Is the ego a fault in our design? Or is it part of the design? I think the answer must be that it is part of the design. We are meant to have an ego; every human being who has ever existed, even the most enlightened, had an ego, the ability to see ourself as separate. But that ability has a purpose, which is to prepare us for higher union, for oneness. The danger is of course that we become stuck in that perception of our separateness, because that’s where the problems arise. That’s why we think that ego is a bad thing, or when we meet the ego in someone else, we immediately condemn it or it’s difficult to forgive. And when we meet the ego in ourselves, we may be quite shocked or disappointed, especially if we think we’re making good spiritual progress and then we find that we are capable not only of generosity and love and kindness but we can also revert to old patterns of egocentricity.
( The Brick Wall of the Ego 1 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
