Article April 14, 2014 Issue

An Easter lesson about Ego

Mary Beattie

Easter is such a timely reminder of God’s power and love. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension revealed God’s great love for His beloved Son, and for all humanity; this love healed Jesus’ wounds and lifted him up until he was aware only of the eternality of Life. We might consider this ascending thought as indicating that Christ Jesus fully accepted his spiritual identity as the Son of God, without any trace of a mortal ego.

Moses lived centuries before Jesus—yet he, too, experienced an essential revelation about identity that can help us to see the value of renouncing personal ego. If demands are great, resources small, relationships tricky, or opportunity constricted, putting off personal ego can be refreshingly liberating. If you’ve ever felt that your circumstances in life are so unsavory that you wished you could be someone else, then the lives of Moses and Jesus have relevance.

When Moses, the great lawgiver, was first tasked by God to lead a nation out of bondage into freedom, he was hesitant and self-effacing. He prayed, longing to better understand God’s nature: “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” In response to Moses’ yearning, God replied: “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:13, 14). Moses was getting to know something essential about the one and only God: He is the one and only Ego.