Our country fought against the British rule to gain independence. Similarly, we should also fight against our inner demons and attain freedom from pain and sorrow. The worst part is that we do not realise when we actually develop a big negative ego. It builds over time, experience and situations. For example, there would have been times where people would not take us seriously and then we tried shouting at them, scolding them, etc, and they would have listened to us. This would make us believe that to get things done we should shout and make ourselves heard.
This develops into an attitude where we think that things should be done the way we want it to be done. Similarly, if one is praised often about his/her looks, it builds an ego within that person about their good looks. The same thing applies to wealth, health, intelligence, etc. This negative ego deludes the possessor by making him feel that everything s/he does is right and the world is at her/his feet. Moreover, it also projects itself in a way to make the possessor feel that s/he would be suppressed upon without the negative egoistic identity. This negative ego may give temporary happiness — when people listen to us, do things the way we want to, appreciate our looks.
But it is imperative to understand that those people who listen to us and appreciate us are also doing it out of some selfish interests they might have. And when their selfish interests are no longer fulfilled, they immediately stop fuelling our negative ego. So in the long run, the negative ego is bound to give us sorrow and unhappiness. Because there will come a time when we come across people who are superior to us in the same aspect we are egoistic about. And then, we will feel inferior. The best way to get a reality check on our negative ego is to observe our feelings when someone praises us and when someone criticises us. If we feel happy when someone praises us and feel bad when someone criticises us — it is a sure sign that we do possess this inner demon of negative ego. It is extremely important to note that till one does not fight and kill this inner demon — one cannot enjoy the actual happiness in life.
