Parts of what you say do not necessarily disagree with what I have said.

For one thing, I think we both agree that there is *more* than the ego. And I think that what you are saying also agrees with the argument that we seem to forget that there is more. Science (and some philosophers) have contended that Spirit does not exist because we cannot see or measure it. Spirit-ual groups and people have often seemed to claim that the ego is bad and is what has gotten us into the mess we are in. Personally, I think both are only seeing the glass as half full.

I think, in response to your argument about the problems of humanity, that I would ask WHOSE ego is running things. My ego desires an END to war, an end to poverty, an end to hunger. I think you are saying that you would desire the same. (What sane person wouldn't, right?)

Not sure if you are familiar with Martin Buber, although your argument in part derives from a premise he put forth in a book he called "I and Thou." Every Thing is an object -- everything that can be measured, everything that can be acted upon or with which you can interact. I think we could agree that the ego is an object. However, saying that does not make the ego less useful or real. A table is real (in a usable sense), and is very useful for keeping our food off the floor (for instance).

In a sense, everything could be considered an illusion -- time, tables (a collection of atoms that is actually more space than substance?), and self. However, they are all useful and meaningful in a sense, too. In a sense, perhaps, the ego is not as much an illusion as the sense that we are separate(d) from the divine.

There is, though, a very real sense in which you and I are separate. Even though we are both divinity at our core, and connected in that sense, we both have different ideas and different ways of seeing the world. We are able to learn from each other. In a very real sense, I cannot learn from myself. There may be things that I know, and wisdom that I have... however, life's lessons and the wisdom gained come through interactions with other objects.

I am able to grow. I am able to invent. I am able to learn. I contend that if spirit is eternal and infinite, then it is unable to grow or learn. Infinity leaves no room for growth. It has also been claimed that where there is no growth, there is no life.

People wonder why Life doesn't work out the way they feel it should not because of ego, but because they have expectations. If they are attached to a particular outcome, then they are disappointed if things don't work out that way. If we learn to have preferences rather than attachments, then we can prefer a particular outcome and not have the pain and disappointment if things happen differently.

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I Wanna Be Special. Just like Everybody Else!