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JMJ
"The Ego and the I" (III)
by. Abp. Fulton Sheen
The difference between the person in whom the ego, or
selfishness, dominates and the person in whom the I, or personality, dominates
spells the difference between false gaiety and true happiness, between neurotic
and normal living.
The ego – the mask he will show the world – is the central
interest of his life; all desires, thoughts, and affections, are valued in
respect to this. The I, or the real self, which bears the Divine Image, is very
weak in him and influences only a small area of the circumference of his life.
In a normal person, the situation is reversed. The
personality (which is rooted in God) has taken over the center of life, while
the ego of selfishness is so superficial as to be barely noticeable. But this
does not mean that the individual personality has been lost; indeed, it is
stronger and much more individual than in the case of an ego-dominated man. The
I, the true personality, is what the philosophers call “subsistent” – that is,
it is able to return to its own essence, to coincide with itself, to see itself
as it really is, and to know itself by reflection. Each human personality is so
inviolable that it stands out, against all other personalities, as unique,
incommunicable, and absolutely distinct. Because of his personality, or I, even
man is a precious mystery. He cannot be
weighed by public opinion; he cannot be measured by his conditionings; he
belongs to no one but himself, and no creature in all the world can penetrate
his mystery except the God Who made him. The dignity of every I is beyond our reckoning.
But the ego is made
to the image and likeness of the spirit of the world in which it lives, as
the I is made to the image and likeness of the eternal God. The ego is a conformist; it is “adjusted”
to its times; but the Sacred Scriptures warn: Be not conformed to the world (Rom. 12.2). The I has attained
inner freedom, through transcendence of the worldly. The ego is always
self-centered; the personality, because it is essentially a mystery, is willing
to soar beyond the self if it can return to its source. The ego wants the world
to serve it; the wants to serve [God and others for God’s sake]. Egocentricity
always leads to self-deception; for by its very nature the ego seeks to smother
the I with its eagerness for effort. The
ego flies from truth, because it knows that truth would be its undoing. The I, or personality, seeks truth, for it
knows truth would be its flowering and perfection. Liars are always persons
whose egos are fiercely prized.
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