Why does life usually seem such a struggle, so complex and tiresome? Why do we feel so alone? Why do we fight with people in other countries? Why do we fight with members of our own families, our most intimate relations? The reason is most likely that we perceive ourselves as being separate from everyone else. This illusion of a separate existence is the manipulation of the mind by the ego. This article offers a few ideas about the ego and some of the ways it controls our lives.

"The ego", The Course in Miracles states," is not the self". The ego is a condition of our minds that resulted from our willful separation from Oneness, which is our essential spiritual being. Some refer to the separation as original sin. The mind is our connection to both the temporal and the eternal. The mind can choose to be present and aware with spirit, its true identity; or it can align self with the ego, which the mind created. Whatever comes into your mind has reality for you, if you accept it. The ego is also a product of what the mind believes. Accordingly, it wants the mind to stay focused on worldly matters so as to maintain its vision of self.

Innumerable factors play into our human development and the formation of the ego. They include influences such as heredity, personality, past lives, environmental factors and extra-terrestrial energies, to name a few. It is my strong opinion that the ongoing conditioning process we all are subject to, particularly as children under the age of 6, is one of the most, if not the most, significant influence that shapes us as humans because it affects the mind by programming the brain. This process is known as conditioning. Edgar Cayce, American prophet cautioned, "Mind is the builder".

Conditioning is an unconscious learning process. It imprints information on the brain by repeating it. Beliefs, behaviour and emotional responses can all be conditioned. Again, conditioning begins at an early age. The less conscious resistance there is to this imprinting, the more easily it is accepted and stored in the brain as a function of the subconscious mind. Consequently the younger the child the fewer resources he has available to critically assess information, the easier he is conditioned and the stronger the conditioned responses and beliefs will be.

The subconscious mind orchestrates the autonomic functions of the human body such as heart rate and digestion. Since the conditioned information resides in the subconscious, it is also manifested in a reflexive manner. This is where the ego has its greatest strength. The conditioned beliefs and behaviours that are contained in the subconscious are very imposing on the conscious mind because they are reflexive. Just as the conscious mind, for example, does not have to direct the heart to accelerate its rate when we exert ourselves. Similarly, you don't have to consciously choose an emotion when you loose a loved one.

We are born into societies with structures, ideology, and institutions that propogate them. Our daily routine and the very essence of what we perceive society, others and ourselves to be is a product of our conditioning and largely not freely chosen. We tend to accept what we have been conditioned to know as truth without question, simply because our lives evolve from these beliefs.

Early conditioned beliefs are core beliefs. They can include values, morals, beliefs about others, structure of social groups, money, religion, sex, the meaning of life and much more. Questioning them is a threat to whom we know ourselves to be. As such, we seldom put them to any test beyond our conditioned parameters that contain and define them. Even the most conscious thoughts and actions are tainted by subconscious programmed information Thinking outside the box is difficult while the ego is in control. As long as we are restricted in our conscious awareness, our search for identity and meaning is never ending; and for that matter it really never begins.

What is conditioned has historical roots going back to the very origin of the human race. Your parents, who conditioned you, were conditioned by their parents who, in turn, were conditioned by your great grand parents and so on, consciously and unconsciously. The individual ego is also aligned with the collective ego shared by all of humanity. The collective ego is made up of the cumulative beliefs and behaviours of a society that is passed on from generation to generation. In considering the implications of this bring to mind or read Plato's allegorical tale, The Cave.

The ego uses the physical body for self-gratification, protection, identity and perception. The latter is particularly important to understand because one of our conditioned beliefs is that what is perceived by our senses represents "truth" or reality for us. Consider, however that how we perceive sensually can also be conditioned. Conditioning is an important tool for the ego to control the meaning of what is perceived.

The body is imperfect because it is finite. The ego does not want the conscious mind to dwell on this reality even when the bodily appetites wane and death beckons. This is because, if it does, the self may begin to see through the ego created illusions and inevitably bring about the end of the ego as an illusion. To prevent this from happening, and thereby potentially free the mind from its temporal obsessions, the ego preoccupies the mind with never ending temporal issues. An example is a person who continues to worry about money when he already has more than he will ever need.

Its own beliefs and behaviours are not as important to the ego as is its survival: its control of the mind in order to obtain satisfaction from it and the body. So the ego may adopt new beliefs and behaviours, as it perceives necessary to survive. The ego is calculating and predatory in nature; and it is very specific about how, what and with whom it communicates. It makes judgments about its interactions with others, self and the environment and whether or not they are a threat. It does this out of fear about loosing control. The fear takes the form of such emotions as anger, guilt, shame, apathy and pride. Out of fear the ego also presents a false picture of self to others and assigns false identities to them, as is necessary to exist.

We also need to consider the ego represents our will, desire and effort. It is a force, if you will, that allows us to interact with others and the world that we live in. It is through awareness of the ego illusions that we begin to find who we really are and discover the Spirit that binds us all in a reality that we surrendered singularly and collectively long ago. Part 2 of this article will concern itself with conscious awareness of ego illusions. It will also look at the other part of our mind that already exists without the ego and represents our greatest self.

My concern about vaccines is not limited to that for the swine flue. It extends to all vaccinations. I spoke about their dangers in an earlier article. Alan Watt has done some research on the subject that is worthy of note. You can listen to his internet radio program of September 4, 2009 on "Cutting Through the Matrix" at www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com.

Frank Vircillo, Hypnotherapy Unlimited