Mind enslavement

Some people can feel really uneasy just by the idea of being left alone with themselves.
Most of people left alone in a long period of isolation can become mentally ill.
A mind that has been left wandering freely for a long period of time can become a serious threat.
And the cause lays in who is ruling over whom: is it the subconscious mind or the conscious mind?
We are all born with an inherent identification device, a very slippery and sophisticated escapist. The inconspicuous for many, ladies and gentleman: here comes The Ego.

The ego is the primitive way of identification we all have.
It develops rapidly at young age, and it gets sophisticated after that.
Its function is to give us identity; which unfortunately, means separation, labeling, sense of superiority in most cases.

We can obviously say it develops rapidly at young age because the continual chit-chatting it creates in our minds is as irrational as a toddler making a tantrum over futilities.
When a newborn is presented to its mother, he doesn’t have a sense of self yet.
Therefore, it completely depends on her caregiver. Whenever gets separated from it, a primordial, survival instinct takes place: fear of abandonment.
When the baby reaches the stage of self-identification, it also identifies its environment as his possessions. Whenever those possessions are taken away, another primordial instincts surface: ownership.
When a kid grows and becomes an adolescent, an extreme need of belonging and suitability emerges. The self-image becomes a source of strong identification, that whenever rejected or inadequate, it will shatter his self-esteem.
These primordial, basic instincts as many others, are solidly planted within the ego. And even when we are no longer toddlers, or babies incapable of taking care of ourselves, the ego will still display its primordial features.
If we take a moment to hear the voices within our heads whenever we encounter a source of distress or displeasure, the same baby/toddler/adolescent relives in there:

Don’t live me, I can’t live without you!...

I don’t know what to do...

Nobody likes me!, nobody understands me!...

People should respect me...

What am I going to do alone?...

You should listen to what I say….

I am right, you are wrong…

There’s not enough time...


If I am doing emphasis in the mechanics of the mind, is because it has deeper implications than merely increasing scientific knowledge or helping us to understand ourselves a little bit more.
The core of our cultural heritage is “thoughts passed on”, believes that are inherited from generations to generations, and even “exported and imported” from nation to nation.
We have been using a very powerful tool “the mind” to individualize us and give us identity; but that practice have ended up separating us, alienating us. And furthermore, it have ended up operating through us (our minds), making our ideas of “superiority”, “exclusiveness” and “righteousness” a very real cause to fight for. This is the root of our pathology of separation, what has made possible to see each-other in the eyes and swear that we are different and never cohesive. It has made possible the impossible: that we are not one.