The Ego is a Sneaky Caterpillar

While many spiritual teachings purport enlightenment to mean the destruction of the ego, that’s not actually true.

As a component of the subtle body, the ego is essential to our functioning in the world. Without an ego, you’d never get anything done. Whenever somebody called your name you’d be unable to respond because the part of you that identifies with that name would be absent.

So, the ego does serve its purpose. It’s neither necessary nor possible to “kill” it.

All that’s really necessary is to dethrone the ego; to divest it of self-identification; to see it as nothing more than an instrument allowing us to function in the world rather than the sum total of who we are.

The ego, however, is like a caterpillar moving between blades of grass.

A caterpillar won’t let go of one blade of grass until it has firm hold of another.

Similarly, the ego is programmed to identify with a succession of roles and personas. That’s just what it does; how it enables us to present ourselves to the world. We shouldn’t demonise the ego because it has its function and is, in its own way, trying to help us.

However, it’s a crafty little thing, make no mistake.

Once you realise your nature as Awareness, the ego is defrocked. It crawls nakedly back into the shadows where it bides its time, looking for an opportunity to grab ahold of the next blade of grass.

The ego is primed to achieve two directives: It wants to be right and it wants to look good.

Its aim is to present an image to the world that will, in some way, get us ahead, or bring us validation, praise or prestige. A large part of what motivates human behaviour is the desire to present ourselves in a favourable light.

There’s something of a danger zone when a person first has a glimpse of Self-Realisation. Although the realisation that we are Awareness essentially shatters all the ego’s previous roles, personas and agendas, the ego function is still looking to fulfil its programmed objective: which is, primarily, to elevate us in the eyes of the world. 

Being the slippery customer it is, there’s a very real chance that it may sneak in through the back door when we’re not looking. The idea that we’re now “enlightened” is tantalising to the ego. It’s not just a brand new role or a new persona, but the ultimate prize—one that inherently confers a lot of power and supposed superiority! (It should be stated the truly liberated have no sense of superiority whatsoever, knowing, as they do, that we are all one). 

We probably won’t be aware of this sneaky bit of programming at first. That’s why it’s always necessary to keep a vigilant watch over the ego, the psyche and its operant conditioning; much of which is unconscious, making it an altogether trickier job.

Once aware of the need for vigilance, “we turn our face to the sun and let the shadows fall behind us.”

The removal of ignorance is like pulling back window blinds, enabling the light of the sun to shine through the glass and illuminate the room in divine splendour.

There’s nothing as beautiful as breaking free from the obscuration of erroneous thoughts and concepts and beginning to comprehend and revel in our own innate beauty, light, love and divinity. It’s an endless fountain of bliss not to be found anywhere outside of ourselves, but ever present in our own heart of hearts.