Transcript excerpt from a conversation featuring Eckhart Tolle describing how ego emerges in early childhood (around ages two to three) when a child learns their name and concepts of possession ('mine'), leading to identification, suffering, and a developing sense of separate identity. The speakers note that ego assertion (e.g., comparisons like 'I can jump higher') and attachment to possessions begin early.
You cannot prevent.
The arising of ego in a child, nor should you want to prevent it.
It's not possible.
So observe the growth of the ego in the child.
Which already starts at the age of two.
Or three, when the child learns his or her name. And then the child learns that it is possible to possess something. It learns the concept of mine fairly early. And so it possesses a toy and.
It learns the.
Concept of my toy. That's the beginning of E. Also the.
Beginning of the.
Suffering that comes with ego.
Identification. Because if the toy is lost or disappears or somebody takes it.
Enormous.
Suffering arises.
The next step would be for the child to assert that it is better in some ways than another.
I can jump higher than you can.
Can you jump this high?
No, you can't look at me.
I can do it.
They need to develop a.
Sense of separate identity. The tragedy is, unfortunately.
If people get stuck with that ego for the rest of their lives, never.
Go beyond it.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
