Ego and Mind: Our Friends or Enemies?

Ego and Mind, Our Two Best Friends

During your life, you not only meet a lot of great friends but also people you do not like. A few of the closest will always stand out. Both you‘ll meet in early childhood, and for most of us, their friendship will last until death. The first one you start to call “I”, your ego. The second one you start to call the mind, my closest friend, without whose presence you can not be for long.

A Story of How I Met My Best Friend Ego

Ego was the first friend I ever met. It was way before I met my other friend, Mind. The ego has been accompanying me since my first look at the new world. I had been laying in the maternity ward while I looked around myself for the very first time. “Oh, he’s so cute. Look at the beautiful hair that is already growing on his head. How will you name him? Jaroslav, it will be our Jára, Jaroslávek, Jaroušek.” (Yes, it is still one and the same name, our language is just extremely inflective)

Still unaware of what’s going on around me. There was a feeling of calmness inside of me. My connection with this physical world was born. I no longer had to float around the world like a dandelion seed. My seed had already fallen on fertile soil and slowly started to grow.

A Story of How I Met My Closest Friend, Mind

I grew up in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, the day when my previously unconscious actions were replaced by conscious ones arrived. All of a sudden I remembered things. I knew who I was. I’m Jára! And so I began to recognize others around me as well. But there was still one thing I was unaware of. It was a fact that even before I met my friends, my closest friend was already with me, my friend Mind.

I could always count on my friend, Mind. He was here with me in both good and bad times. He never left me. On the contrary, there wasn’t a single moment in my head he did not speak to me. We talked about things that happened or those that were still hidden beyond the horizon.

The ego, your false self visualized as mask you constantly wear

Ego – My False Self

The time I talked to Mind about who I was and what I was doing here arrived, but the Mind couldn’t answer me. At that moment my best friend, Ego, came to my aid. “You know very well who you are and what you’re doing here. Your name is Jarda. Born in Prague in 1991. You are a proud lion who loves sports and nature, vice versa, you don’t like unnecessary chatter, ignorance, or big cities.” The ego continued its description.

Even after a long debate, I did not feel satisfied. Why? Do not I have a clear answer to everything? What is it that I was still missing? At that moment it was not clear to me.

But today I know that it was my best friend, Ego, that prevented me from knowing the truth or see who I really was and what I was doing here.

The Time to Say Goodbye to My Best Friend Ego Has Come

Ego, thank you so much for helping me all my life. You were the one who gave me a sense of security and confidence. Without you, I cannot imagine life in today’s world. I fancy you and always will. Unfortunately, the time for you to give me space to discover even the world that used to be secret to me has come. I have discovered the world in which my true self lives, a place where only love and truth exist, a world that many call spiritual.

Happiness is the death of the ego.
Osho

Mind, Too Much of Anything Is Good for Nothing

I’m tired and I’m trying to fall asleep. But Mind is still awake and, as always, wants to talk. He throws at me one subject after another. “What about the exam tomorrow? You still didn’t memorize it, right? It does not matter. What about girls? Ah, I see … Otherwise, what’s next for tomorrow? Hey, do you remember how we were in the mountains with our best friends before and enjoyed the best moments of our lives? Where are those times?”.

The next day everything repeats. A myriad of thoughts circulates in my head without my permission. What’s going on here? Who’s the master? Is it me or my mind?

Mind Is a Good Servant, but a Bad Master

Mind is our closest friend and is always here for us. Let’s be grateful to him! But if the time when you notice that he has control over you has come, you should take action. Do you want to be a master of what you do and how you live your life? Or do you want to remain a slave of your mind that never sleeps?

Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.
Eckhart Tolle

Ego and Mind, the Two Greatest Enemies of Spirituality

Ego and Mind are our loved ones, without whom we could never be. Without the ego, we would be lost in today’s physical world. No one would know who we are. Without the mind, it would be impossible to look into the past or the future. We would lose the ability to dream, to remember those amazing times, to plan something, or to accomplish certain tasks. Therefore, you should always take good care of them. But if you want to look deeper, you must realize that it is the ego and your mind that prevent you from knowing the truth.

The Unrestrained Mind an Enemy of Concentration and Life Itself

The unrestrained mind is the greatest enemy of concentration and life itself. The mind never lives in the present moment. It lives either in the past or in the future. Don’t you believe me? Just ask yourself how our mind works. Most of the things you see happen in the past. How is it possible? Simply.

Our eyes see something and send a signal to the brain
Our brain processes the information according to certain patterns you have developed throughout your life
Furthermore, the response to the processed stimuli trigger other processes

It does not take long, but let’s face it. Most of what you respond to is simply the past, whether it’s by a second, a nanosecond, or even a smaller delay.

But isn’t it the present moment when life takes place? The present moment, life or being, do not all these terms sound synonymous?

A head with a sign saying: "Restrain your Mind" and beautiful words shaped in a brain giving us an advice on how to do it.

Let’s ask another question. Can you really live if you are not the master of your mind? To live here and now in the present moment. To perceive what is happening around you with full awareness and at least for a slight moment neither think about it nor to evaluate it. Let’s think about it. Once you find the answer to the question, let’s give the mind time to relax. At least a few seconds of vacation to rest, so you can rest as well.

Truth Lies Beyond Our False Self

What is actually true? Nowadays, many of us believe nothing but proper research from a prestigious university or research center. After all, who else is there to trust than a lot of clever heads that train objectivity most of their lives?

But some believe that the truth is hidden elsewhere. Not in research papers, but just behind your ego. Each of you can discover it and start living it. But there is one difficult step ahead of you. You need to look deep within. Peek beyond the very edge of your ego, your false self. Only there is the real world and the truth. This world has been here since time immemorial. Unfortunately, who among you is aware of that?

Up to a New World of Truth and Love

Just a prospect that there is a world full of truth and love fills me with great energy and motivation to look into it. Do not confuse this world with anything other than the one in which you already live. Only small things make a difference. One of these little things is that even though you live in a world of truth and love, you are not really aware of it.

But who prevents you from discovering it? Well, our closest friend, Mind, and our best friend, Ego.

In the next article, I will outline one of the methods to lead us beyond our ego and mind into the world of truth and love.

This is the eighth article in the series:

The beginning of my journey

Ego and Mind, Our Two Best Friends or Worst Enemies?