The ego develops to protect the body, and as the ego matures it becomes an entity itself. Soon it also has to protect itself. That self is just the values of the local culture and how one can maintain one's place in it.
Ultimately, the ego is not who we are, just an identity built of constructs, thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, the ego doesn't realize it's just a bunch of concepts. And as those concepts are internalized and habituated, we develop feelings to go with them. Feelings are just automatic value judgments.
Until a person steps back and looks at the constructs and gets to the bottom of automatic judgments, one is essentially a cultural robot. It takes courage to look unflinchingly, but to be free it must be done.
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