Well, I don't think one needs to destroy the ego so much as transcend. The ego can be a useful tool when dealing with humans, most are only used to egos, but when you realize the true nature of the ego, being mere concept, then you are free to play with it. I have started putting on egos appropriate to my local situation, like outfits, I have one for work, one for home and one for here. I do not mean to imply I am a master or anything, attachment is a wiley and creative force, it can sneak up on you, it does take diligence.

So I think the answer to your question as stated is, yes.

But it really deserves more than that.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

-Buddha

Thanks Rev, I guess perhaps I tend to think I should throw the ego out with the washwater ... I find that when I attend to the ego, my actions tend to be unskillful, self serving, ego-centric in an unhelpful way ... I experience my ego as a 2 year old that wants to be the center of attention ... LOL ... but you bring up a good point, there is some need for the ego to communication identity to or with the other and so the ego has a role. Also, perhaps I don't the trust the "self" which makes it incredibly different to trust the "Self" as well ... 

i wrote once that I thought Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA was so ego centric that he push through to the other side and actually came across as ego-less because he puts themself so out there and responds so much from the ego that he is totally authentic ...  "It is almost as if he is ego-less in his ego centeredness" ... most of us have some super-ego that covers the ego and the id and we are not that authentic even to ourselves ... well, I thought it made sense at the time but now i am not so sure ... LOL ... I think I have fallen off into the deep end ... never mind LOL ...

http://forum.colbertnation.com/tcr/board/message?board.id=god&message.id=224&query.id=59709#M224

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DogGoneGirl wrote:
So tell me, what do you think? ... what is the role of ego? does it help? does it distract? both? neither?

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Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

-Buddha

Mmmm and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Well, I don't experience my ego as who I am. I experience my ego as just a facet of who I am and one that is pretty self involved, I might add. My ego is more like an id than an ego though by saying that, I realize we are slipping into the pond of semantics which is most dangerous waters. 

Soooo, is there a self and a SELF? ... if so, can we experience the self and the SELF ..

Obviously, I have already played my hand here but what do you think?

Surely if there is no SELF then altruism makes no sense, if we are not interdependent, part of a whole, all connected, then screw-it, go for the egotism. In fact, if that is the case, then why do we have social mores, norms, governments, families, communities; what drives us to find behaviors that support families and communities and socieites?

Perhaps it is moot to claim we are part of the SELF but surely if we act as if there is, it is for the betterment of the species. Not that I am advocating that perpetuating the species is a good idea necessarily ...