What is so good about ego?

Question

And if there is nothing good, why is it that most humans can't let go of it?

Answer 1

I think ego is what it is...not good, not bad, having a healthy ego at certain stages is a part of life,...the "problem" arises when ego is blindly followed, blindly listened to. totally identified with.

Letting go of it is hard cuz of the identification with it as it being all that we are. It's scary to let it go...to be nothing...to face our complete aloneness.

Insights, n inspirational moments of seeing beyond ourselves helps us to see that who we are is much more than thoughts(ego), this body...


...ego is shadows that we take for having substance. In one sense these shadows are real, but only cuz we believe n identify with them....bring in a little light n the shadows disappear n our true self can shine in all it's glory.

Answer 2

Fundamentally, it serves as a foil to humility, in which the one depends on the other to achieve the one.

Without ego, man or woman would have no device to survive in this world of the coarse, a world of dualities.

Ego is naturally resonant with the worlds of duality -- it is steady-state here and an innate and necessary quality of the mind.

Yet if perverted, if does cause certain harm, which can be said of anything that is unbalanced.

Ego is the raw fuel we use to arrive at true humility, after which attaining ego is but a shadow, a residual that can be tapped for use when wanted and as appropriate.

It is a necessary element and force in this world, in the meantime until such time as we deem it apt to discard it

Answer 3

To me ego is not good. It creates tension as people tend to forget about to care about others. Humans are more and more pushed to compete for education, jobs and space and are more unlikely to share. In my opinion it is the rat race and fear of losing which brings out the ego.

Answer 4

What is so good about having lungs: we need them for life, to live. No less so is the need for the ego. The ego is only, at most, one half of the consciousness formulae, but not having ego we would be dead in the same sense as not having lungs, i.e. really dead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erick_Erickson

Stage One Oral-Sensory: from birth to one, trust vs. mistrust, feeding;

Stage Two Muscular-Anal: 1-3 years, autonomy vs. doubt, toilet training;

Stage Three Locomotor: 3-6 years, initiative vs. inadequacy, independence;

Stage Four Latency: 6-12 years, industry vs. inferiority, school;

Stage Five Adolescence: 12-18 years, identity vs. confusion, peer relationships;

Stage Six Young Adulthood: 18-40 years, intimacy vs. isolation, love relationships;

Stage Seven Middle Adulthood: 40-65 years, generativity vs. stagnation, parenting;

Stage Eight Maturity: 65 years until death, integrity vs. despair, acceptance of one's life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erick_Erickson

The Will is positive, the Judgment is negative.

Answer 5

There's nothing good, and they can't let it go because they're fearful and stupid. War, racism, religion, addictions.. People keep a lot of things around for the same reasons.

Answer 6

Who said it was good? People found plants to dissolve it regularly and used them for thousands of years.

Answer 7

There is a level where in order to be happy you must be happy about who you are. Most great men in history are egoists, which is not to say that they were egotistic.

Answer 8

Even
Good
Old

Answer 9

The "good" thing about our egos, is...
They make us think we're "good..."

Answer 10

because thats what humans are. they are ego-maniacs