Letting go of your ego is facing death. Really, it is. Our egos are concerned with survival. They want to leave a legacy, they want to be renown, they need us to be elevated, because that is the only way we know how to live past our deaths for certain.
Legacy is how we know who “important” people were in history.
But the truth is still the same; we all die.
Whatever dreams we have will go unfinished, if we are creative for the long haul that is.
The real greats didn’t die with their dreams still in them, they died as they pursued them.
They died seeing more and going for it.
Which brings me back to egos.
Our egos as helpful as they can be get us sidetracked. They move the objective of life from creativity to survivial. They do this so they can live beyond this moment. They want recognition and in so doing want to be elevated and remembered. They push us to think we are more important than we are. They cause us to think we are better than others. In so doing, it wants recognition without the work- without proper reason. And even when there is proper reason it wants to steal the glory of the work. “Look at what I did. I am awesome. “The work is just a means of self-glorification. Let’s face it, when the work serves no one, it is less important. It isn’t great. It doesn’t connect.
Getting rid of our egos might not be the most appealing thought. At least for me it isn’t. But I think I am at that point in my life I recognize it is a distraction from the work I want to produce. It is a distraction from the life I might want to live. It is a force I underestimated. It is what keeps me thinking about death and the importance of my life and others. As if we can truly measure the value of life. It is infinite in value and at the same time disposable.
To face death is to kill your ego and do things for their own reason.
It is separating yourself from what you do.
It is embracing your art.
It is embracing your day.
It is embracing life as it is.
It is letting go of who you think you are and actually being yourself.
Later Gator 🐊
Nino
Nino Olson 