11 - H4H News: How Does the Ego Use Anger & Fear?

Synopsis: Hope for Humanity News is a series of three to five-minute weekly podcasts designed to educate, inspire, and comfort listeners during these challenging, but hopeful times. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Hope for Humanity News! I’m Reverend Joan Kistler.

Last week, we talked about how the ego uses one of its favorite tactics, judgement, to pull us away from the present moment. At the end of the broadcast, I mentioned that the ego also uses painful emotions, especially anger and fear.

How does the ego use anger and fear?

The egoic mind developed out of the primitive reptilian brain. This part of the brain contains the emotional center of the brain, which is responsible for our fight-or-flight response. When a threat is perceived, a signal is sent from one part of the brain to another part, which dumps adrenaline into the bloodstream, causing us to feel unpleasant “anger” or “fear” sensations, such as increased heartbeat and breathing, and tense muscles.

The problem is that this part of the brain can’t tell the difference between a real or imagined threat. To the ego, everything real is a threat because the ego doesn’t exist in reality. So, when the ego passes a negative judgment on reality, and we adopt its viewpoint, the brain naturally responds to the imagined threat, and we feel a certain degree of anger or fear. This benefits the ego because it makes its imagined threats “feel” real to us.

Let’s say that it is raining outside. Essence accepts the rain and even enjoys listening to the sound of the raindrops pitter-pattering on the roof. Ego says, “Oh no! It’s raining, and I just washed my car! Every time I wash my car, it rains the next day. There goes ten bucks down the drain.” You see, the ego took a natural part of life and turned into a personal problem.

That’s what the ego does – all the time.

Fortunately, our brains evolved to the point where we modern human beings now have intelligence, which we use to gain knowledge, solve problems, and create new things. We can also use our intelligence to separate fantasy from reality. So, when the egoic mind sends out a “red alert,” we can use our intelligence to decide whether it is a real problem to be handled now, or an imaginary one created by past regrets or future projections.

We can be certain that Essence never uses fear or anger to manipulate us because these emotions do not exist within Essence. Essence abides in a state that has often been described using three words: peace, love, and joy. So, when a message comes to us, and we feel peace, love, and joy, we can trust that it came from Essence.

Now, if anger or fear don’t work, the ego has another powerful emotional weapon in its arsenal: guilt.

How does the ego use guilt?

Tune in next week.