The connection between desires and ego

The Previous Rebbe said, no greater egoist is there, than a toddler.

As Chassidus explains, the reason they throw tantrums, is they are infuriated, that they do not get their way.

Now what made the little shnuk – who is literally in diapers – is fed, clothed, housed, by loving doting parents, into such a big-shot?

Ah’

This is fascinating indeed.

You see, we are born with a subconscious demon called “I.”

This I, obviously must develop, for us to have a perception of self.

Which is why in unfortunate cases, like Russian orphanages, where children never received love, they remain closed off from human emotions (perhaps, as we see a lot of heartlessness in Russians, it means, even those educated at home, but missing love, perhaps Putin being a good example of this, simply are dissociated from interpersonal relationships, which is why all that’s left, is the pleasure instinct and the supremacy instinct.)

However, what’s most interesting, is what happens in a healthy case, where the mother and father react to the child’s physical and emotional needs – they love the child and hence the child develops a healthy / unhealthy ego.

For as mentioned, we need an identity to function, but the ironic part of this flipside, is the very fact that we see ourselves as an “I” also means we expect that our “I” should be revered.