What kind of world would we live in if everyone walked around with a loaded gun? Would the world be more dangerous? Would people feel safe? Would all the fighting and wars stop because no one would feel weak, vulnerable, or defenseless?
The ego is like carrying around a loaded gun. Many religious leaders have preached about how bad the ego is for our spiritual growth. Our ego gives us a false sense of security and a heightened sense of self. It gives us brief and fleeing spouts of pleasures. Our ego is cunning and misleading and it can cause us to either shoot ourselves, or someone else who doesn’t really deserve to die. Sadly, the ego is becoming more powerful. We can look at the state of our economy, the deterioration of relationships and families, the onset of malady and disease to see that there is a raging war in our communities and within ourselves.

The shamans believed in four worlds. They believed that the upper-world was the future, or in modern terms, the world of the manifested. The middle-world, was the present, or the here and now. The lower world was the past, and the under-world was the world of the subconscious. The under-world is the Hell that Dante describes in the Inferno. It is where all of our demons lay. It is where our deepest and darkest fears reside. Many of us are unaware that we are in the under-world, and have no if any knowledge about the deep-seated pain and negativity that hides in the crevices of our mind.
We are even more oblivious to the fact that we have a devil that presides over this world. A devil named Ego. Ego is like an egregious African warlord. His only concern is to maintain power. He and his men walk about, carrying semi automatic weapons, ready to dispel anyone or anything that poses a threat. The ego wipes out whole populations. He watches people suffer and die from disease and deprivation, while he sits in his palace, drinking wine and enjoying worldly pleasures.

The ego is a dictator who thrives on chaos and disharmony. As the ego gets stronger, the rest of our souls get weaker. Ego suppresses us, blinds us. It keeps us from digging up the deep-seated pain that lives in our subconscious mind. Our spirit begins to wane because the ego is in charge. He does not even give us a chance to examine ourselves, to look within. Whenever we feel scared, vulnerable, or insecure. The ego will step in, banging his chest and flexing his muscles. He is ready to shoot any one who makes us feel less than whole.

The ego is like a loaded gun. We carry it around because we are afraid to look within. By not looking within we fail to realize that our external world is a reflection of our inner state. We fail to see that we are all connected, that we are all one. By shooting our enemies, we are just shooting ourselves.

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