{"id":816,"date":"2012-03-11T06:41:21","date_gmt":"2012-03-11T06:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/?p=816"},"modified":"2012-03-11T06:41:21","modified_gmt":"2012-03-11T06:41:21","slug":"qa-is-the-ego-a-bad-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/03\/qa-is-the-ego-a-bad-thing.html","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Is the Ego a bad thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Everything in balance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(Unedited) Question submitted via Formspring<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been to a lot of spiritual seminars, and most of them tend to say that the EGO is a bad thing. Is that necessarily true?\u201d<\/p>\n

An excellent question!<\/p>\n

We discussed this question on a recent episode of Rise UP with B. Dave Walters<\/a>, along with:
\nLOVE, Dealing with the ego, *how to read people*, building confidence, DATING, Astrology (and if it’s ‘real or not’), and LOTS more Q&A!<\/p>\n

However, there is always more we can say on this particular topic.<\/p>\n

First and foremost: no, the ego is not ALWAYS a bad thing.<\/p>\n

The first thing to remember is that we actually have two \u2018egos\u2019, the \u2018positive and the \u2018negative\u2019 ego.\u00a0 The reality is, like the Yin\/Yang symbol image, we need both our \u2018light\u2019 and \u2018dark\u2019 sides in order to be whole.\u00a0 But what many people don\u2019t know is that there is a third force, represented by that circle in the middle of the image: Wu.\u00a0 The void, nothingness; but being nothing, it is everything.<\/p>\n

This is an important lesson: both yin and yang, positive and negative, need to be in balance<\/em>.
\nWhat many people often over look, is that even if it was possible to get rid of our \u2018negative\u2019 ego (it isn\u2019t, by the way), it actually wouldn\u2019t be good for us even if we could.<\/p>\n

The reason why this is, is that in its own way, the \u2018negative\u2019 ego is still trying to help us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The little voice that tells you that you aren\u2019t good enough, is in reality trying to shield you from disappointment.\u00a0 In the same way, the even smaller, still, voice is trying to guide you to achieve your greatness (also discussed on a recent episode of Rise UP<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The goal then is not to try to completely get rid of your ego, but to recognize it isn\u2019t YOU at all.<\/p>\n

Your ego, positive and negative, is the accumulation of a lifetimes\u2019 worth of experiences, emotions, baggage, trauma, issues, hopes and inspirations.\u00a0 And whatever comes to us from God \/ The Universe<\/a> gets filtered through the lenses of our ego before we can comprehend it.<\/p>\n

Here is a secret, but once you know it your life will become MUCH easier:\u00a0 just because a thought pops into your head doesn\u2019t mean you have to believe it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Considering every thought you have gets filtered through your ego, it\u2019s your job to weigh each of them and decide whether or not you want to accept it.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s like those cartoons where you have the \u2018good\u2019 angel and the \u2018bad\u2019 angel\u2026except the one you listen to most does the most talking.<\/p>\n

There is an old Cherokee legend<\/a> that sums it up nicely:
\nAn old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.<\/p>\n

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”<\/p>\n

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”<\/p>\n

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”<\/p>\n

What do you think ? Feel free to comment down below!<\/p>\n

You are great, and I love you!<\/p>\n

And if you love me back, click ‘share’ up at the top!<\/p>\n

B. Dave Walters<\/p>\n

Writer, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host<\/p>\n

Find out more about me:
\nhttp:\/\/about.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Ask me anything:
\nhttp:\/\/formspring.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Pages I support:
\nJesus and Buddha\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0— Interfaith dialog<\/p>\n

Gnostic Theism<\/a>\u00a0— Religion and Spirituality for the 21st Century (Join the Movement!)<\/p>\n

Love One Another<\/a>\u00a0— \u00a0A group for the coolest Spiritual people on the Internet!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Unedited) Question submitted via Formspring: \u201cI’ve been to a lot of spiritual seminars, and most of them tend to say that the EGO is a bad thing. Is that necessarily true?\u201d An excellent question! We discussed this question on a recent episode of Rise UP with B. Dave Walters, along with: LOVE, Dealing with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,47,55,39,35,15,29,81,38,46,88,28,41,49,48,45,30,17,78],"tags":[3,34,8,10,13,69,12,11,109,36,6,14,23,26,25,51,24,59,42,50,56,7,113,32],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-change-2","category-communication","category-emotions-2","category-fear","category-getting-over-it","category-god","category-happiness","category-healing","category-hope-inspiration","category-love-yourself","category-mind","category-peace","category-positive-thinking","category-religion","category-spirituality","category-tainted-love","category-the-past","category-universal-law","category-worry","tag-b-dave-walters","tag-breakthroughs","tag-buddha","tag-buddhism","tag-change","tag-christianity","tag-emotions","tag-gnostic-theism","tag-god","tag-hope","tag-law-of-attraction","tag-life-coach","tag-love","tag-peacelovemoney-com","tag-psychology","tag-rejection","tag-relationships","tag-scripture","tag-self-talk","tag-spiritual-but-not-religious","tag-stress","tag-the-secret","tag-universal-law","tag-who-are-you"],"yoast_head":"\nQ&A: Is the Ego a bad thing? - A Reason to Smile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/03\/qa-is-the-ego-a-bad-thing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&A: Is the Ego a bad thing? - A Reason to Smile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Unedited) Question submitted via Formspring: \u201cI’ve been to a lot of spiritual seminars, and most of them tend to say that the EGO is a bad thing. 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