Ego

Last night I saw Batman vs Superman and some of the statements about Superman's intentions had me thinking about ego. Ego, the part of your identity referred to as 'self', is actually a good thing. A conscious mind is a rare gift, in my opinion. It is when your conscious mind thinks more of yourself than others that there's a problem.


I like Einstein's definition of ego where ego equals one divided by knowledge. In this theory the more you know the smaller your ego, the more you know, the bigger your ego; suggesting that self importance diminishes with greater awareness. Freud, as always, takes it a little further stating that ego "attempts to mediate between id and reality" suggesting that identification of self and reality, when in check, leads to a healthy ego. When the two are out of balance, then ego is either less than it should be (low self esteem) or greater than warranted (egotistical).


Which leads into the existentialism theory (whereby each individual is solely responsible for giving meaning to life, living it passionately and sincerely and lending itself to authenticity). Perhaps my initial assessment of Superman was incorrect and that his motivation for doing good was less about ego and more about existentialism. May there be more Supermans in our world. May we associate with them; may we become one ourselves.


Now the question begs, what can be done to spark the Superman in you?