“What?!” you might be thinking when you read the title of this article.

We usually hear that we are not the ego when we listen to spiritual teachers, read spiritual books, or discuss our paths with other spiritual people. We hear and read that we are not our thoughts, emotions, old emotional pain, and that overall voice in the head that pretends to be who we are. That’s like the foundation of the spiritual path. 

And although I am not saying that the ego is who you are, here I am saying that the ego is you. What do I mean by that?

(I am not really addressing you personally, of course, because I have no idea about your particular situation and where you are on your spiritual path. So, I am addressing us all here, all humans who have or have had an ego identity, which is pretty much all of us).

The ego is a state of consciousness

First, let’s look at the ego or the ego identity, so that we are on the same page before we go into the above statement.  

At the core, the ego is a state of consciousness. It is a way of perceiving reality that we humans experience before we awaken spiritually. When we perceive reality from that state of consciousness, we believe that we are a separate identity, a thought-based version of ourselves that is arising in our minds. So, we walk around with a self-image and think that that image of ourselves is who we are.  

However, since the ego identity arises inside us, it is not who we are. And since it is not, we can become aware of that identity inside ourselves and begin to watch what it is doing. We can look at what it is thinking and feeling and how it reacts to certain people or events. So, instead of becoming those thoughts, emotions, and reactions, we can become aware of them.

If the ego identity were who we are, we wouldn’t be able to do that. We wouldn’t be able to watch it. We would be that person.

But since we are not, we can look at the ego and what it is doing. Then, gradually, we can also begin to stop its patterns and habits by refusing to go into the thoughts, emotions, and reactions that come from the ego. And if we go even further, we can remove them altogether.

The ego as a program

There are many layers to the ego identity. The ego is a collection of individual and collective beliefs, perceptions, traumas, old experiences and interpretations of those experiences, and patterns of thinking and feeling. Together, they work as that identity inside us.

You can think of the ego as a program running on automatic. When we are unaware of what is happening inside us, we more or less live as that program. We are thinking its thoughts, feeling its emotions, and acting in the ways the program is causing us to act. 

When we live that way, we look at the world, situations, and other people through the lens of the program. So, even though there are different ways to see or experience things, we can’t perceive them because the program only allows us to see what is available in our particular program.

Unfortunately, this is still the way many humans live. And it is not personal. It has been our dominant state of consciousness for a long time, the dominant state in humanity, so it has become our “normal,” even though it is not natural to live this way. 

But when we become aware of what is happening inside us, we can begin to stop those old patterns and gradually start to free ourselves so that our true selves can shine through.

Why the ego is you, even though it is not who you are

So, the ego is not who you are. You are not that old identity, even if it still arises inside you. But the ego is made of your energy, so in a way, it is you. 

It is your energy and consciousness that takes the form of an identity inside you. So, the ego is your energy taking on that particular form. 

That happens in all humans before we awaken. We invest our natural energy into our ego identities, and our energy becomes those identities. This is energy that otherwise would be available to us here and now, in each moment. But instead, it is trapped in our egos.

This is not something we do on purpose. If we were aware and could change it, we would. Who would want to invest their precious energy into old patterns, perceptions, beliefs, and inner wounds that take us away from the present moment and the joy of being here and now? 

Who would want to give their energy to old patterns repeating themselves and making us experience the past over and over again? Because that is what we do when we live as the ego. We experience the past even when we are in new circumstances because the way we perceive those circumstances has not changed. So we look at what happens through our old filters. And I don’t think anyone would choose that.

But we still do it unconsciously unless we are awake. And since we, not only as individuals but humanity as a species, have been doing this for so long, there is a lot of momentum behind those patterns. And even when we are aware, it usually takes a while to free ourselves.

Taking back our energy

So, part of the awakening process is about becoming aware of where our energy is stuck and freeing our energy from those places. 

When we do, we take our energy back from where it was trapped, and more and more of that energy is available to us in each moment. So for each place where we free ourselves, more of our natural energy is available, and the more we can live and be in the present moment.

As we take back our energy, we also remove the ego identity and free ourselves to be who we are. Because when our energy is not trapped or invested in the ego or some old pattern, we are ourselves naturally.