Question: What is the difference between Ego and Attitude?
Speaker: Ego is internalization of an external statement about you. Right? Ego says,”I am something”, and that something comes from outside. Right? The moment you are something, there will be an attitude associated with that identity.
To be something is an identity, and with every identity, there is an attitude.
For example, the moment you are an Indian, your attitude towards an India- Pakistan match will be that India must win. You will watch that match with an attitude. The moment you have an identity, attitude comes along with it. Ego leads to attitude, because Ego says, ‘I am something’, and with that something comes a particular attitude. For example, if you have been told all along that you are very, very hesitant and you have great fear of standing on the podium, and you internalize it, you start believing in it, then you would say, ‘I am an introvert fellow who does not like to socialize too much.’ It has now become a deep-seated belief within you. The immediate result of this will be an attitude towards many things. You will now not want to attend HIDP classes because you now believe that you will be forced to speak in front of others. If you come across a situation where you will have to face an audience, your attitude will be, ‘Avoid, just avoid, run away’.
With every statement of ego, comes a statement of attitude, and these two are very, very closely linked. In fact, all aspects of our attitude come from a corresponding aspect of the Ego. So wherever and whenever you are able to detect a particular attitude in yourself, attitude towards anything; towards people, towards food, towards dress, towards country, towards studies, towards career, whenever you are able to detect a particular attitude, it would be a good exercise to find out the ego statement from which it is coming. It is because that particular attitude will be necessarily based upon Ego.
Attitude is necessarily based upon Ego.
Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.
