Ego worship

At present, due to our religious and educational systems, people have become ego worshipers. They worship their own interests, even when they pray to the Lord. They want to be successful, prosperous, healthy, happy, informed, and wise - individually. Almost everything people do is for their own interest.

• They expect payment.
• They expect personal happiness and salvation.
• They expect rewards, recognition, and position.
• They expect inner satisfaction.

Behind all these expectations there stands the ego.

They learn for personal gain; they try to become specialists in any field to make more money and enjoy life. They even try to achieve higher positions just to shine, just to make money, or to have enough influence to turn the currents of interest toward themselves.

There are reasons why we have so much pain and suffering in the world. People in general do not realize that one can only be healthy when he tries to make others healthy and when he creates healthy conditions in the environment. If we do not make our neighbors healthy, they will make us sick.

One can be successful when he tries to make his society successful; a failing society eventually will make him fail. One can be prosperous if he makes others prosperous; if others are not prosperous, they will make him poor. One cannot be happy if his environment is unhappy; if he does not succeed in making the people around him happy, they will make him unhappy.

The light of a person's knowledge cannot increase unless he shares his light with others. Everyone who learns has a chance to be a teacher, has a chance to challenge us and help us all strive for greater knowledge.

If a person wants to be virtuous or holy, he must try to make the people around him virtuous and holy, because if he tries to be virtuous and holy on his own, the others will soon make him work against his own virtues.

The principle behind all of these concepts is that in giving, we can have more, and the more we give, the more we have.

Even if we serve people for our own interests, it is beneficial. Only be serving people can we eventually learn to forget ourselves in the performance of service.


-Torkom Saraydarian
The Sense of Responsibility in Society