I began to analyze Consciousness and somehow I defined it as “the attitude that makes us perceive the Universe and makes us feel different from it”. Consciousness, therefore, tends to separate us from “everything” and invests us with the characteristic of “uniqueness”. We perceive ourselves as unique beings and detached from the rest of the Universe that we “observe” around us. This way of perceiving us would not cause any problem if, immediately afterward, another element did not take over: the Ego.
Consciousness tells me that I am I. That I exist. That I am detached from everything. Although this may be a “distortion” and not an objective fact, it is a simple sensation after all. The takeover of the Ego, however, complicates things because, while the Conscience gives the simple feeling of existing and being, the Ego tells us, among many things, that we are important, deserving, superior beings, that we must safeguard ourselves etc . etc.
Clearly this is an absolutely distorted view and has nothing to do with an objective reality but the Ego is so insinuated within us that we accept this distorted truth as an objective and irrefutable truth.
Psychology tells us that the Basic Ego (ID) is formed at the moment of birth, in the very moment when Consciousness appears. Let’s say it is present in DNA. The secondary Ego is formed in the first 3 years of life and, finally, the “Super Ego” is formed around 5 years of age.
These 3 forms of ego are an integral part of every “normal” human being but they are also the cause of all “problems”.
Why did I write the word “problem” in quotation marks? For the simple fact that like anything in this life, problems are also subjective. If absurdly we didn’t have Ego and we only had a Consciousness that tells us that we exist, we wouldn’t have expectations, we wouldn’t try to change our lives, we wouldn’t suffer and, most likely, we wouldn’t survive.
Consciousness, therefore, says that I exist and to make me survive the ID takes over immediately and then the 2 other forms of Ego take over as well.
Although Consciousness does not lead us to perform actions but simply tells us that we exist, the Ego, on the other hand, makes us act. It makes us defend, makes us struggle, makes us suffer, makes us rejoice. All the sensations we experience, feelings of pain or joy, come from the Ego.
Beings with Ego can only create self-centered systems. Systems that somehow replicate those of their mind.
Large systems like states: We create a nation, delimit the territory, create rules, become “patriots”, fight to preserve borders, hunt “invaders” etc. etc.
Intermediate systems such as associations, confraternities, groups, sects.
Small systems like family
All these systems reflect the self-centered system of our minds and follow their logic. There are rules, hierarchies. defense and attack lines … etc. The system must be defended and safeguarded as it was conceived. The changes take place and also follow the logic. Exactly as it happens in the minds.
There is nothing beautiful or bad in the Universe. It is our Ego that shows us the “beauty” and the objective “ugliness”. A heap of plastic may seem horrendous to some, but millions of microorganisms will find their home in that place and for them, that heap of plastic or garbage will be something wonderful because it will be their world.
A well-built park, with benches, with flowers, with statues and fountains, will seem beautiful to some but, to build it, the original territory has been modified and thousands of ecosystems that were previously present in that place have been destroyed.
It’s nice to have a home (my ego tells me) … my beautiful home. Made as I like it (my Ego) … it doesn’t matter if the original territory was destroyed to build it, if the ornaments come from countries whose labor is enslaved if the technology inside it contains components whose extraction it contaminates thousands of hectares of third world land and exposes populations to incurable diseases and pathologies. The Ego is responsible for all this.
Even the procreation is the unequivocal result of a high dose of Ego .
In general, the feeling of need to reproduce and make the species survive as a primary and fundamental desire presupposes the presence of the Ego. For this reason, although we are unable to detect it, it is very probable that plants also have their own Ego and, perhaps, also a Consciousness. The impossibility of being able to identify it does not mean that it is not there because we do not have a valid method to recognize consciousness when it cannot be communicated.
The absence of proof does not constitute proof of absence.
We are Egocentric Beings able to reproduce only Egocentric systems. We cannot ignore the presence of a Leader and a System organized by rules, prizes and punishments. The need for belonging is innate and is another consequence of our Ego.
The Ego is the greatest falsifier with whom we relate instant by instant. It shows us a “reality” that has nothing objective.
If, therefore, we consider that the universe around us is nothing more than the elaboration of a conscious perception and to this we add the further distortion made by the ego, we will understand how we will never be able to see objective realities. To discover objective truths. To have certain answers. Any “discovery”, any “study” will be only and simply related to our mental microcosm that can be dismantled and reassembled in another way at any moment … a tiny change in the way we perceive or process what we perceive would be enough.
Photo Credit: Giorgio Lo Cicero – Simedblack –
Photo Editing and Composition: Giorgio Lo Cicero