Seeing the ego : with love, clarity, and a big smile

There is something wonderfully freeing about learning to say clear and with a smile: “Ah, I see your ego.” Not as an attack, not as a judgment, but as a simple recognition that what we are looking at is not the person, not their truth, not their Essence, but the small fear-made identity the Course calls the ego.

And the moment you see it, its power begins to fade.

The Course describes the ego in strong language :

“iidol,” “madness,” “proof that love is fearful.”

But the message is actually simple: The ego is the tiny idea that we somehow separated from God, wrapped itself in a costume called “a personality inside a body,” and then took itself very, very seriously.

Image a strange voice inside you says:

“I am alone….I must defend myself, I need to be right, I am weak,love is dangerous, I am guilty !

It shouts loudly, but it means nothing.

The ego doesn’t need to be fought or fixed; it simply needs to be recognized. Once you see it, you stop confusing it with You. It becomes a bit like watching an old theater play you’ve already seen a hundred times. You no longer feel compelled to jump on stage.

This is why the Course says the Son of God is egoless. What You truly are has no idea what fear even means. You don’t know guilt or attack.

You live in joy that never left You, even if You temporarily forgot.

Seeing the ego simply means remembering this.

And then something beautiful happens. When someone speaks from fear, defensiveness, attack or control, you can look with gentle eyes and think:

“Oh sweetheart, that’s not you. That’s just the ego rehearsing its old lines again.”

And suddenly there is no need to defend, fight, or fix.

You may even feel a soft smile rising, because the drama loses its seriousness the moment you stop casting the ego as the main character.

One lily of forgiveness, just one, turns the entire dark shrine of fear into light. Peace floods in where illusions once stood like kings.

And there is something else happening today that fits perfectly into this picture:

Everybody is labeling themselves.

Putting themselves into a little box with an identity sticker on top.

“I have …. ADHD, ADD, ASS, ASD, HSP, HSS, ODD, CD, DCD, NVLD, SPD

I am this, I am that….

Doctors label children. Adults label themselves. And once the label is accepted, the ego gets a brand-new costume to perform with.

Of course, even in the past we had labels, if you are old enough you will remember, a difficult child, a strange boy, a restless girl.

But back then the label wasn’t lived as a permanent identity.I’ve never heared someone sincerely introduce herself saying : I am a difficult woman. I am a strange man.

But today people introduce themselves with that ‘modern’ label.

They defend it. They personalise it.

They almost say: “Please see me as this limitation.”

And the real problem is not the diagnosis, but the belief behind it:

“I am a body. I am my brain. I am this limitation.”

That belief pushes people away.

It creates suspicion, fear, and misunderstanding..not because something is wrong with the person, but because the label becomes a shield that hides the real Self.

But ACIM is beautifully clear: You are none of these descriptions.

You are not the label, not the diagnosis, not the story, not the personality.

You are the one who watches it all and remains unchanged.

Seeing the ego means recognizing that every label, positive or negative, belongs to the dream character, not to the Son of God.

And once you see that, you no longer need to defend any identity at all.

You can meet anyone without fear or suspicion because you know:

“I meet You, not your label, not your ego, not your mask.”

And that simple recognition… heals.

For them.

For you.

For everyone who remembers that beyond the ego there is only Love, quietly shining, patiently waiting to be seen.

With love and light,

G.