EGO: AN
OVERVIEW:
(Warning: 992
words to step on this reading. 5 mts. read.).)
What is ego?
It is the
nature of a person's attitude and expression of opinion where I, me or
mine dominates.
"What I
want, "what satisfies me," or "it is mine," all these
simple assertions exhibit ego or self-interest.
Ego means 'I.'
In fact, the Latin word for 'I' is ego.
'I,' 'me,' and 'mine' induce our thinking,
motives, arguments, etc., with an egoistic penchant.
Our reactions
to the outside world or others' thinking, viewpoints, attitude, or actions get
influenced and biased by 'I,' or the ego. It inscribes its mark on our thoughts, behaviours,
reactions, and experiences.
Essentially,
ego is the personal view that people form about themselves.
The personal
perception can be realistic without exaggeration of own achievements and
abilities while recognizing the accomplishments of others.
However, 'I’-dominated
personal views may reflect self-recognition and self-appreciation. An example
is "I'm an intelligent and most knowledgeable person. Ego stops us from
saying, "I'm not intelligent" or "I'm stupid."
Ego is not our
true self. It is a self-image or self-concept that we create for ourselves with
a conscious mind.
When loaded
with 'I,' ego gets visibly identified as an impulse to promote self-admiration
or praise. An opinion about
one's features and importance gets distinguished by the person's amplified
vision of self and self-importance. Misconception about the self evolves, and
that blocks critical reaction.
In this
situation, ego dominates the mental space; one becomes a narcissist. And the
individual seeks the external endorsement of acknowledgement, appreciation, or
applause.
The creation of
self-image gives identity to a person. But when the self-portrait drifts beyond
its true character, it generates self-esteem. The expression we often hear is
'big ego.'
Conceit is
synonymous with a big ego, meaning an excessively favourable opinion of one's ability, importance, intelligence, etc.
The term
egomaniac refers to exaggerated self-portrait.
Another term is
egotist, where people excessively talk about their intellectual, academic,
astute, or wealth superiority and want everybody to accept it.
Establishing a
reasonable identity of self is the basic expectation of ego. But when one goes
beyond that, the person becomes a victim of egotist personality traits.
In this
psychological behaviour, the ego earns its nasty ranking. It generates a delusion of greatness that includes overestimating
intellect, fame, affluence, etc.
EGO DEVELOPS EARLY IN LIFE
The ego is a crucial part of
personality development that begins in early childhood. In a baby's little
world, a sense of importance lies with the omnipotent feeling.
Societal norms adjust egocentric
behaviour with gradual reconciliation to more realistic views of the self
during growing up. Moving towards the ideal self is a natural experience for
most people.
For some, the head gets more
swollen with self-esteem because of an inferiority complex from the standards
set by society. Or the individual becomes the self-spokesperson as nobody does
the job to publicize a sense of achievement that the community otherwise refuses
to recognize. Moreover, it
is the inability to assume or understand any other viewpoint accurately besides
one's own.
Egotism,
egotist, egotistical or egocentric carries the same explanation of egomaniac
people. They display excessive, bragging, boastful, self-worshipping,
narcissist and self-centred signs with no regard or interest in the successes
or achievements of others.
Who are the
victims of this behavioural oddity?
The egoistic
mannerism lies in all classes, including intellectuals, intelligent and
informed academics, writers and poets, celebrities and luminaries, priests,
preachers, and politicians, limiting the poor from the middle to the upper
class.
A self-centred
person gets easily identified when the individual indulges in self-publicity.
Dominating
their space on social media, egoistic folks display their handsome looks,
attractive physical features, or stylish outfits through an intensive
presentation of self photos in diverse poses. The exhibit gets supplemented
with bragging and boasting of every trivial achievement.
AN EXPOSITION
OF EGO CORRUPTS THE HUMAN MIND
When an
exposition of ego develops, it creates the right prescription to corrupt human
behaviour and narrows its field of vision. Moreover, our values are
compromised.
In Sikhism, egoistic mentality gets censured.
It is one of the five denounced evils. 'Ahankar' is
the word in Punjabi meaning ego. The other evils are 'kam' (lust), 'krodh'
(anger), 'lobh' (greed), and 'moh' (attachment).
"When there is ego, there is
no God; when there is God, there is no ego!": Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Sikhism applies 'nimrata,' meaning
humility, to ward off the ego.
Nimrata develops through 'Sewa (service) by volunteers in
the Sikh tradition of langar, communal eating in a Gurudwara.
Nimrata befalls those who partake the food while sitting on the langar
hall floor and sharing the meal with others irrespective of caste, social or
economic status.
IMPACT OF EGO
Does the ego of one person impact
the entire community of people?
Not really. Society is not much touched or troubled
though it might feel a bit turned off from an egoist. The damage is at the personal level.
The significant
impairment, however, develops when political leadership gets corrupted with
egotistical behaviour. That happens all over the world, from the most
democratic nations to the dictatorial regimes.
Egotistical
mindset attitudes of governing leaders steer the policies, programs, campaigns,
attacks, and invasions in most parts of the globe, while nationalism and
patriotism shift towards misleading directions to align with the egotist
temperament of ruling heads.
History is the
witness where egos of the kings, dictators, autocrats, elected presidents and
prime ministers caused innumerable tragedies worldwide.
Peace in the
world, peace in the environment, peace for the poor get quashed just by the
self-centred adamant behaviour of the egoistic rulers.
The egotistical
or narcissistic behaviour of political leadership poses real challenges for
peace and security in the world.
However, when
it resides in the minds of ordinary folks, egotism creates just a minor
repellent feeling. For sure, when they brag, it is always a marathon delivery.
But one good thing about
egoists is that they don't talk about other people!
-Promod Puri
