On the Fate of Ego Empires
Morning Thoughts #196
Finding yourself on the ego defensive? Yes, at the point when your ego has expanded to an unsustainable degree, you’ll soon find yourself expending nearly all your time and resources defending it! Through what mechanism have you inherited this bloated state? Think of Ancient Rome at its absolute height! The Empire inherits what the Republic has conquered.
Oh, the flourishing of self in youth, venturing experiments in individualization, and then turning over to adulthood. No longer a plaything of the people and consuls, you’ve emerged the emperor of yourself. Welcome! First, your orientation, and then the promise of a protracted defensive war, should you wish to keep all that’s claimed in your name—traits and identities your former self may very well have shed much time (the blood of time!) to hold. What folly there is, though, in conquering and reconquering what you cannot possibly ever keep!
Oh, so many borders to defend, so many troops caught up in the business of defending them, and you find there is so little time for proactive production. Lately, you’ve dreamed about shedding it all, imagining yourself as a small but well-disciplined, thriving city-state grown around the defenses that your personal terrain naturally provides.
What freedom in this thought! That you can act apart from the constant mobilizing of defense! The taking back of initiative! What good are trappings of power and status that continually strip you of your agency?
Friends, it is impossible to live outwardly if acting defensively! The one with the secure base reaches out, while the unwieldy, overextended soul has only the capacity to push back. Do not misunderstand me—I do not preach timidity, but rather: conquer what you can reasonably defend! And when I say conquer, I mean become someone entirely and easily defensible—yes, both in spirit and action!