We as humans tend to categorize things and actions as right or wrong. Very often people will neglect to take action that will produce their desired outcome simply because they believe that they are justified (right) in not taking action even though taking that action is of little consequence. You have likely heard “It is a matter of principle”. This type of approach signifies that the person making the statement would rather sacrifice their desired outcome than to take the chance that others may perceive them as wrong.

So what causes us to make such irrational decisions? It is the ego. The ego causes us to view any contradiction to our beliefs as a threat to ourselves. It is only by preserving the sense of right that the ego feels safe. Try this. Imagine participating in a conversation with others and everything you contribute is declared as wrong by the others. How do you feel? Anxiety will likely climb in many of us. Keeping in mind that your thoughts are your thoughts and are neither right nor wrong it is difficult to understand why we feel threatened by subjective analysis.

Being right is often viewed by the ego as part of who we are. Sometimes it is easier to understand how being right or wrong is no more part of an object than it is a part of who we are. As an exercise imagine trying to open your neighbor’s front door with the key to your front door. After a failed attempt or two many people would say “this is the wrong key”. I prefer to say “this key does not open this lock”. The key is still the same key only without the judgment placed upon it. As we learn to separate our view of ourselves from the judgment placed upon us by ourselves and others we move closer to freeing ourselves from the clutches of the ego.