Ego is a construct of the mind built up over the course of the human life experience. It is the minds temporary model of “self” and is essential to the human life experience. I do not see it as at war with the self, but rather a rather a filter used by the self to create the illusion of the personal human experience. While one could see beyond the ego to realize the underlying nature of the formless awareness out of which all the forms of life are created, this is a different experience then the personal life experience and one must become aware of the ego again to experience being a human being. One useful function of the ego is to provide an amalgamation of the life experience, a melding of the effects of various experiences presented to the self to “become” in a very direct and visceral way.