The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-08-03
EXAGGERATED EGO.


Upon that expression hang bushels
of fun: but also on that expression
hang the fate of this nation, and all
the woes OF the human race.
What is exaggerated ego, but
the exaltation of personality? Psy-
biologists recognize the ego as an
expression of a sense of individuality
We all have Il. II is that which
tells John Jones he is John Jones,
with physical organs. senses. will,
reason and emotions. Without this
sense of Individual existence. a man
would be less than a man; he could
not be a free moral agent, individual
development would be out of the
question.
II was a benefcent Creator who
gave man this attribute; but Ego.
like most Others, has some bad blood
in its veins. 1t Is close kin to the
brute instinct of Preservation
found in all plants and animals, the
protector of species, but a dangerous
master. 1t is Ego. which distin-
guishes the greater from the lesser
personality, but 1t is most dangerous
to the greater; for Ego loves adula-
ton. and would assume divine pre-
negatives upon the slightest en-
cOuragement.
There il nothing new In Harry
Thaw's disease The very first wo-
man and man. that ever lived suffesed
from the same mental arrangement
and lost more than Harry did by be-
ing confined in Matteawan. The Good
Book tells us that a serpent more
subtle than any beast" told Eve II
she and Adam would but eat of the
forbidden fruit of the tree of knowl-
edge they would abe like Gods,
knowing good and evil'.
Man has developed socially and
ethically: he has acquired vastly
more intelligence. and has used the
tools given him with skill; but hui
man nature has not changed in the
slightest degree since Eve took the
first bite Of a green apple. II was
exaggerated ego that laid the
foundation for the tower of Babel; II
was exaggerated ego" that caused
the down fall. of Greece and the Ro-
man empire. The exaggerated ego"
is the most dangerous factor in
this or any other civilization.
LET him that thinketh he stand
eth take heed lest he fall". is tho
quaint warning that comes down
through the ages TO us from the
wisest man. who spoke from his own
experience.
That exaggerated ego" threatens
the overthrow OF every man and wo-
man whenever he or she seems to
have attained the very pinnacle OF
human achievements. When great
men stumble, it is usually attribut-
able to Harry Tnav's disease. We
are in danger wnea we become self
suficient
To-day those warnings of the an
cient Hebrew writers go unheeded
We have learned men, who declare
the doctrine of human helplessness
and proneness to error, is degrading;
that we have within us our own d.
vinity, which II appealed to will sus-
tain us; that they would have a re-
ligion, which uplifts humanity by ap-
pealing to humanity's highest attrib-
ute; and Ebert Hubbard sums up
the creed when he says: Thought
is supreme-fix your mind on what
YOU would like to do-Darwin and
Spencer say each animal evolved the
parts II desired. The horse is swift
because IT desires to be; the bird
flies because IL desires to fly.
The evil of that doctrine resides,
not in its untruth-lt is subtly
true-but in the utter selfishness of
its appeal Nature and natures laws,
which we share with the brute crea-
tion. are the divinity OF Ebert Hub
bard and his kind. II is degrading
Man has a higher mission than the
mere advance OF himself among his
II is not egotism, selfish
ness and the attainment of ones
desires the world needs now; but
service and Sacrifice forgetting of
ones self and ones desires In the in
terest OF others Humanity has ad-
vanced en- masse, not individually,
and the advance has been marked by
self-sacrifce and self-denial
There is nothing new in the creed
Of Hubbard. II was all evolved and
proclaimed centuries ago by the
of the orient; tried by
hem and proven unsound. Decadent
races, architectural ruins and moral