I have already talked about that little voice in our heads that always warns us before our actions and let us know deep inside what is right and what is wrong. Let’s call that little voice, Mr Po, a brave loving warrior representing all the good of this world inside you. Mr Po carries the kindness and the innocence of a little angel warrior you have inside you since you were a child.
Ego, you little…
But there is another voice inside you too. In cartoons it is often represented as a little devil. In real life is nothing but your EGO. Ego is the representation of all you are in this life in the image YOU have for YOURself. It is the mask you put on every day to perform in front of an audience of colleagues, friends or nah, family and other people.
Your ego is a collection of all the titles you had in the past and all the roles you played or now playing in your life: the son, the champion, the boyfriend, the loser, the mother. Your ego powers those voices in your head that often take control and make you think, say or do things that you will eventually regret and feel bad or ashamed of.
Ego in control
You know your ego is in control when you are consumed by emotions such as anger, sadness and disappointment. When you are trapped in repeating thoughts and dialogues with yourself that focus on doubts, fear and anxiety. When you start judging yourself, feeling tiny and everything or everyone around you so big and hectic. Sounds familiar?
Your ego is something you will have to live with, but you know something? You don’t have to listen to it or believe it, because your ego is a part of you not the real you. The choice will be always on you to make. You will kill it a thousand times, and a thousand times it will rise from the dead. However, as you fight it you will realise that ego is nothing but a powerful animal that you will need to fight every time to control, in order to use it to reach your goals.
You in control
Take a breath, it’s time to be a warrior! You might have heard a bit of Hercules labours in ancient Greek Mythology. What you might not have heard is that Hercules and his labours is an allegory for you and the battles you need to face in order to overcome your ego and reach you inner peace. And everything started with a choice between the dark path and the path of virtue, which got Hercules a loving family and a home.
Wait, wait, that’s not the end, that’s only the beginning! Despite his happiness, Hercules blinded by the rage sent to him by Hera, killed his family thinking they were his enemies. When he realised it, he asked for help from the oracle to save his soul. The oracle told him to go to a King (who’s name is too difficult for your to pronounce even if I write it in Greeklish), let’s call him “Gold”, and follow his orders.
You my friend by seeking help just won your first big battle! Like Hercules you killed the powerful Nemean lion, which represents our wild dark instincts. With your weapon, the power of your mind and your strong mental will, you are officially a warrior material!
The battles
Your next fight is to kill the monster inside you! Hydra, the 9 headed monster represents all those bad thoughts and anxiety coming from our ego. It’s a difficult fight, you cut a head and it grows back. You need to cut each head and burn it. The fire you use is generated by caring, love and what really matters. Then, and only then you will be able to catch alive and tame your ego, which presently runs uncontrolled around your life creating a mess (the sacred deer of Artemis was Hercules 2nd labour).
By the time you do that, you will need to fight again. Hercules managed to catch and tame the wild boar, eating and destroying everything on his path. You will have to go against yourself and the illusion that your self-interested is more importantĀ than the well being of the people around you. Loved ones, colleagues and friends. Then, sorry mama but you have to clean up! The masks will drop and fake people, beliefs, lies and all bad will be washed away. Same way Hercules cleaned the Augean stables.
Finally, Hercules killed the man-eating Stymphalian birds, same way you and me need to eliminate the dark elements of our character: meanness, hatred, selfishness, jealousy, ingratitude. Hercules used a weapon to make noise. He scared the “birds” to leave their “nest” and fly in the sky, where he could see them and kill them one by one with his arrows. You need first to see it, in order to kill it. It’s hard, it will make some noise, but you will do it š
Your battles
Hercules continued with 6 more battles and despite their difficulty he made it. In the same way, you and I need to continue fighting our battles, until there are few or no battles to fight. Until we reach… our inner peace š
“You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint the paradise, then in you go.ā
–Ā Nikos Kazantzakis