The Ego and Free Will
The Negative Ego and Free Will
In contrast to the surrendered ego, the negative ego does not have the power to grow or move forward. It has no capacity for sustained joy or any connection to the soul. The negative ego’s range of emotion proceeds from fear, which is its negative pole, to aggression, which is its positive pole. Most of the negative ego’s existence is spent in generating experiences that slide back and forth between these two poles of determination.
Fear and Aggression
The free will of the negative ego, therefore, is bound and limited by the two forces of fear and aggression. While the negative ego may think it has free will, the truth is quite different. Its freedom is severely restricted. There just isn’t much room to find peace and freedom between fear and aggression.
The Negative Ego’s Mission
We must not forget that the negative ego’s mission is to protect the toxicity in our system from being discovered. It sustains its own existence by doing so. When the negative ego succeeds in deterring us from facing our toxicity it insures that our suffering will be continual and chronic. By placing its need to dominate ahead of our need to grow, the negative ego prevents us from becoming more conscious.