A lot of spiritual aspirants at some point on their journey try to ‘transcend the ego,’ an idea I’d like to explore and challenge. I’d argue that the ego is necessary to make sense of our worldly experience. While one may find bliss in moments of transcending the ego, the ego remains an essential part of worldly being.

First, what purpose does the ego serve? The ego is the lens through which we interpret the world. It helps us navigate the world through a coherent identity; the ‘I’ in ‘I’ statements. I think of the ego as the mental analogue for the physical body; so the body is on the physical plane, the ego is on the mental plane. Having an ego allows us to form a coherent story out of all our experiences.

The ego serves to differentiate what ‘I’ experience from the rest of the world, or what is not ‘I’. This, many would say, is an illusion. That we are separate is an illusion, that truly, there is no boundary between ‘you’ and ‘I’. This is something one might experience for themselves in deep meditation, or at a music festival, or in a flow state. The boundaries of the ego soften.

The troubles with ego start when we start identifying ourselves with our ego, treating the ego as one and the same as our entire being. If, for example, we identify with our job title but that becomes threatened, then it can feel as if our existence is threatened. In this case, attachment to the ego causes suffering. Being consumed by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain is another pitfall of attachment to the ego. In short, forgetting that you are more than your ego (just as you are more than your body) is an ignorance that causes suffering.

I think one of the most valuable things to come from having an ego is an individual lived experience. Our experiences give us the capacity to empathize with others. Our uniqueness allows us to appreciate that everyone else also has a uniqueness. If we experienced life as a general bliss, we would lose all the beautiful and transient idiosyncrasies of individual personality. Ego, then is an essential part of the lived experience and not necessarily something to overcome.