Hi everyone!
I want to talk about the human ego because it has been occupying my mind recently. I want to discuss types of egos I have observed. Disclaimer: This is not based on psychological studies, but rather based on my observation. So, don’t take it as ultimate truth but evaluate it for yourselves and add or subtract things as you fit.
First, let me talk about my own ego. Hopefully, I think I can comfortably say that I don’t have much of an ego towards people, which is the most common type of ego: I genuinely don’t see myself as superior to anyone. I truly believe there is something to learn from anyone, even a baby. In fact, I can say I learnt so much from my brother’s cat. Thanks to him, I am much more open about my emotions (You know, cats just don’t care but live their own life). So, any living being can teach you a lot, so I don’t see how we can claim superiority to each other.
My ego was/is such that I thought I could do anything if I worked enough. Indeed, until recent years, I worked and got whatever I wanted. Not so much recently, though. There have been many things which I couldn’t get despite all my efforts. This showed me that I had overblown confidence –i.e. ego- in my abilities and power. So, this is the ego that you get when you pass a certain level in confidence. There is a fine line in that area.
Another type of ego is one where someone cannot accept their mistakes because mistakes indicates imperfection. But we should accept that everyone makes mistakes, including us. In fact, we all should make mistakes because that is how we learn. But we can make the most of mistakes if we accept that they are mistakes and work to turn these mistakes into good behavior. Otherwise, we treat them as normal behavior and continue doing the same things. This will not lead to any personal development. The same pattern will keep repeating itself in our lives.
Too much stubbornness can be (can be, not is) a sign of another type of ego too. We may be stubborn because we believe our way is the right way, which pumps up our ego. But hey, there are as many ways as there are people. I think I have suffered from this type of ego too (and I possibly still am).
Do you think you have any of these types of egos? Do you have another type of it? Do you think it is possible to get rid of our ego? Should we? Let’s discuss.