I like to be admired. Sometimes I’ll find a person who thinks well of me and says things like   “Oh that must have been awful for you. How could you stand it?”

My ego gobbles up the compliment and feels very smug. “Ah”, she says, “I am hard done by but courageous.”  How sweet the satisfaction of triumph over those evildoers.

While meditating, it was seen how the ego just loves complaining to gain recognition. There was a vision of a group of people marching up a dusty country road. At the crest of the hill, we’d say to each other “How are you?

“Not too good, my wife dinged the car and I had it towed, I just don’t know how I can afford this.” Or “My boss just trashed six months of work. He is such a jerk.”

It was a Parade of Miseries, each ego trying to more miserable than the other, greeting each other with colorful tales of woe.  The human condition of suffering which is natural and only avoidable with wisdom is food for the ego’s claim to fame and recognition.  We’re all heroes in our own little dream.