Hurting Of The Ego (Part 1)

Almost every day we come across a situation when someone says something to us which is not very nice or we choose to perceive and feel it to be not very nice. In either case, we feel insulted and get upset as a result. In some cases, we react and display our feelings. In some cases, we don’t. In either case, the result is a reduction in our happiness. Why does this happen? It’s because you have created and are attached to and also identify with an image of yourself in your mind that does not match with how the other person sees or perceives you, as a result of which you believe you have been insulted and you get upset.

As long as people’s perception of you matches the image that you have created inside your mind of yourself, you are content with them, but as soon as people’s perception does not match the image, even if it’s to a very small extent, you become disturbed, because you are attached to that image—the more the attachment, the greater the hurt and the negative disturbance or reaction. You could examine this process very closely, taking place inside yourself every day. This kind of attachment mentioned above is called ego. That’s why the process explained above is called in common language the hurting of the ego.

In tomorrow’s message, we shall explain this process further with an example.