“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,” Shakespeare wrote this very famous quote in Hamlet; act 3 scene 1. I won’t write the entire soliloquy but you can read it on Wikipedia of course. When I read these words, a part of me believes Shakespeare to be talking of ego.

Is it better to have and be subject to our ego or not? There are many spiritual teachings, including Buddhism, that instruct us to try to loose or detach from our ego in order to live a better life. The world of psychology teaches us that is probably a mistake to detach from the ego, but rather develop a healthy ego for our own good. So which will it be? Get rid of it, or integrate a healthy ego? To be, or not to be?

It’s pretty clear, especially if you are a guy, that an ego can get us into trouble; the infamous ‘male ego’. But it is that self same ego that helps provide our confidence, our courage and to some extent the man we are. A healthy ego is designed to protect us. This functions at all levels, psychologically as well as physically and emotionally. The old saying, “fool me once same on me, fool me twice shame on YOU” was written with someone’s ego. The ego builds ‘walls' however, so when we are talking about spiritual things it is no wonder the Masters tell us to leave ego by the wayside. How can we let spirit in if our walls are so high?

"To be or not to be?" I say integrate and CONTROL a healthy ego. It does not have to be one or the other exclusively. I’ll go with what Jesus said; “pay unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and pay unto God that which is God’s”.. Let your healthy ego help you in every-day living, but control your ego. Control it to the point as to NOT let it get in your way in matters of the Soul; it will not serve you there.