All of us are born with a clean slate. Call this innocence or any name you want. Here is how the dictionary describes it:

in·no·cence
[ˈinəsəns]

NOUN
the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense:
"they must prove their innocence"
synonyms: guiltlessness · blamelessness · irreproachability

lack of guile or corruption; purity:
"the healthy bloom in her cheeks gave her an aura of innocence"

Let's focus on the second definition, lack of guile or corruption; purity.
We all start life at this stage. We are a journal that is written into by our parents, our friends and associates, our enemies and by ourselves.

We have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind or, as I like to call it, a superconscious mind.

It is my belief that the superconscious mind is connected to all things. Call it what you like, God, Soul, Spirit, the Matrix, whatever works for you.
It is the thing inside our minds that intrinsically knows right from wrong, good from evil, compassion from indifference.

Consciousness is our bridge to this Super consciousness. Information can and should be a two way path.
The better our connection between these two the stronger the signals become.

As we grow older, something happens to this pathway. Think of a bridge where thoughts flows freely from consciousness to super consciousness and super consciousness to consciousness. Now imagine a toll booth is erected on this bridge and each thought is stopped and has to pay a toll to keep moving.

However, this toll booth not only slows down the stream of traffic to and from where it is supposed to go, but interjects its own thoughts.

How many times have you second guessed yourself? How many times have you said something and immediately regretted it?

The Ego

The ego is not a natural thing. It is made up by your mind and your thoughts and other people. As your ego is being built it really does think it is better and wiser than the super consciousness. It becomes a barrier that filters your thoughts and injects its own thoughts into this pathway.
Chances are, the first thought you have is the correct one. The second one is from your ego and usually it's wrong.

The ego must always try to prove it is right. This can lead to many unfortunate happenings in you life. The ego does not care about your well being. It does not care about the consequences it leaves you with. It only cares about being right.

Imagine you are standing between two cliffs. You are with a group of other people. Someone dares you to jump to the other side of the chasm. Do you do it? The super consciousness says Don't do it. The ego says You can do it.
You jump out into space and fall to your death. Your ego has killed you.

This is why you must commit one murder in your lifetime and only one. You must kill your ego. It is not there to serve your interests. It is only there to prove it is better and smarter than your super consciousness.

All images are free to use and share