The Ego is a Tyrant

 If it elects to do so, the mind can become the medium by which spirit creates along the line of its own creation. If it does not freely elect to do so, it retains its creative potential but places itself under tyrannous rather than Authoritative control. As a result it imprisons, because such are the dictates of tyrants. To change your mind means to place it at the disposal of true Authority. (T1.V.5)

The ego is a tyrant. We as mind, choose to put ourselves under its control. We chose to be hostage to the ego instead of host to God. Here is some more information about our tyrant master.

Yet you have surely recognized that the ego, whose goals are altogether unattainable, will strive for them with all its might, and will do so with the strength that you have given it. (T15.IX.3)

It (the ego) is much more vigilant than you are, because it is perfectly certain of its purpose. You are confused because you do not recognize yours. (T11.V.7)

My role is only to unchain your will and set it free. Your ego cannot accept this freedom, and will oppose it at every possible moment and in every possible way. And as its maker, you recognize what it can do because you gave it the power to do it. (T5.VI.2)

 Faith and perception and belief can be misplaced, and serve the great deceiver’s needs as well as truth. (T21.V.8)

The ego wishes no one well. Yet its survival depends on your belief that you are exempt from its evil intentions. (T15.VII.4)

The ego wants…

… the ego wants your allegiance, but not as you really are. The ego therefore wants to engage your mind in its own delusional system, because otherwise the light of your understanding would dispel it. (T7.VI.8)

The ego wants you dead, but not itself. (T15.I.3)

The ego wants only what it hates. To the ego this is perfectly sensible. Believing in the power of attack, the ego wants attack. (T8.IX.6)

… the ego wants to retain guilt … (T13.II.1)

… the ego wants; a world it rules, made up of bodies, mindless and capable of complete corruption and decay. (T19.II.6)

We are in relationship with a tyrant, a great deceiver that wants us to think what it wants us to think and do what it wants us to do. If we don’t comply, it terrorizes us with threats of abandonment and retaliation. It lies, manipulates, coerces, and cajoles to get its way. Anyone involved with this psychopathic narcissist is suffering from battered person’s syndrome, Stockholm syndrome and PTSD.

And that is why this process is so challenging. We are in denial that we are suffering from a serious mental illness. We think, like a battering victim, that we are at fault and if we lose this relationship with the ego, we will die. We think that this relationship is better than nothing. As in Stockholm syndrome, we think that our captor and torturer is our friend and savior and that its beliefs are now ours. When you are in a relationship with a narcissist, you come to believe their twisted logic. The ego reaffirms to us daily that we are guilty, unworthy of love and deserving of punishment because we attacked God. We choose to believe this.  And just as with PTSD sufferers we relive our excruciating trauma, the moment of the separation, every second of the day. We survive only by our use of denial, dissociation, and fantasy.

It is incredibly difficult to heal and end such relationships because they are based on our own self-hatred, our belief that we are vile sinners. Because of our belief in our own littleness, our weakness we have given our power away to a more competent, strong and wise guide, the ego.

How do we stop thinking these insane upside down and backward thoughts and take our power back? Fortunately for us our “abuser” is a hallucination we made up. We can take our power back with the support of the Holy Spirit.

Hallucinations disappear when they are recognized for what they are. This is the healing and the remedy. Believe them not and they are gone. And all you need to do is recognize that you did this. Once you accept this simple fact and take unto yourself the power you gave them, you are released from them. (T20.VIII.8)

This may be a simple task, but it is not easy. It will take hard work, determination, and perseverance to free ourselves from the ego and its thought system. We must change our beliefs and guard against our addictive nature to give our power away.

Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. I am under no laws but God’s. I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have no real effect on me at all. I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God’s. And His are the laws of freedom. (W88.3)

But we cannot underestimate the tenacity and vigilance of our chosen tyrant master. Its very survival depends on its sick relationship with us. And remember, we gave it all of that power. If it senses our turn towards healing, it will ramp up its efforts to reel us back in.

As investment has been withdrawn from the world’s material gifts, the ego has been seriously threatened. It may still be strong enough to rally under this new temptation to win back strength by guile. (M.25)

Let us remember that when attempting to transcend the ego thought system, we are dealing with a mental illness, an addiction and all the pitfalls that come with it. In addiction you cannot just stop the behavior, you must change the thinking that has the behavior occurring. A daunting task, but in the end, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we will reclaim our power, heal, and remember who we are.