Ego has a negative connotation in the daily jargon. Especially in the recent years in the aftermath of the age of ego, people are praising all kinds of sources of pleasure and are condemning ego due to its push for selfish and self-centered moves. This reactionary attitude, as is typical of all reactionary moves, brings about a blindness towards certain aspects of the human nature. In this atmosphere, scholars, thinkers, artists and leaders are destined to suffer the most due to their innate, strong ego.
Whether you like it or not, ego is part of our basic nature. If you admit it and tame it, you can put it to good use for yourself and for others; but the opposite is true, too. If you disregard it or shun it, then it is going to develop according to its untamed nature, and when the time comes, your ego is going to manifest itself in ways you may or may not like.
The group of people I mentioned above happen to have a stronger ego among others, and their individual and social lives suffer the most from this subtle issue. Why? Let's see the story from its beginning.
In the schooling systems, at best, the talents of the students are fostered, but their ego stays untamed, mostly because it is shunned: "Ego is something bad, so, better not to talk about it at all...". Later in life, we see, for example, a thinker who doesn't know how to conduct their ideas to other people and lead a civilized discussion; an artist who dislikes and harshly criticizes others' art; a scientist who crushes the students. It takes several years and trial-and-errors for them to get over this, of course if they can! And when they finally emerge from this ego trap, they are already old and outcast. Their family lives, too, suffer the same attitudes and, the original people find themselves in a social cemetery.
Now, is this all there is about ego? Did the Creator give ego to make us suffer? Is ego merely a tool of devil to create conflict and misery? And why are the most influential and valuable ones among the humans the unlucky ones for having a larger share of ego than the rest?
Said Nursi, an Islamic scholar of the early 20th century and author of the Risale-i Nur Collection, suggests the ego as a versatile tool given by God to humans to feel, measure and understand His attributes. That is, for example, an artist is the one to better appreciate the art on colors and shapes in the nature and universe, a physicist is the one to better see the invisible but omnipresent order at all levels of existence from micro to macro universe. This notion highlights the essential role of ego in fulfilling the requirements of being a servant of God, and it encompasses not only the talented people but also the ordinary.
In fact, if you dig deeper into the Eastern teachings on education of the self, you will discover that, instead of disregarding or shunning the ego, they are also pointing at a crux for ego where wisdom, trustworthiness, mercy and will power unite into one spirit. So, can we use this same perspective to have an idea of why original people are given strong egos? We sure can!
Let's see some examples throughout the history. Imagine yourself witnessing Galileo Galilei defying the dogmatic attitude of the Middle Age inquisition courts and speaking in the face of the oppression they have been exercising on the minds. What is the force that he has to do such a brave objection and to stay firm on his word?
Imagine Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist of all history according to many. How did he manage to survive despite his antisocial attitudes, and how did he go on to use mathematics as a tool to study the universe? Today, we take this for granted, but why in the world should numbers and symbols on a piece of paper explain the "future" of the existence? And with what force did he preserve his motivation and continue his studies despite a body of religious elite questioning his intentions?
Imagine Said Nursi standing against a global body of atheist scientists and philosophers who embarked on annihilating the idea of a creator. How did he persist on his teachings and commitments in the face of exiles, tortures and how did he speak so bravely in favor of the Islamic practices at a time when the opposite was the norm?
Imagine Abraham Lincoln, the father of the USA. How did he manage to stand against his own political failures for so many years until eventually seeding the union of the states?
How did Albert Einstein insist on not accepting the hegemony of the Newtonian understanding of the universe and developed a relativistic understanding that shook the minds? And ironically, how did the same Albert Einstein fail to accept the quantum behavior at the micro scale that was going against his own baby, the relativity?
This list can be extended. An original person in any field of life, before receiving the proper acceptance among the people, faces dire resistance socially, intellectually, but they manage to stand against all those thanks to some force within. When the same happens for the sake of a personal issue in private life, we call such people egoistic, but in the above-mentioned cases, these people see a light of truth that empowers them. The instrument that receives this light of truth and converts it into useful deeds is ego.
With a tamed ego, a scholar can work on a new theory and defend it in the face of entire humanity, because and if the same ego is receiving the light of truth. With a tamed ego, an artist can consistently exercise a style and interpretation in their art even if it goes against the accepted public opinion, because and if their ego is shining like the moon due to the light falling on it from the Light of all existence.
