The Hurting Of The Ego (Part 2)

Continuing from yesterday’s message, we commonly use the terms my ego got hurt or I think your ego got hurt. You hurt my ego is nothing but you hurt or harmed the image that I carry of myself with me each second everyday. Because I carry it with me all the time, I have become attached to it. e.g. If, on a particular day, you reach home late from office and your spouse (husband or wife), who is angry with you, accuses you of not taking care of your family and one who doesn’t give enough time to the family. Your reasons for reaching home late may be genuine or not, your spouse may be right or wrong. In either case, you carry an image of yourself, all the time, as being a very loving and caring spouse and parent, who has been responsible for the all-round growth and development of the family in all respects since the family was created. Your spouse’s words basically pinch that invisible image, as a result of which you feel insulted and hurt and you react angrily, not necessarily in front of your spouse, but it could be in front of someone else or even just internally. This process happens many times, in various different situations with different people almost every day.

The image that we all carry of ourselves is made of various characteristics, obviously the characteristics of each one’s self-created image are different. These characteristics of the image may or may not actually exist inside the real self, but whenever someone challenges any of these characteristics or tries to suggest to us that one of those characteristics is not ours or does not exist inside us, we react.