Ego vs. Self Esteem, pt. 1

It seems that many people in this world confuse the ego with self esteem. I learned the difference between the two a long time ago and it benefited greatly. I thought that thought my words now would be prime opportunity to share it with whomever stumbles across this blog (in sections of course).

The first point of emphasis is the nature of the two and why the ego is negative, while self esteem is not. The fact is that self esteem is innate, while the ego is a man-made construct. What that means is that we are born with this self-sustaining "force" that affirms an individual's own worth. We have this for all of our lives, but the levels vary as we age. The ego, on the other hand, is man made; it allows us to reaffirm the lost self esteem that one previously had. It exists from outside affirmations and can only continue with this attention.

The reason ego is negative is because it is coming from a source of weakness, compared to self esteem which is naturally beneficial to every human being. Take for example, a Hip Hop artist who rises from nothing to huge success monetarily. If this individual uses his new found wealth to reaffirm his status to other individuals, (in turn "boosting his ego"), he is using outside forces to strengthen his own weaknesses, (believing that he is not worth anything without money). This means that he is too weak otherwise to rely own his own self esteem for confidence within the world and therefore must use a man-made construct for support.

So now you know the difference between ego & self esteem. I'll get deeper with later posts.

Theme for the day is Mos Def - Kalifornia

PEACE

-The Black Sunn