(…) although we say that the ego is not in itself a bad thing, we should be aware of the immense potential for destructive force that the ego can have in the individual, in the family, in a community, or in society. Where we are turned against others, this force then of the ego becomes turned against others in a violent rejection, but can also be turned in against oneself. The psychological pattern is that if something is not expressed it turns inwards, against or towards ourselves. And this is the pattern that we see in tyrannies, in dictatorships, where we can see individuals who may have the ability to charm or to persuade or to deceive the population and to be amoral, in other words to have no moral sense, to be able to lie without shame, and also ruthless in the way that they can destroy opposition. Throughout that kind of career, they become increasingly isolated, eventually self-destructive.
( The Brick Wall of the Ego 2 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
