The Ego Is the Devil (The Real Root of Corruption, Abuse, and Power)
🎙️ Tigmonk Talks Life & Being HumanShow Notes
Written Version of the episode (ai generate) I’m here because I was inspired by a topic. And I want to be honest — it’s a heavy one. Depravity. Deception. Abuse. Power. But here’s the thing: for me, looking at it this way brings a kind of beautiful calm. Not because it’s comfortable. Because it makes sense. The Phrase That Started This (00:00) There’s a phrase I heard once: “The world is the devil’s playground.” Conceptually, this stopped me. Because if you follow it somewhere useful — past the religious packaging — it lands somewhere profound. The Framework (01:38) The devil, in its most basic illustration, is that which opposes God. And God, at its most essential, represents that which is true. So — the devil opposes truth. The world, then, is a playground for lies that try to subvert what is real. But here’s my perspective: the devil is simply a picture being painted of what we today would call the ego. And it becomes a fascinating exploration — to see just how much the human ego lives in opposition to what is really true. Fighting for its version of reality, even when that version goes against the fundamental nature of things. And just like in the illustration — this mechanism, in its attempt to oppose truth, creates hell in the process. Start with Yourself (03:54) So if we’re going to address the overarching darkness in the world — the corruption, the abuse, the insatiable hunger for power — the most practical place to start is with the tiniest forms of darkness within yourself. Understand it in yourself first. The more you do, the more the world makes sense. What Ego Actually Is (04:10) Ego, in the simplest terms, is the mental construct of a self that lives in your imagination. It’s who you think you are. The ideas about yourself. The story. Nothing wrong with that — every human being has this. The problem is the assumption that you are that construct. That the story is the reality. I use this illustration: the ego is like a photograph of you. It looks like you. In the imagination, it resembles you. But it is not you. And once identified with — this character, understandably, wants to survive. Anything that believes it’s alive wants to keep living. All Suffering is Ego Suffering (08:13) Can you see — only look at your own experience here — can you see that all of your suffering revolves around the ego and not the reality of what you are? Everything you’ve suffered over. See if you can see how it’s suffering over an idea of yourself. Past. Future. Content in the mind. Not the reality of now. Not the reality of what you actually are. This is exactly why, in the old illustration, the devil is associated with hell. Ego = suffering. No identification with ego = no suffering. Heaven, in that framework, is simply the absence of it. The Honest Reckoning (11:03) A fun exercise — confronting, but useful — is to be radically honest about your own suffering. On the surface, the mind tells you a story: I’m suffering about things out there. But really? You’re suffering over mental content. Ultimately related to who you think you are. It’s one of those holy s**t moments when you see it clearly. How Ego Becomes Capable of Dark Things (12:15) Look honestly — without judgment, just curiosity — at how the idea of yourself is trying to survive. You care what people think about you. You want certain thoughts directed at you and not others. You protect a particular image of yourself. The ego is terrified of not being validated. Terrified of rejection. Very fragile. And here’s the leap I want you to make: when survival feels like life or death — and for the ego, identified with, it is life or death — you become capable of doing dark things. How many times have you not said the honest thing because you were worried about what someone would think? You hid the truth to protect your ego. That’s a form of darkness. You were in opposition to what is true because it threatened the image of yourself. Manipulation Is How Ego Derives Power (16:08) In r
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In this session, I explored the difference between humility and arrogance — not as behaviors to perform, but as two fundamentally different ways of meeting Life. This video was taken from a live broadcast. See all recordings and join me live at Tigmonk.com/Community. We looked at why humility follows naturally from seeing what is true, while arrogance grows from pretending to know, control, and take credit for what Life is doing. Here in Substack, we will write it out and explore it in a bit more depth. A quick note: this write-up is an AI-assisted — a best attempt at capturing the ideas and voice of the session in written form with AI trained on Tiger’s voice. Naturally, expect errors. Humility Is Not Something You Perform (00:00) We often approach spiritual virtues as things we need to manufacture. We ask how to be more loving, compassionate, patient, or humble — as if we can force ourselves into becoming a better person. But genuine virtue is not a performance. It flows naturally when we stop opposing what is true. “These are not things that you do. These are things that happen naturally as you see and align yourself with what is simply true.” Humility is honesty without the performance. * It acknowledges what is known and what is not known. * It removes the facade of pretending. * It does not require someone to look, sound, or act humble. * It emerges naturally through surrendering to the truth of Life. Arrogance moves in the opposite direction. It positions the separate self as the one who knows, controls, and makes Life happen. Taking Credit for What Life Is Doing (02:28) The more honestly I look at my work, the less credit I can take for it. The words come through me. Creativity moves through the artist. Even the breath that makes every other action possible is given. “If you can’t take credit for the breath that allows you to be, how then can you take credit for anything that comes after that?” Getting out of the way is not an accomplishment the separate self can claim. * The artist does not personally manufacture creativity. * The tree cannot take independent credit for producing an apple. * No person creates themselves separately from Life. * Spiritual expression is not proof that someone pressed the correct spiritual buttons. Arrogance says, “I did this. I created this. I made this happen.” Humility sees the whole universe involved in every apparent individual creation. The Illusion of Control (06:00) Sometimes it looks like we have control. Then five minutes later, something changes and that control disappears. This does not mean control was lost. It means the appearance of control was mistaken for something real. “If you have control now, but you don’t have control in five minutes from now, then you don’t really have control.” The fear of losing control begins with believing we had it. * A temporary result creates the appearance of personal control. * We cling to that appearance because it gives us security. * When Life changes, we assume something has gone wrong. * We blame ourselves for failing to maintain something we never possessed. Humility does not require becoming helpless or passive. It simply stops pretending that a separate self stands outside of Life and dominates what happens next. Judgment Proclaims Knowledge We Do Not Have (08:55) A tree’s fruit is not separate from the environment that produced it. Healthy soil, water, weather, neglect, and countless unseen conditions all contribute to what appears on its branches. Human beings are no different. Yet we look at someone’s behavior and judge them as though we can see the entire picture. “Because to judge proclaims you know something that you don’t really know.” Judgment is the claim that a limited perspective sees the whole. * Blame isolates the person from the conditions that shaped the behavior. * Condemnation pretends to know what someone fundamentally deserves. * Hatred toward another must first be carried within the person expressing it. * The sa
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