Why The Ego Self-Destructs
Three Prime Examples Summarized
Sometimes, the most dangerous thing we can have is power.
Sure, some dream of being a king or queen, but do any of us really know how to wield power properly?
The only way to harness great power is to know which voice to listen to. It means everything… You see, we all have two voices in our heads: the loud voice of ego and the quiet voice of intuition.
Ego blindly demands our wants and needs now, while intuition quietly and slowly manifests our dreams, attracting our desires to us instead of chasing them.
Sadly, in our modern world, ego reigns — unless it’s finally given what it wants, and then it often self-destructs.
Exhibit 1: Putin
Reigning over a world superpower sounds cool, until you decide to use that leverage to assault a neighboring country while threatening the world with nuclear war if anyone intervenes.
Putin could’ve used his power to build a rational argument for why Russia should take back parts of Ukraine, but he acted like a bully instead, isolating his homeland and acting like a maniacal madman some now say is in danger of a coup.
His ego shouted, “I want that land now,” but Ukranian brave hearts and the free world responded with a fierce, “No!”
His intuition could have come up with much more subtle, lasting and convincing ways to get what he wanted.
But intuition requires patience, meditation and compassion…
Exhibit 2: Trump
Becoming President of the United States is considered the most powerful position in the world, so how could someone go from that to looking at possible criminal referrals from same government he led?
Ego.
Trump had such power that he had convinced ordinary Americans to angrily challenge the results of an election, and many were so fervent that they stormed the capitol where people died.
Trump could’ve use his power to organize peaceful demonstrations while portraying himself as an underdog in an unjust society. Perhaps he’d then have a shot at 2024. But his ego allowed him to become seen by many as a criminal insurrectionist.
Exhibit 3: Musk
The richest man in the world had no problem scooping up his favorite toy, Twitter. But once he had it in his hands, the dumpster fire began.
Yes many credited him with a “great purge” and exposing the political slant of a platform working with the government to suppress information.
But a lot of hateful elements resurfaced on Twitter, and free-speech Elon even started silencing critics, and is possibly taking legal action against a man who posted the location of his airplane. Now, a new poll just showed that users no longer want him as CEO.
The ego won, which means the man — Elon — lost.
Takeaways
Lesson one: Power opens us up to making much greater errors.
The next lesson is that the world doesn’t tolerate leaders acting like childish bullies, no matter how much power they have or even if their arguments are sound.
It’s how we present those arguments that matter.
Want to ignite your own intuition? Start here.
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