The Ego Trap

The Ego has many tricks in its locker to ensure its survival and has laid a cunning plan which we all too easily fall into . The main deceptions that are used are the feelings of deprivation and vulnerability , in the sense we think we can be hurt in some way. Every man and woman on this planet are affected by these emotions and cause all the pain and misery we see . But I am going to discuss one of the more subtle aspects of its defences . It is when there seems to be no answer to a problem , but this problem causes great division and both warring parties are convinced of their arguments but to any outside observer both sides have valid points of view . To show the deviousness of the Ego I will use two examples : Abortion and Vegetarianism .

Firstly , abortion . The anti-abortionists view is that any life is sacred and that it is a sin to end the life of an unborn child . Fair enough you may think .The pro-abortionists view is that a woman has the right to choose her own life and what she does with her body . Again a perfectly respectable point of view . But from the Ego's point of view , it gains its strength from the entrenched views that the two sides take . It thrives on division and separation and gains energy from the ' I Am Right ' opinions follow . Whenever a photograph of an unborn child is published it is difficult not to be swayed towards the anti-abortionists view , but we do not know the circumstance of the mother to be or the reasons that may lay behind the reason for an abortion .

Secondly , vegetarianism . Again there are reasonable arguments on both sides . The meat eaters say it is natural for humans to eat meat and point to nature to back up their argument - Survival of the Fittest etc . The vegetarian is in the same camp as the anti-abortionist and believes that all animal life is sacred and should not be used as nutrition by humans . They are vehemently opposed to animal testing for cosmetics and medical research . I eat meat , but would be extremely averse to actually killing any animal and I would not be able to conduct any experiments that may cause pain . But again it is the division and separation that the Ego craves . It wants us to see ourselves on side or the other and argue and fight amongst each other .

The ego loves confontation and the ' I Am Right ' mentality . Other examples are smoker v non-smoker , husband v wife , neighbour v neighbour and country v country and the Ego needs the energy from these conflicts to survive , as without them , it would wither and die . It views the world as something to be fought and conquered . However , the Universe or God or Life ( whatever your term is ) does not see the world in this way and neither do we at a very deep level , as we are a part of the Universe and not separate from it . The universe does not see right or wrong but only the choices that we make . It is entirely possible that it does not see death or destruction and does not even recognize the Ego and its negative values , or anything that results from it , but as we view the world from a false premise we see a false world .

The Ego Trap is easy to be fooled by , but as a rule of thumb , anything that causes division is a sign that the the ego is at work . I know that some people have problems grasping this concept of no right or wrong but again this is just a defence . The way through is to seek reconciliation - it is possible to hold conflicting views and still get on .`