Intelligence, Not Enlightenment

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The Case For Building a Stronger Ego
from Steve Pavlina's Blog
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Checking out from life and trying to pursue ego-less enlightenment may be popular in certain spiritual circles, but it’s not a path I recommend, especially after witnessing the long-term results of many of the practitioners, not to mention the behind-the-scenes inconsistencies of certain proponents. It’s a path that can feel comforting at first because it gives you permission to avoid many of your fears instead of facing them. You can shrink away from life instead of boldly pushing yourself. You don’t have to stand out much. You can simply sit still and quiet your mind. There are many benefits to meditation of course, but don’t let the practice turn into escapism.

I think you’ll find it much more beneficial to relate to life on the basis of ego development as opposed to ego destruction.

Ego destruction is slow suicide. It’s yet another version of giving your power away. As long as “become ego-less” remains on your spiritual to-do list, you can use it to distract yourself from facing the real life challenges that scare you… like stretching yourself to go out and make a real difference in the world instead of escaping into the land of make-believe enlightenment.

Having a strong ego is not in conflict with inner peace. Inner peace doesn’t mean being passive. You can be quite active and engaged with life and still feel very peaceful and centered on your path.

Part of the reason ego-less living has so many people pushing it is that it’s a control strategy. People with strong egos are harder to control. If a religious leader wants to be surrounded by a bunch of loyal followers, it’s much easier to do that while encouraging all the followers to shed their egos. Then standing up to the leader can be called out as an act of ego and therefore something that the culture itself will repress, thereby keeping the leader in charge. However, this structure stunts the leader’s growth as well if the leader must pretend to be upholding the same ego-less standard that’s being preached to the followers.
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I have nothing to add to that except to say that if the above excerpt piqued your interest, gladdened your heart or totally pissed you off, I highly recommend reading the whole article from Steve Pavlina, appropriately entitled How To Build A Stronger Ego.  He presents a very compelling case for developing our ego as a vehicle through which we can offer our unique gifts to the world (oh look, turns out I did have something to add after all).

And if you have something to add, a reaction or argument - for or against - comments would be most welcome.

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the rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame
preacherman seeks the same
who'll get there first is uncertain
- Bob Dylan
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