The Ego

I've been listening to mass Tool lately, and some of the songs (Parabola, Third Eye, Lateralus) have been about, or made reference to, ditching the ego and basically reaching a birds' eye view. It sounds pretty stoner-ish, but I think it's an interesting idea.

Just to clarify, I'm talking about ego as in pride, not ego as in the Freudian ego.

I'm just gonna type some crap out and see where it goes.

Maynard (the lead singer and lyricist of Tool) said (when asked about what end getting rid of the ego would achieve):
"If you look at the cycles of the moon, it starts as a thin crescent and then gradually waxes until it becomes full; then it gradually wanes back into another crescent and then it is gone. The moon reflects sunlight like humans reflect information. We wax and wane and when we become full moons, our egos are full. We think we have this knowledge when in fact, the information we have is pure. And how it reflects or shines off of us, is something we take credit for as though the moon could take credit for its brightness when, in fact, it is only reflecting light from the sun. We have to understand that we are ego-less just as the moon is without light. It and we are simply reflectors. The ego is not responsible for the information. It can reflect the information in creative ways, but the information itself is pure".

I agree with him somewhat, in that letting information we gain from others inflate our egos is stupid, but I don't think ditching our egos is a good thing, if it's even possible.

To start with, humans are, by nature, selfish. Everything we do is done for selfish reasons. Giving someone something is done to make them like you more, though it's often disguised as wanting them to be happy or something. Denying that you gave someone something to make them like you more is done so that they think you're modest and generous, thus they like you more.
I would like to think that humans were capable of selfless acts, but every situation I think of is, at the most basic level, created for ourselves. Some people might say this is a pretty callous way of looking at it, but I would say it's just a realistic way of looking at it. I would love for someone to prove me wrong though?

Basically, if selflessness is an impossibility (unless someone can prove otherwise), destroying the ego is also an impossibility because every successful act (ie an act where you achieve what you want, or something better/just as good) is selfish, so it automatically pumps your ego, whether you show it or not. In other words, the ego is also a part of human nature.

And I just left for like an hour so now I don't know wtf I'm on about. I love how all my blogs end with me going "Wtf am I on about" or something like that. At least all the ranty ones. I really should think of what my point's gonna be before I start. I always start out thinking I have something genius to say, but then I realise halfway through there's so many holes to be poked in it. Oh well. I'm an idiot.