Is the ego an illusion created by our own mind ? I hope that we can all agree that there is no ego anywhere in nature other than in human consciousness.Animals may be violent to some extent BUt animals don't have an ego . They are not intentionally and deliberately violent. And the human child,when it is born , is like an ananimal, it has no ego since it doesn't have the capacity for thinking and imagining. If I examin that,I see that after a few years after its birth the child acquires a language and the capacity to think and imagine. Obviously these capasities in themself are not the ego.They are a process of biological evolution , which is a part of the order of nature.When we couple these capacities with the instict of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain,which is there also in the animals,then that produces the recipe for the formaton of the ego, because with the human consciousness there is not only physical pain and physical pleasure , but ther is also psychological pain and psychological pleasure. If for example someone hurts me I not only remember factually what happend ,but I also record in my memory the pain of that experience.So, I begin to feel hostile towards the person who insulted me and I will avoid him so I will not be hurt again. But you must have noticed that when you ill-treat the dog , it comes wagging its tail again the next day, it has forgoten that ill-treatment .Children are also capable of being hurt, but you must have noticed that after few days , they have forgoten the hurt and quickly make friends with the same person who hurt them.But as we grow older ,it becomes more difficult to do this.And that is the beginning of the ego process whithin us.The ego is born out of the illusion that we thinkthat if we work out of self-interest , we will benefit. Actually if you work with self-interest, which means in order to receive rewards , to have more power , more money ,abetter reputation ,it lowers the quality of your life .We want all that in order to be happy but happiness is destroyed by the egoistic approach and therfore the quality of your life is lowerd . So it is an illusion to think that to approach life with self-interest is in your self-interest , because,we are not seperate from the other person and what consider to be a benefit is really , not a benefit.If we see the truth of that and we really perceive the danger of the ego process , not through an explanation ,not only as a rational conclusion with wich we agree ,then that perception of danger will act on consciousness and eliminate the ego process . Your wanting to do it doesn't act. Your agreement also doesn't act ,because knowledge and ideas don't change cosciousness . But a deep peception of the truth changes consciousness. And we have this capacity for insight.
