Good question. The ego sense has been given to us to help us make conscious individual choices. This is an important stage of evolution; otherwise, we may well start believing that everything that is happening is the result of The Divine Will. We would remain like the animal driven by the herd instinct or mass consciousness. But conscious individuality develops through choices and their repercussions. That is why the karmic law comes into operation to shape our individuality.
At first, while we are in ignorance, it is the sense of the ego-self, of being a separate individual compelled to make choices and learn through consequences and the experiences. It is only after we have grown through these experiences that we are ready to shed the cover of the ego and let the psychic being emerge and take the lead. The ego is like the dark womb of Nature that holds the true soul within us until it develops silently and is ready to be delivered.
When the stage has come, when the psychic being is ready to be delivered, it is then that the ego becomes very painful and restricting like a prison, until it delivers the imprisoned soul from within itself.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
