Beyond Spirituality, Beyond Awareness

It has been said for millennia by many that ego is the root cause of all human suffering. What is ego? In this context ego is the part of us that holds that a person's individual thoughts and beliefs are not only different but superior to others. It is closely connected to our identity. A few days ago I witnessed on the television two soccer hooligans having a fist fight. One was from Manchester the other from Liverpool. They saw each other not only as completely different individuals but as sworn enemies. This is the nature and delusion of ego. Let's take these soccerhooligan's mothers and switch the towns that they lived in before they gave birth, the Liverpudlian moving to Manchester and vice versa. When the children grow up they would still be fist fighting with the same separatist narrative but under a different flag. This is the delusion of ego and can be reflected in a war torn human history and current national and global problems. The greater the ego, whether individual or collective, the greater the delusion and subsequent suffering. If we were to question the nature of ego we would be questioning the foundation of individual or national identity. But question we must lest we are destined to repeat the same madnesses of human history over and over. One soccer hooligan may hold tightly to his city and club and keep his identity intact and perpetuate the seeds of human suffering. Or hecould see that the attributes of all soccer hooligans are more or less the same as his own, he just happened to be born in a different town. This new understanding does not require tolerance which suggests that one puts up with another's behaviour but rather a simple understanding of the nature of conditioning and ego with its deluded sense of being exclusive and exceptional.The question becomes, do I want to hold my identity that has been conditioned by place and culture, that gives me a false sense of group security and belonging, or can I look for underlying truths that connects my human nature with others, and thus act from a deeper understanding that contribute to a real and true security?