A man can be defined by how he handles his ego. What is ego? Ego is a person’s sense of self-importance or self-esteem.
One might say ego is what we are always preoccupied with, for survival, success, and most of all accumulation of material and non-material.
Human society is mostly and I mean “mostly”, driven by ego, whether it is politics, sports, media technology or even religion. A person or a nation wants to be ahead of other people or nations.
One might say it’s competition, but we are not talking about competition. We are talking about ego here, which is the next stage of competition.
One classic example of this is when Americans wanted to land on the moon before the Soviet Union, that was not a competition that was a matter of ego, that Americans and American technologies are superior and ahead of the Soviet Union, hence the Americans landed there first.
Most of the major conflicts in the world are happening because of ego, too. There is nothing that cannot be achieved by sitting on a table with a cool head and a “diminished” ego.
But with humans, that’s not the case, ego is hyperactive and so heightened that there seems to be no lasting solution for any issue or conflict in the world.
Even on domestic issues within the country, one person leaves a post and a second person comes in and does things in a completely different manner even if it doesn’t make sense. The new person in charge wants to do it in his own way, so it can resonate or be associated with him as his achievements.
Ego just doesn’t make you arrogant, but also affects your ability of decision-making and it can affect a lot of people, especially when an egoistic person holds a powerful and influential position.
Egoistic people with powerful positions find it extremely difficult to handle criticism, hence suppress their opponent whether he’s an individual, a group of people, an organisation, a society or a whole other country.
Egoistic people would most likely have a lack of empathy and would have no concern for how they make people feel.
Ego is just one of your emotions, like many emotions we have. If you have control over your emotions, one can achieve a lot like Abdul Sattar Edhi, the renowned philanthropist and humanitarian. We are part of this universe, “connected” to this universe, and by having balanced emotions, we can achieve a lot more.
Sigmund Freud, Austrian-German neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, said, “the ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world… The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions… It is like a tug of war… with the difference that in the tug of war, the teams fight against one another in equality, while the ego is against the much stronger id. He said, “ego is required to serve “three severe masters… the external world, the superego and the id”.
Now, if one might want to deal with ego at the advanced level, it is called “ego death” Ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition.” Ego death” can also be described as “ego loss”. Muslim Sufi call it “fana” (annihilation).
In Sufism, ego is known as “nafs” and is described as a significant hurdle towards spiritual enlightenment. It is believed in Sufism that the ego is driven by desires and self-centeredness, and in order to “purify your heart”, one will have to have a “complete” control over his ego. One of the core values of sufism is advocating the complete dissolution of the ego, where one’s sense of self is transcended and be in the state of unity with The Divine.
In Buddhism, Zen practice also talks about ego death. One might say enlightenment happens when our automated reflexivity of consciousness ceases, which can also be defined as a letting-go and falling into the void and being wiped out of existence.
When conscience stops trying to catch its own tail all the time, one becomes everything by becoming nothing. In Buddhism ego or sense of self is seen as an illusion and creates suffering for those who practice it.
Ego has also been described as a mental event of fabrications that we create and hold onto. One of the core values of Buddhism is to liberate yourself from the very grip of the ego and achieve enlightenment.
Judaism speaks the same about ego. It can stop your spiritual growth whereas humility takes you to a divine connection. Medieval Jewish kabbalists called it “the kiss of death”. Jewish Kabbalah describes ego as “will to receive pleasure”, which often leads to conflicts and destruction.
However, Judaism does not reject the ego completely and talks about “balance self” and aligning yourself with higher and divine purposes.
As an author, I would say, one who has control of his or her ego is the Sovereign and that Ego is not bad. It’s just like salt and sugar. It’s the question of how much you consume.
This article is written by Jordan Zaman.
Published 13 May 2025