Having an Ego came about by humanity’s design and from the wish to shield itself from the shame of “not being enough.” Essentially EGO was created as a shield to hide fear.
Yes, as it has been said, using EGO for its purpose is like having training wheels—a tool to get you to a higher place; a tool to help you learn how to ride on just two wheels and navigate through life. How so? Confidence building techniques shape your EGO and help you through hard times early in life. Then the challenge later becomes to let the training wheels go, let EGO go and move to a higher place where EGO does not rule. The reward comes in getting beyond the obstacles EGO creates.
EGO creates problems when it is out of balance. It initially needs to be built up in order for it to best serve its purpose. Then there is this very fine line from which it can easily become over-bearing, a sanctuary for pride, and all the negatives of egotism gone bad. Vanity, superiority, arrogance, conceit, smugness—a thesaurus of everything other than love. That is the problem to avoid.
All of humanity starts with the same blank slate of EGO. The “sense of self” as developed from the individual DNA and nurtured by one’s environment is a gift really. That gift then becomes the ultimate test of our character.
