Overcoming the Ego of Victim Consciousness

Someone told me that the most difficult thing we face in our efforts to achieve empowerment (freedom of attachments) is to free ourselves from our egos. According to him, the ego keeps us tied to the me, my, and mine philosophy, which cultivates the selfish thinking: "it's my way, or no way at all."

Several weeks after our conversation, and after intense introspection, I had to admit that I loved my ego. And that I believe it's the driving force behind all of my accomplishments and successes in life. It provides me with the confidence and determination to work toward achieving my goals. And for me, I love my ego, selfishness and all.

Now that I have said it, it doesn't make me feel very good about myself, particularly, the part about my selfishness. Yet, like it or not, my ego inextricably connects me with my selfishness. In other words, it connects me with my accomplishments, my family, my friends, my, my, my....

Moreover, according to my friend, it is my clinging to my that prevents me from becoming no-thing (free). When we desire to free ourselves from our egos, the ego fights desperately to prevent us from doing so. It reminds us of the hard work of graduating from college, becoming a successful small business owner, writing several books, and so forth. And, in its final plunge of the knife into our hearts, it firmly asks: Do you want to give all of this up? Who are you without these things?

No-thing, I thought to myself. I am no-thing without my things. And, furthermore, I am afraid to become no-thing, because I worked too hard to become some-thing. I am that which I think I am. I am working to achieve empowerment, with certain limitations. Primarily, among these limitations is my unwillingness to free myself from my ego.

Wow! I continue to say it. Over and over, I reaffirm my unwillingness to go to the next level of awareness on the road to empowerment. I understand change, but I am unwilling to do the necessary work to achieve it.

Many of us fight change because we're afraid of freedom. We talk about freedom, and listen to others talk about it, but we frequently don't talk about the sacrifices we must make to achieve our freedom. In other words, we don't really talk about all the changes we need to address in our own lives.

We talk endlessly about achieving other goals, such as jobs, education, material possessions, and so forth. We even equate them with freedom from unemployment, ignorance, poverty, and so forth. Yet. lost somewhere in our ego-driven lifestyles of great jobs, schools, and houses is the hidden enemy guiding us to deeper levels of pain and suffering. This enemy is our ego.

Meanwhile, there are many small steps we must take to overcome the pernicious effects of our egos.

1. Admit that the ego exists as a knowledge base we use to make decisions.

2. Understand that its power comes from our beliefs.

3. Recognize that a properly developed ego, without selfishness, is useful to us.

4. Embrace your freedom as no-thing.

5. Accept no-thing as you without your cultural and spiritual credentials.

By using these five steps, we position ourselves to perceive our lives without constant battles with pain and suffering. In other words, we open our minds to envision vastness. Now, we can begin to go deeper into victim beliefs cluttering our minds:

1. By admitting that our ego exists because of our knowledge, or the level of awareness we have about ourselves and the world, we are better positioned to change its behavior.

2. Our beliefs, whatever they are, precede all our actions. We act according to what we believe.

3. The ego gives us the drive to act on our desires. It gives us confidence in our inner power to create ideas and express them in the visible world. And when it's conditioned to think selfless about life, it becomes very useful to us in removing the clutter of things from our minds.

4. To become no-thing is the greatest freedom anyone can ever achieve. It is a life without attachments to things, people or beliefs. In other words, you are no longer a man, woman, black, white, brown, yellow, or any other labels you use to make you some-thing.

5. As no-thing, you have the power to exist in the vastness of the universe. You move beyond societal and global limitations to a life without borders.
The goal of empowerment is to become no-thing. Anything less is just a step in that direction.