And with a tamed ego, ordinary people can do extraordinary actions in the face of the status-quo, because and if they are clinging on to a rope descending from the heavens conveying timeless truths.
Whether you like it or not, ego is part of our basic nature. If you admit it and tame it, you can put it to good use for yourself and for others; but the opposite is true, too. If you disregard it or shun it, then it is going to develop according to its untamed nature, and when the time comes, your ego is going to manifest itself in ways you may or may not like.
The group of people I mentioned above happen to have a stronger ego among others, and their individual and social lives suffer the most from this subtle issue. Why? Let's see the story from its beginning.
In the schooling systems, at best, the talents of the students are fostered, but their ego stays untamed, mostly because it is shunned: "Ego is something bad, so, better not to talk about it at all...". Later in life, we see, for example, a thinker who doesn't know how to conduct their ideas to other people and lead a civilized discussion; an artist who dislikes and harshly criticizes others' art; a scientist who crushes the students. It takes several years and trial-and-errors for them to get over this, of course if they can! And when they finally emerge from this ego trap, they are already old and outcast. Their family lives, too, suffer the same attitudes and, the original people find themselves in a social cemetery.
Now, is this all there is about ego? Did the Creator give ego to make us suffer? Is ego merely a tool of devil to create conflict and misery? And why are the most influential and valuable ones among the humans the unlucky ones for having a larger share of ego than the rest?
Said Nursi, an Islamic scholar of the early 20th century and author of the Risale-i Nur Collection, suggests the ego as a versatile tool given by God to humans to feel, measure and understand His attributes. That is, for example, an artist is the one to better appreciate the art on colors and shapes in the nature and universe, a physicist is the one to better see the invisible but omnipresent order at all levels of existence from micro to macro universe. This notion highlights the essential role of ego in fulfilling the requirements of being a servant of God, and it encompasses not only the talented people but also the ordinary.
In fact, if you dig deeper into the Eastern teachings on education of the self, you will discover that, instead of disregarding or shunning the ego, they are also pointing at a crux for ego where wisdom, trustworthiness, mercy and will power unite into one spirit. So, can we use this same perspective to have an idea of why original people are given strong egos? We sure can!
Let's see some examples throughout the history. Imagine yourself witnessing Galileo Galilei defying the dogmatic attitude of the Middle Age inquisition courts and speaking in the face of the oppression they have been exercising on the minds. What is the force that he has to do such a brave objection and to stay firm on his word?
Imagine Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist of all history according to many. How did he manage to survive despite his antisocial attitudes, and how did he go on to use mathematics as a tool to study the universe? Today, we take this for granted, but why in the world should numbers and symbols on a piece of paper explain the "future" of the existence? And with what force did he preserve his motivation and continue his studies despite a body of religious elite questioning his intentions?
Imagine Said Nursi standing against a global body of atheist scientists and philosophers who embarked on annihilating the idea of a creator. How did he persist on his teachings and commitments in the face of exiles, tortures and how did he speak so bravely in favor of the Islamic practices at a time when the opposite was the norm?
Imagine Abraham Lincoln, the father of the USA. How did he manage to stand against his own political failures for so many years until eventually seeding the union of the states?
How did Albert Einstein insist on not accepting the hegemony of the Newtonian understanding of the universe and developed a relativistic understanding that shook the minds? And ironically, how did the same Albert Einstein fail to accept the quantum behavior at the micro scale that was going against his own baby, the relativity?
This list can be extended. An original person in any field of life, before receiving the proper acceptance among the people, faces dire resistance socially, intellectually, but they manage to stand against all those thanks to some force within. When the same happens for the sake of a personal issue in private life, we call such people egoistic, but in the above-mentioned cases, these people see a light of truth that empowers them. The instrument that receives this light of truth and converts it into useful deeds is ego.
With a tamed ego, a scholar can work on a new theory and defend it in the face of entire humanity, because and if the same ego is receiving the light of truth. With a tamed ego, an artist can consistently exercise a style and interpretation in their art even if it goes against the accepted public opinion, because and if their ego is shining like the moon due to the light falling on it from the Light of all existence.
And with a tamed ego, ordinary people can do extraordinary actions in the face of the status-quo, because and if they are clinging on to a rope descending from the heavens conveying timeless truths.
