Ego

by Leigh Martinuzzi

What is Ego? That is the question that I reflect on in this episode - my solo rant.

Neil Degrasse Tyson said, "If your ego starts out, 'I am important, I am big, I am special,' you're in for some disappointments when you look around at what we've discovered about the universe. No, you're not big. No, you're not. You're small in time and in space. And you have this frail vessel called the human body that's limited on Earth."

The ego is our attempt to protect our Self-story. Who we are in this world. Our sense of meaning. Our sense of importance. It is the part of us that is obsessed with Self. The issue is that this can often have us thinking and behaving in ways that perhaps do us no great justice.

I would go so far to say that our ego often limits our potential to progress and flourish. Restricts us from truly breaking free and disables us from living a life with great meaning and joy.

And yet, at the same time, it can be our driving force that pushes us beyond comfort and complacency, challenging us to take greater risk, forcing us to fail, learn and forgive. And in the process, realising that we are not as important as we once thought. Giving way to deeper respect, understanding and meaning to this life.