An analysis of CONSCIOUSNESS, EGO, VIOLENCE and their interrelation with respect to modern society.

    If we consider human history or the history of any wild animal for that matter, violence has been an ultimate and dominant expression. Today no country can maintain its integrity and survive as an entity without the army or the use of some kind of force.

    Ego is the inherent characteristic of all organisms. We can identify ourselves as 'us' because of this ego. This ego is responsible for us having a consciousness that we are differentiated from the surrounding nature. When we are able to identify a certain material of our body as us, then there is an overall system consciousness. This kind of consciousness forms the primary ego of an individual. It is because of this primary ego that we are able to understand "What is me and what is not me". This sense of differentiation is also present in animals but it is more evolved and complex in humans. Humans have a consciousness about their own consciousness; that is we can question and identify our own consciousness. We are aware that we are aware. This overall system consciousness makes the ego of a human highly complex. This aware consciousness along with the conscience will make matters further twisted to understand. But let us stick to the analysis of ego and consciousness.

    When this primary ego develops certain relations with the materials outside, initially it will be treated as an outside or foreign material. But over a period of time, the mind and the body gets so much accustomed to that material that the ego is tricked to think that it as a part of us. For example, a person with an amputated hand and attached with an electromechanical one initially has difficulty in adjusting with it. But as time passes, slowly the person feels that the electromechanical hand is a part of himself and operates that hand as if it was his own. This happens because the person has developed an association with that material. With this association, the person has shared his/her ego and consciousness with that material and has emotionally attached herself/ himself with it. So when someone tries to take away this, he responds emotionally because he/she firmly believes that it is a part of his/her consciousness. All material objects like land, house, mobile, laptop, etc. has a same effect on the ego. It makes the person feel that it is his/her own and acts emotionally when someone tries to take it away. But here there is an adjustment. In case of some materials like a mobile phone/ laptop/ anything else when exchanged to a newer one, then the person cuts his/her ties with the old one and forms a relationship with the new one. But with some other material like land, property, etc. the person refuses to cut ties with the old one and he/she intends to keep both the old and the new.

    So when a person gets attached to a material emotionally and when someone tries to snatch it away, the usual response is anger and finally it manifests in the form of violence. Any material object like land, property, a part of a country, etc. when snatched away evokes an emotional angry response. The main reason behind this is that the person has hypnotised himself/herself to firmly believe that it(material) is a part of him/her. Whatever we see outside our body is based on the inner perception. When we change our perception, everything changes. This perception is shaped by our ego. Depending upon the level of our ego, the perception keeps on changing. A devotee is willing to give up his/her hair to God but is he/she ready to give up a part of him/her like a limb or something else? Its even difficult to imagine ! For one, this is because of the pain associated with it, but at a subtler level of mind, a lesser ego is attached to the hair than a limb. When this ego further develops to a larger extent, then the violence associated with it also increases.

    But as said in the beginning that certain amount of violence is necessary for survival, what happens to the violence if it is aggravated or used in torturing other human species in the form of rape, mental torture, physical violence, war, etc. ? The result is disaster. Today we are living in a dangerous world where one nuclear weapon can destroy the habitat of the whole world. War is a form of violence which needs to be regulated and limited. Excessive ego will lead to more violence and will lead to the annihilation of all species on the planet. Is this why we call ourselves the most evolved species to finally destroy ourselves? What is the purpose of our evolution if we can't sustain our own specie survival? All countries of the world need to rethink about their egos and moderate it so that we will allow our progeny to survive in a safe nuclear pollution free world ! India has over the years given birth to many a great number of individuals who emphasised and propagated the importance of peace to the world. It is time that India took upon itself the task of reducing the ego of some of the countries of the world so that peace prevails.