Games the Ego Plays
I learned early in my African childhood to play ego games. Each one, at an unconscious level, has diminished my life in that it has diverted me from my True Soul Self.
I played the ultimate ego game that we named
“I’m the king of the castle. You’re the dirty rascal”.
African termites typically built a 20-foot-high mound of clay as a nest. This became the perfect venue for our boisterous and sometimes dangerous game we named “I’m the king” (I have an old scar on my lip to prove that point).
Here were the rules for the game.
The boys (never girls of course in this patriarchal society) divided ourselves into two teams. We lined up at the foot of the anthill. After the customary “On your marks, get set, go” we scrambled and fought our way up the hill attempting to get our team to the top. The next challenge was to fend off the other team’s attempts to do the same. Sweat, tears, and then blood were the price of doing business in this game. Soon we were fashioning projectiles out of clay and stone and hurling them at the other team (war games?). Hence my split lip.
Does this sound any different from the games the ego plays in corporate, political, and even church settings?
Publish or perish. Kill the competition. Dominate the field. Losing is not an option. Be the moral leader of the world. Win at all costs.
As far as humility is concerned that’s for suckers and losers.
The humility of the monastery with its self-abnegation and vows of poverty and chastity, that’s ridiculous.
And humility at the corporate level, that’s fine if collaboration and self-revelations are in the interest of greater profitability.
And humility at the personal level is fine as long as you get a ton of likes and your book lands up on the bestseller list.
All the while our Soul’s consciousness is whispering
“Maybe there is a better and more fulfilling way to play the game of life”
“Maybe you will lose your soul when you gain the world with ways of the ego”.
“You don’t have to be the king of the castle. And the other person is your equal with as much dignity as you afford yourself.”