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The fact of consciousness and ego simultaneously interacting within all human beings is indisputable. Even a homicidal sociopath experiences a twinge of guilt occasionally. The problem is; most folks are unaware of consciousness and misidentify it as ego. If every human were totally aware of ego and its effect on consciousness, there would be no world conflict, and peace and harmony would reign supreme everywhere.

Fear is the part of consciousness that triggers ego. Conversely, faith is the part of being which frees one from fear and makes the need for ego unnecessary. This thought leads one to conclude a "no" answer to the question of ego and consciousness coexistence.

Actually, ego is essentially nonexistence, since its only place is in thought. Thought is not substance. Being and consciousness are substance. One being becoming aware of consciousness immediately understands ego as insanity. An example of these phenomena is the emotional experience of a soldier when killing an enemy as compared with "collateral damage" inflicted when mistakenly shooting, say, a five-year-old child.

Almost all soldiers report to feeling "nothing" when killing others trying to kill them. Dispassionate and dissociative depersonalizations rule the business of killing. This is ego. Contrarily, the same soldier witnessing the mistakenly inflicted wound of a noncombatant child brings consciousness to the forefront of thought. This is bad news for military commanders, because combat effectiveness and morale are reduced by moral conflict.

A person in ego (and wishing to satisfy its needs) is simply unaware of consciousness. They think fantasy of mind and thought IS reality. This is a sad state of affairs for the individual and all others involved in his/her experience. It is sad because; being premeditated or not; the one wishing others to believe in propogated fantasy is a deceiver of self and will undoubtedly pay a price in the future.

This truth has manifested itself in American politics recently. Republicans receiving more victories in November 9, 2009 election despite President Obama's earnest show of public support for his party's candidates is proof of ego's failure to defeat conscious reality. President Obama and the Democratic Party are paying the price for deception of public consciousness in the form of predetermined and ego-driven; unfulfilled promises to increase tax on wealth; among others.

Ego and consciousness coexist whether anyone wants them to or not. The way for ego to function symbiotically with consciousness (thereby creating a healthy person) is for the individual to understand the egoic mind is not; and can never be; conscious reality.

Learn more about this author, Michael Shepard.
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