The ego promotes guilt. We keep our belief in guilt from our awareness. Guilt is an ongoing problem for everyone. Not the kind of guilt where we have done something wrong - but the toxic kind - that we are guilty as a person. Guilt because we do not meet our own or other people’s expectations. The guilt of saying “No” to someone, of not pleasing others or looking after them at the expense of our own agenda. Memories of transgressions come up to torture us. To remind us that we are no good. We become preoccupied with the wrongdoings of others. What they’ve done and who they are. Their faults and flaws, personality shortcomings, stupidities and lack of awareness. The ego tells us to look out into the world to find guilt in others - thereby purchasing our own innocence.
For when we attack another, or counterattack, it always leads to more guilt. We are aware that the other will want to attack us back. So we need to defend ourselves. This is the cycle of attack and defence which promotes guilt. Another trap we are caught in, in the ego’s thought system.
Happiness Through the Body
We often equate the body’s pleasure with happiness. But the body is actually neutral. Our thoughts and beliefs about it provide meaning for us. It is in the mind as to whether a sensation or experience is pleasure or pain. The mind is influenced by the ego. Pleasure supports an ego goal leading to satisfaction which is temporary and illusory. It does not make us happy, satisfied or peaceful. In actively seeking pleasure, comfort or safety we are equating ourselves with our bodies.
Personal appearance is a boost to our specialness. Again, mental health issues arise here. Most of us are aware of the prevalence of eating disorders and other issues such as body dysmorphic disorder. The popularity of plastic surgery to correct what we see as our flaws or to exaggerate what we deem to be desirable. The ubiquitous tweaks and improvements to our appearance has become commonplace.
This is an attempt to accomplish an ego goal. But in the end we hate the body for its frailty and littleness and it eventually lets us down for it cannot accomplish what we expect from it. It gets sick, gets old, infirm and loses energy. We take out our anger on our body through attack.
Self attack for our perception of not meeting an ego goal. Not special enough. This is the self-harm we do to ourselves. We are often not aware of all the pain we cause ourselves. We suffer emotional pain by thinking and our thinking is ego-influenced. We then ruminate on all the negatives and how we have been let down and let ourselves down, leading to depression.
We attack ourselves physically too and make our bodies sick by assigning it to roles it cannot fill and it lets us down and we attack it. We are aware in numerous studies of the inter-relationship between the mind and body. We know that emotional factors (influenced by the mind) lead to lower resistance to disease, self-destructive or unhealthy behaviours and greater stress on vital organs. These are examples of the mind abusing, attacking or punishing the body.
We also use our own physical or emotional pain if it can prove another’s guilt. This is victim thinking. We are victims so we can attack another. Innumerable types of suffering or physical and emotional illness we use regularly to justify the attack on others. Our desire to project guilt onto others promotes our own sickness. The ego wishes no one well. Yet it makes a complete havoc of our peace of mind.
In essence, the ego is not really a part of us. It is only a belief system.
