The Ego - what is it good for? Lent 2022, Day Four

I can't say anything about your subjective experiences - your thoughts and reflections - from when you were growing up; we are all so different despite being so similar. As a child, I was more conscious, more sensitive than I was when I became a teenager. With puberty come not only chemical changes induced by hormones, but the beginnings of a struggle to assert oneself on the Ladder of Authority.

Our society is innately hierarchical, but over history, the hierarchy is starting to flatten and become more like a network. Win-win relationships are clearly more successful than those in which one side wins at the other's cost. Yet much of the hierarchy still remains, and to climb a few rungs higher up the Ladder of Authority, you need sharp elbows - driven by your ego.

Without a strongly defined ego that demands feeding with constant attention and admiration, a person's default position is deference to the better idea, something - someone - to follow, for want of one's own leadership. Yet so often in history, we can see people deferring to egos whose ideas are simply bad.

Consciousness, I noted last year [here and here] should revive as ego withdraws. As you mature, as you establish your place in society, you find less and less need to display boastful behaviour to those around you. There is acceptance of you by your peers - of your peers by you. In old age, a well-developed consciousness (which we can also read as 'a well-developed spiritual side') is the best antidote to an ego worried about physical decline.

But in early adulthood, the ego is - I would argue - needed so as one can mark one's place in society. It is as important biologically - evolutionarily - as is a fine set of tail feathers on a peacock. Wanting the best for oneself is the essence of the selfish gene, but knowing the limits, knowing when your egotistic behaviour becomes parodic, is key. Narcissistic personality disorder is the extreme end of this spectrum. "NPD is a mental disorder characterised by a life-long pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive craving for admiration, and a diminished ability to empathise with others' feelings." - [Wikipedia]. Note the words 'life-long pattern'. The suggestion here is that feelings of self-importance and cravings for admiration are normal, but should fade over time. 

Psychedelic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin have the effect on those who take them of removing one's sense of individuality, and making one feel a part of a greater whole. Creative artists who have overdosed on psychedelic drugs may experience trips that lead to works of profound beauty or insight - but too much and the ego is lost. Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett and Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green are examples of acid casualties whose quest for ever higher levels of creativity stripped them of the ego's self defence mechanism.

An artist who managed to hang on to his ego (just) was the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Hang On To Your Ego is based on his personal experiences with LSD. 

A far darker song about ego loss through abuse of psychedelics is Syd Barrett's last song with Pink Floyd - the final track off the band's second album, the only song he wrote (having written nearly all the songs off the band's triumphant debut album).

This time last year:
Karma - social control or something more?

This time two years ago:
Prayer and luck

This time three years ago:
Honey, it's post!

This time four years ago:
Consciousness, and the war between Science and Religion

This time five years ago:
The atoms within us

This time six years ago:
Our house gets connected to the town drains

This time seven years ago:
No more revelations

This time 11 years ago:
Free will vs. destiny

This time 12 years ago:
Dogs begin to bark, hounds begin to howl

This time 14 years ago:
Winters are getting warmer