At some point in the distant past, a remote, ancient ancestor began to think in terms of the word “I.” He or she became the first to understand the concept of individuality — the idea that “I” am separate and distinct from “You” and harbor different needs and desires. In that moment, Ego was born and humankind was metaphorically cast out of Eden. The struggle for existence, now understood in terms of a struggle for individual survival, began. No longer was identity found in species recognition. The “One” became the “Many.” Unity was fractured. Henceforth the individual would reign supreme. “Look out for #1” became a human mantra and the quest for individual power began.
It continues to this day. Ego didn’t necessarily lose the ability to feel empathy and compassion, but from the very beginning its primary instincts were for personal protection, survival, and growth. This has led to such concepts as the divine right of kings, class warfare, political dominance, top-heavy economic control over the means of industrial production, and monetary benefits for the few as opposed to the many.
Especially in these days of social media, every morning it has become standard procedure for many people to stare into the allegorical mirror of their computer screen, affirm their social status based on the number of responses they generated overnight, and ask, “Who is the fairest of them all?” It would appear as though Snow-White’s evil stepmother has been reincarnated and lives on in modern society. Increasingly, we find ourselves living in Ego’s home country, a land called Narcissism.
How do we resist such an insidious enemy? As always, those who came before left us clues to follow. Their wisdom forms the basis of this trilogy.
Those who created the old, familiar myths, legends, and bedtime tales were well aware of the dangers of Ego. They might not have understood the struggle in modern, psychological terms. But they were intuitive enough to compose stories about it. In these imaginative tales they pitted Ego against the healing magic of Earth Energy, the ancestral Eden from whence Ego had sprung.
Eventually, the civilized “Ego of the City” sought to destroy its wild and untamed predecessor who still lived out in the natural world. It is not by accident that the biblical story begins in a Genesis garden and ends in a Revelation city. It is revealing when Hebrew mythology records that right after the first murder was perpetrated because of a bruised ego, the murderer, Cain, went out and built a city east of Eden. Ever since, the metaphorical story of civilization is the story of the power struggle between cities. Industrial civilization, not the army, destroyed the American Indians. Today’s headlines remind us again and again that the technology of development is a two-edged sword. Urban blight is a principle enemy of nature’s resources. These stories mark the progress of Ego’s conquests.
We will explore this subject by means of an in-depth analysis of three ancient tales. Each story will be developed in a separate book which can stand alone on its own, but will be part of a trilogy that encompasses the three stages of Ego’s rise to dominance.