Most of my acquaintances wish they could ditch their egos. For some reason, it appears to them that they will feel way better if they leap straight into this world full of danger with no ego at all. It appears to them that ego makes them miserable, as if it were a monstrous parasite which has invaded their brains and makes everything murky with its horrible mephitic discharge. They prefer to think of ego as of something sick and foreign which is to be torn out with some special wrench of will.
The problem is, ego is the only decision-making center people have—pull it down and you lose everything. You can’t even say this is similar to sawing the branch you are sitting on—as this is something external to you—because it destroys the very core part of yourself.
Dumb speculations of mock-enlightened and non-enlightened individuals on ego’s detrimental effect and the need to eliminate it make a too strong impression on sensitive people. That’s how it comes that ego is portrayed as unmitigated evil and the nemesis of enlightenment. However, the mind together with all its possible modifications is just the mind, i.e. a biocomputer equipped with a set of programs that you have installed in it yourself. You don’t need to grapple it; you need to study it.
Ego’s foundation dissipates only after the transformation of the mind. In the meantime, you can work on taking “the roof” apart, but at minimum you should get to see the mechanism of ego’s reactions, explore the set of your subpersonalities, learn the tactic your mind applies to make up for its tension and discomfort. Any jackass can kick down a barn—it’s the same with the mind, and yes, it takes a great deal of effort to change its contents and the way it reacts.
Transformational and purifying energy impulses come in as a response for one’s request, or verbalized need. Furthermore, given that a person has no capacity to get rid of his ego, he can make his need louder instead, and do so not because of the desire to slip into the state of blissful paradise as quickly as possible but by virtue of the ability to see how same few reactions of his mind lead him round in circles of same emotional hijacks.
There is an opinion that God is all-seeing and all-knowing. Even if that is the case, before you go ahead and ask Him to eliminate any of your inner elements for you, you must have a good knowledge of that element which you want to be erased. The more exhaustive is your study of your problem, the easier will be the resolution—be it with God’s help or on your own. Therefore, no matter how hard you try asking for your liberation from imaginary ego, if you don’t see ego’s manifestations—although have read about them—it will never happen. Bring the light of attention into the darkness of your mind and you will get an opportunity to change your situation. Otherwise, all that’s left is to hope for a miracle, yet what you have done to earn it is not clear either to you or God, which is why no miracle should be expected.