The ego is our self-representation. The ego isn’t real, but it’s great at pretending to be real. Why does it do that? It wants to keep itself safe. If the ego can model reality and itself in the brain, then it can do a better job of surviving and passing on its passengers: our genes and our culture.
The ego is insecure. It sees threats everywhere. And in a world where we’ve removed most immediate physical threats, we see social threats everywhere. Insecurity fuels the ego in its need to acquire status. But running our mental engines on insecurity comes at a high cost.
When physical safety needs have been met, psychological safety needs become paramount. We begin to experience psychological danger as physical danger. This served an evolutionary tribal purpose: those who were in harmony with the group were safe while those who were in discord with the group were not.
The big challenge facing us today is that our culture has convinced us that psychological needs can be met by acquiring status. This is a myth that has spread with capitalism—and which massively fueled its growth. Our cultural myth says this: obtain the approval of others and you will be fulfilled. Only then will you be whole. Only then will you be worthy. Only then will you be loved.
Here is an alternate myth: We can believe ourselves whole. We can believe ourselves worthy. We can believe ourselves loved. We can believe that we have a choice. We can believe that we can change. We can debug ourselves. We can refactor ourselves. We can evolve.
This alternate myth requires us to look within instead of without. We can choose how to see the world instead of seeing it how others want us to. We can see the ego for what it is: a tool for evolution. We can rewrite our minds to come from a place of enough instead of not enough. With the ego comes suffering. Without the ego comes peace.
