One definition of ego is “the self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.” It seems a lot of people try to separate themselves from others today in an effort to be different.
Although I believe we are all one spiritually, I’m OK with being different. I know I am different from many people you may meet, and fortunately, a lot different from who I was in my drinking days.
Today I try to help others feel the same self-love I do. A love I never felt when drinking.
Another definition of ego is “an exaggerated sense of self-importance or conceit.” Although this certainly seems to be the type of ego many people display today, it is really a “false sense of ego.” One that never truly helps a person feel better about themselves, but instead fuels their insecurities and turns others away. In that sense, they have separated themselves. I had this type of ego in my drinking days, and it only caused me more of the emotional pain I often felt, and a sense of loneliness.
I know that some people need to feel different from others because it gives them a feeling of importance, and in some cases one of superiority. However, I also know that if someone has an “appropriate pride in themselves and self-esteem,” which is yet another definition of ego, they won’t need to feel better than others. Instead, they will want to be a better person than they were before.
Personal and spiritual growth can help us become better people than we were before. And we quickly find the more we grow, the happier we become with who we are.
Maybe another definition of ego should be, “the self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves, but not from other spiritual beings.” In this way it wouldn’t matter so much how different or unique we are, as long as we genuinely love ourselves and try to help others love themselves too.
Especially those who feel different because of a deep emotional pain that keeps them in a self-imposed prison of loneliness.