4. The ego is who you think you are. When you are identified with your name, your past, your values, your desires and feelings - these things are who you think you are. In other words, the ego is the exaggerated expression of your values and feelings - the personification of your personal mandala. We did the mandala some time back. If you didn't do it you may want to go back and take a look.
5. The ego needs thoughts to exist. Without thinking, the ego cannot exist. You can experience this by simply concentrating on your breath and nothing else. You will have no thoughts and no other experiences, except for breating, and, therefore, there will be no ego.
6. The ego is elusive. When you think you have gotten rid of the ego it will reappear as something else: another thought, another concept, another bias. The ego will do everything in its power to remain alive and well.
7. The ego is time-limited. The ego believes that death is the end of the person - the being that inhabits the body. The ego needs to see the body, the name, the past, and the future as real in order to be real itself. The ego must defend and protect this identity at all times and at all costs.
Can anybody think of other characterists the ego might have?
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