Ego

What is ego really?

 

Is it an entity?
Something real?

 

Does it have an actual existence?
Does it have to be killed, transcended?

 

Or

 

Is it simply a belief?
Or many beliefs?

 

A misidentification?
Something we have taken for granted?

 

If we investigate ego, what happens to it?

 

Where is it?
Try to locate it.

 

Is it big and scary?
Is it sly and crafty?

 

Is it even present at all?

 

Ego is simply a game we play.
We play it either knowingly or unknowingly.

 

When we play it unknowingly, it is in control,
playing us, and then it is malignant.

 

Some call this being asleep.

 

But maybe, we come to know something different.

 

Maybe we come to find there is no actual ego,
only waves of thoughts, emotions,
feelings, flowing by endlessly,
never the same, none permanent.

 

All of which we are aware of.

 

So then, do we stop playing?

 

No!

 

Now, we play ego knowingly, like Hamlet on the stage.
We use this identification with bodymind,
which is the root of ego,
to play in the Theater of Life.

 

But now, ego is benign.

 

We wear it like a suit of clothes.
We win the Academy Award for being us,
who else can?

 

The game of our life.

 

We hold it up and say,
"Here I am!"