, worry, and anxiety, or it can be a phobia or paranoia that can be so serious that it triggers the brain to release hormones that manifest as physical pain.
What causes this misery of the mind? It is the Ego – 'I'. Because we don't realize that we are not the mind, we take the mental misery as ours. To most people, it is impossible to think of the mind as being separate from who I am. The ME, the Mind and Ego together, get so amalgamated into a human alloy, that they become inseparable. It is this ME that causes so much misery to us, far more than the physical pain that can be dealt with by administering simple paracetamols or painkillers.
Haven't we experienced people living with fear that appears as danger, worrying about things that don't matter, and having anxiety attacks about things that are long gone and forgotten? Our mind keeps on swinging into the future and makes us sweat and feel cold due to a perceived danger, when in reality, there is none. If it was only the mind that was worrying, and we were watching it as an observer, we wouldn't suffer. But because of the amalgamated ME, where 'I' think I am the mind, we suffer and we worry, losing our peace and joy.
While we suffer the pain of the body, and misery of the mind, we are quite blind to the knowledge that the highest suffering is the agony of the ego. The ego experiences terrifying anger when something it wants to be done is not done. 'How dare you not obey my instructions?' screams the ego. It is because of the ignorance about ME that we suffer such wrath. It is not just anger, the ego in its ignorance develops hate because it feels itself separate from another and develops dislike and hate. Whether the hate is because of the colour of the skin or for any other reason, it is born out of the ego that separates one from others. Have you ever heard of the right hand hitting the left hand? Ridiculous! They both belong to one body. But we don't realize how much the ego suffers because of 'I'.
The ego goes on and takes revenge. When it wants to get even with somebody for some act of the past, it schemes ways to hurt the victim through the emotion of revenge. What do these – fear, hate, anger and revenge do? They make us suffer. Although we are trying to harm others with our words and deeds, we do not realize that the hand that is trying to throw burning coal on others, first ends up burning itself. Therefore, the biggest suffering beyond that of the body and mind, is the agony caused by the ego. It is an agony born out of the ignorance that says, 'I am this body, I am this mind. It is ME – the Mind and Ego and you are a different distinct entity.' The truth is that this belief is an illusion and as long as we don't realize the truth that the ego that we believe ourselves to be, in reality, is a myth, we will continue to suffer the agony of the ego.
Can we overcome this triple suffering of the body, the mind, and the ego? Of course, we can. The moment we realize the truth that we are not this ego, the moment we let go of our ego, we will find eternal joy and everlasting peace. Although the body may suffer physical pain, we will learn to accept that pain as the suffering of the body and watch it, attend to it without feeling the suffering caused by the pain. For people reading this for the first time, it sounds impossible. But those who realize that this is possible, transcend physical suffering and live in bliss. They are the same people who do not experience the misery of the mind because they separate themselves from the mind and watch the mind worry and wander without falling prey to making the mind become ME. These fortunate people who let go of the ego, transcend not only physical pain and mental misery, but they also overcome the destructive agony caused by the ego that makes people live lives of depression, anxiety, and unhappiness.
Letting go of the ego is a big thing. Overcoming suffering is just a tiny benefit of it. Realization of who we are, going beyond being the body and mind, not only enlightens us with the truth, sweeping away the darkness of ignorance, and the triple suffering, it opens the doorway to heaven. When we let go of the ego, we let go of pain and misery. But there is something far more valuable. We also find our biggest treasure – God.