Ego like a hand hurting is not a good thing
By zevi770 · February 8, 2012
Why does the hand hurt, because it is not feeling well.
Pain shows us that something is intrinsically ill.
Ego too shows us lack of self esteem.
It really is as simple as saying, the healthier the self image the lack of ego, the greater the ego the lack of self esteem.
Kabbalah teaches us, ego is in fact a delusion.
The person who holds that he is the greatest is merely delusional.
Not to say he doesn’t truly believe it rather like every insane person (in fact, the greatest cause of insanity is delusions of grandeur that haven’t materialized hence illusions of grandeur) ego is simply a delusion.
But the deeper question and hence solution to this conundrum – for imagine an anti-biotic that can boost the immune system, so it will kill all future diseases – is, why do we have the need for ego?
The need for ego according to one of the great researches into self esteem Rabbi Dr. Twersky, stems from the childhood dependency.
Animals are not dependent creatures for long, a week or two and they are independent, us humans are dependent on others for survival for literally decades if not our entire life.
A person by nature desires independence.
“Me do it” is the common refrain of a two year olds.
So we have this internal struggle between independence and dependence.
Any internal struggle is unhealthy.
But the reason we have this struggle is because we define ourselves in childhood which obviously is a mistaken definition, for it is subconsciously, made not consciously produced.
Who are you? Who is a person?
A person is nothing more though nothing less than a body and a soul.
As children we cannot think about our soul, we can only extrapolate our environment based on our senses, so we see ourselves a helpless dependent thing, while in truth we are not aware of the permanence, of the immortality of our true existence.
As an adult, are you, your body, or your soul?
Well intellectually, you realize that you cannot be your body, you’re, your soul, your soul is what makes your body live, take away the soul, the body is no different than the food and drink it comes from – rots after a few days, eaten by maggots etc. etc.
So who is your soul?
Your soul is obviously a very different definition which you currently maintain of yourself on a subconscious level.
Rather your soul is life, it is the purity of God’s candle – as a soul is called “the candle of God,” it literally, in the words of perhaps the greatest codifier of mysticism, rabbi shneur zalman of liadi – a part of God.
Kabbalah teaches us how souls are created and this is the process.
There exists four spiritual worlds above us, the highest one is called atzilus, for the pure light, Godlines that shines there, is one with God himself; it is in this world souls are born, but then something extraordinary takes place, God takes that soul and unites with it.
http://youtu.be/nwSsjW8DhuA
In other words, imagine a candle flame and then another candle flame, this one infinite, but capable of acting finitely, comes and unites with it – this is called yechidah liyachdach – one with its unity – you now, cannot separate between God and your soul, just as two candle flames literally become one candle flame – like the Havdalah candle, when joined together.