The answer to the question "How big is your ego?" would probably vary according to each individual's experience. Some may have an oversized sense of ego due to a history of success and achievement. Others may have a sense of diminished selfhood due to failures and personal inadequacies. From the standpoint of Christian Science, however, the question of "big ego" or "little ego" is not the issue. Any estimate of self based on a material view of man and his capabilities is ultimately erroneous and limiting.
This Science reveals the spiritual fact that God, infinite Mind, is the only real Ego, the divine intelligence or Soul governing all individuality. It refutes the belief that each of us has a private, personal mind of his own. Spiritual man, the true selfhood of each one of us, is the image and likeness of the divine Ego. Man's very reason for existing is to reflect the perfection and goodness of God's nature.
In the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy compares the relationship between God and man to that between a person standing in front of a mirror and his reflection.See Science and Health 515:25-516:8. The reflection in the mirror cannot act on its own but is completely dependent on the person in front of the mirror for its form, action, and appearance. Similarly, man, being the pure reflection of God, expresses only divinely bestowed qualities, qualities derived from the one Ego, Spirit. This exact likeness of the one Ego does not include finite, mortal, limited characteristics of its own, nor does a reflection have a personal mind existing apart from and acting independently of its original. Acceptance of these facts is a starting point for expressing our God-given individuality more fully. To claim man's spiritual status as God's image does not rob us of our identity but enhances it.
