My old dictionary from 1958 describes the ego as: I; the whole person; self; the personal identity.

If we see the ego in this way then to overcome one's ego means to overcome oneself. The traditional way of doing this, I would think, is to give oneself to God through a religion. Overcoming ones ego in this way is to give it away to a higher power and thus serve the higher power rather than ones ego. This works in theory but hardly ever works in practice. Most people who give their ego to a religion end up wanting the religion to serve their ego. This is evident in their personal prayers for a car or a winning lottery ticket. It's most evident in wars where it's been said that there are no atheists in fox holes. Also the majority of converts to a religion are in dire need of being saved from themselves, and the American Christian fundamentalist message of being born again is very popular in prisons be they of a physical or mental structure.

Jesus and Buddha were super strong people with huge egos. They were so powerful that they felt they were strong enough to attack the established religion in the places and times where they were born. Jesus attacked Judaism and Buddha attacked Hinduism. Both, more or less, preached the same basic message of love thy neighbor like thyself, but the thing that strikes me the most about both of them is that they were very humble. They were strong, and to our minds they might even be egotistic, one could even say supernaturally so, but one could also say they were ego-less people. In my opinion they were humble because they knew that the Power they were exhibiting came from somewhere else. Maybe the Power came from the unity they'd made with the infinite divine nature of Being: which is better known as God. Maybe they plugged into the One-ness of Being. Maybe when Jesus said: "My Father and I are one", or, "Why do you call me good. Only the Father is good" or "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" maybe, just maybe he was talking about the One-ness that the Buddhism, and now Quantum Mechanics, talks about.

Jesus attacked Judaism and said the truth will set us free. Buddha attacked Hinduism; said all is suffering, and he then proceeded to find a way to set us free from suffering by finding and then telling us the truth in a pragmatic and believable way. Freedom seems to be linked with responsibility. One could even say there is no freedom without responsibility, and when we take responsibility for our suffering we miraculously find the Power to overcome it. (Try it) The truth can set us free, but it's certainly not in churches, the truth can only be found between our own ears: which in a way is another paradox in that we are all One, but we can only find out about the truth individually. Ultimately, it all comes down, or up, to our own ego's. Only ourself, as an ego, can decide to turn the light of truth on or off.

We have freedom of choice. When we were young we had no choice but to believe what we were told, but when we get older we can choose to decide for ourselves about what is true and what is not true.

What is the truth? According to my dictionary it's: honesty; conformity to fact or reality; veracity; constancy; true statement; undisputed fact. If something does not conform to this definition of truth then it is not the truth. If a thing is not the truth it is false. Is it then a lie? Is it stretching things a bit to say we are living in a world of lies? Or would it be fairer to say we are living in a world of fantasy? One thing is for sure; we do not seem to be living in a world of truth, and if truth is reality we aren't living in a world of reality either.

So what kind of world are we living in?

Are we are living in a world of illusion by which we are all deluded? Jesus and Buddha seemed to think so. If the truth can set us free there's only one thing that the truth can free us from, and that thing is a lie. Freedom, then, is to live in the truth, but try living in the truth these days and one soon begins living in a prison. It's all well and good being free, like, but it's not much fun living in a prison, and what's more I thought the truth was supposed to help overcome suffering!

Nah, that can't be right. Lets go back to square one. Life is suffering. To overcome suffering one must find the truth. So good so far, so lets look at the Buddha eight fold path. The first step of the eight is Right Views. The right view is that we are suffering and we can overcome it by truth. The second step is Right Intent. The right intent is to want to overcome suffering. The third step is Right Speech. Hmmm, maybe that's where I was going wrong! The best way to go in this world is to keep yer mouth shut. The fourth step is Right Conduct. Once again keep yer mouth shut...

Ah yis, I get it; as such I won't say a thing about the hundred thousand Iraqi men women and children that have lost their lives because George Bush told a lie. I won't say anything about the loyal and believing US and UK troops that have lost their lives either. I'll keep my mouth shut about what I think about the 9/11 farce too. THE THIRD BUILDING THAT FELL DOWN WASN'T HIT BY A PLANE! But I won't say anything about that. I'll keep my mouth shut about Political Correctness too, and I'll try to accept a globalization that means we now get ripped off like the so called third world, and I'll just smile when the word CORPORATIONS comes up in conversation.

It's all illusion anyway.

I mean what would Jesus or Buddha do?

Nah that can't be right.

Let's start again: All is suffering... or, "My name is Harry Worth, I don't know why"!!!!!!!!

My names not Harry Worth?