The Central Role of Ego in Sickness

Having described the organising intelligence that coordinates the myriad processes of life - not only in our body but also in the natural world - we shall now explore how ego-centred emotions disrupt the functioning of that intelligence and create physical sickness in the process.

To begin with, it's helpful to consider two different responses to stress - the ‘survival reflex’ on one hand and mind-made emotions on the other.

In all forms of life, the survival reflex is a natural physiological process that is vital to the continuation of the organism. It is coordinated by that organising intelligence - and indeed can be seen as another expression of the innate capacity for health.

In human beings, the survival reflex takes the form of a sequence of physiological responses that are triggered whenever the survival of the organism is threatened. 

Our heart rate increases, our pupils dilate, our muscles tense up, our breathing becomes rapid and shallow. At the cellular level, the signal molecule, ACTH, is released from the pituitary gland in the brain. This triggers a cascade of complex events that sees the increase in the secretion of the hormones - cortisol and adrenaline glands (which lie just above the kidneys). All this primes the body for fight or flight. This physiological shift is also accompanied by a sudden and significant upsurge in strength and energy.

When they develop in relation to a genuine outer threat, these instinctive reactions give us the energy to protect our health and wellbeing. But when they arise in response to an emotion they create physiological overload and lead to sickness and ill health.

How does this happen?

Real and Imagined Danger

Emotions can be triggered by external situations or by internal thoughts. Both activate mental associations that interpret - and then experience - a given situation as good or bad.

Crucially, the nervous system responds in the same way - regardless of whether the emotion is triggered by real or imagined conditions.

This means that a fearful thought experienced while sitting comfortably at home sipping coffee, triggers the same physiological responses as if you were in clear and present danger. 

Right there on your couch - in response to a mind-made threat that doesn't exist and poses no genuine danger whatsoever - glucose is mobilised to fuel the imminent fight, the muscles tense up, breathing becomes shallow and rapid, and there is an upsurge in energy and alertness. 

Importantly, all of that energy becomes pent up - having no actual outlet or purpose (neither fight nor flight). A good part will feed back into the thinking - fuelling more conceptualised ‘fear’- and the rest will turn toxic in the body, interfering with its smooth and natural functioning.

A major classical text of Chinese medicine, the Lingshu Chapter 8, makes the assertion that “all diseases are rooted in the Spirit”, and from my clinical observations as well, I have found that  almost all chronic sickness arises from unseen and unrelinquished emotions. 

Emotions and Ego

Thoughts, then, have as much impact on the body as external events. And it is therefore worthy of note that the vast majority of our thinking is unconscious. 

Most of our thoughts are unexamined, habitual and reactive. They are not freely chosen but swoop in, unannounced and uninvited, like weather fronts.

For most of us, this incessant, purposeless thinking seems to have a life of its own. And if we step back a little, we’ll see clearly that most of our thinking is conditioned by the past. 

A deep habit compels us to dwell upon previous experiences again and again - so that we eventually come to dwell within those thoughts and feelings. And it is through this continued  identification with mind-made narratives that the ego - or false sense of self - comes into existence.

When we are completely identified with the ego, we feel a deepening sense of separation, isolation, and loneliness. And it is because this identification is our default setting that “most of us live lives in quiet desperation”.

But whenever we’re less identified with that ego, we naturally experience moments of peace, joy, and vitality. We feel a sense of contentment and oneness and connection to the mystery of Being. 

In those moments, the creativity, joy, love and compassion that we are naturally shines through.

Emotions, Ego and the Body

Emotions are also the body’s reactions to unobserved, dysfunctional thinking. 

By responding to thoughts as though they were real the body triggers emotions which are then fed back - setting up a vicious cycle between unexamined thoughts and reactive emotions.

And many of these reactive patterns are pre-cognitive - based on unconscious assumptions or rooted in an individual’s past conditioning, often in early childhood.

These unchecked assumptions function to continuously disrupt the body’s natural state of health, so that today, almost every human body is under constant stress and strain. 

And again - not because the body is under threat by an immediate danger, but because it is inundated with the toxic energy of our emotional feedback loops.

So in conclusion, for as long as we identify with these habituated thoughts and reactive emotions - in short, for as long as we identify with the ego - our body has no choice but to harbour and incubate toxicity, and has no opportunity to activate its innate capacity for health.