EGO
Jay Shetty, in his Think Like a Monk, Chapter 8 EGO, offers,
In the darkness of the ego we think we’re special and powerful and significant, but when we look at ourselves in context of the great universe, we see that we only play a small part. To find true humility, like the firefly, we must look at ourselves when the sun is out and we can see clearly. (184) Our mutual task is to clear the clouds to see the sun.
As 2025 unfolds, a MUST READ for all Americans, whether Republican, Independent, or Democrat, is The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann. The introduction certainly nails what we have witnessed, are witnessing and will witness, “His ‘brand’…transgression-an id with no super ego.” (xiii) Simply, the impulsive part of the personality that is driven by pleasure and repulsed by pain, absent the judgmental and morally correct part of personality. Murray and Weissmann offer, “THE UNITIED STATES is venturing into uncharted territory with not one, but four, criminal indictments of a former president for crimes alleged to have been committed before, during, and after his presidency.” (xvi)
Partisan politics is a dangerous duel of limited and partial truths; and binds party sorted folks to fixed, literal or otherwise limiting beliefs and frames of minds. Political party sorted, addicted surrogates make obvious excuses for candidates and excuse the inexcusable with respect to virtue, morality, judgment, intent, behavior, actions, ethics, and laws. W. Edwards Deming remarked, “If a person is not performing as expected, it is probably because they are miscast for the job.” Michael Cohen offers, “No one ever tells Trump the truth about his behavior and beliefs, or the consequences of his conduct and ignorance and arrogance, in business or in his personal life and now in politics. Trump is the boy in the bubble, impervious to the thoughts and feelings or others, entirely and utterly focused on his own desires and ambitions.” Witness the current reality of self-serving, oligarchy work-in-process.
As a country, we need leaders who will lead the country, improve the country, and set the stage for future generations, not folks who will continue to deconstruct the many institutions that are the foundation and pillars of the America many Americans desire. America needs individuals with healthy ego, the conscious part of personality that mediates between the id and the superego and makes decisions that are in the best interests of the UNITED STATES.
