Ego Declassified: The Snake, the Apple, and the Eternal Battle Within
an essay written by Phoenix Alei
When I sat down to write Ego Declassified, I was not trying to explain the ego or expose some universal truth about human nature. I was just unraveling a thread I pulled. It felt tangled in my mind, looping through philosophy, spirituality, and my own creative struggles. You should see my YouTube Playlists and my book shelf. What emerged was a reflection, not just on what the ego is, but on what it does to us—individually and collectively.
The ego, is the mind’s ability to think. And I am putting that in its most basic form. It is to create narratives, to seek meaning. It’s the storyteller within us all, weaving together fears, experiences, and desires into something that feels cohesive and true. As I peeled back more layers, I began to see the ego as a kind of shapeshifter, a master of disguise. Hiding the truth in plain sight, wrapping it in illusions of worthiness, success, and even love.
The Snake in the Garden
One of the central metaphors in my work—and in my upcoming album—is the snake in the garden. For centuries, the snake has symbolized temptation, transformation, and knowledge. But from my POV, the snake is the ego itself. It slithers into our consciousness, so sly; and it offers the apple—the spark of life, a shiny new idea, or the promise of change.
The apple is not inherently bad. It’s often what propels us forward, fueling ambition and creativity. But the ego doesnt care whether the change it offers is constructive or destructive. It just craves movement, attention, and validation. It whispers “Take the apple—-it’s new, its different, its exciting! And so we reach for it, often without questioning why.
The Mobius Strip of Creation and Destruction
What fascinates me about the ego is its paradoxical nature. It’s both the driving force behind our greatest creations and the seed of our destruction. In Ego Declassified, I describe it as a Mobius strip—a loop with no clear beginning or end. It’s the constant cycle of “more”. More validation, more success, more meaning. But when we chase “more” we lose sight of what really matters.
Think, for instance, Apple products (no pun intended). Every year, a new iPhone is released promising something shiny and innovative. But if you were to strip away the marketing, it’s just a phone. The excitement we feel is about the product itself; it’s about the promise , the dream, of something better, something that will make us feel more connected, more efficient, more alive.
This mirrors the ego’s business model perfectly. It sells us the illusion of progress, but in reality, it’s just recycling the same desires, dressed up in new packaging.
The Ego and Spirituality
In many spiritual traditions, the ego is seen as an obstacle to enlightenment—a barrier between the self and true being. But what if the ego isn’t something to be eradicated, but something to be understood?
Physics teaches us that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it only changes form. Similarly, the ego doesn’t go away—it transforms. When we resist the temptations, it doesn’t wither away. Instead, it will start to adapt, finding new ways to assert its dominance.
This is where spirituality and creativity intersect. Both will require us to confront ego, and to sit with the discomfort of not knowing, and to find beauty inside the struggle. The act of creating—whether its a song, poem, or painting—is an exercise in balancing ego and essence. It’s about allowing the ego to spark ideas without letting it become a dictator in your life.
Recycled Trauma vs New Cycles
One of the most striking realizations I had while writing that poem is that thinking is often just recycled trauma. The ego thrives on patterns—repeating old wounds, fears, and insecurities under the guise of “processing” or “planning”.
Being, on the other hand, is true growth. It’s about planting new seeds, new cycles in the ashes of what was. This requires us to step out of the mind and into the present moment, to embrace the unknown without trying to control it.
But this is easier said than done, obviously. The ego doesnt like being quieted. It will just hover beyond each moment of clarity, ready to pull us back into the loop.
The Battle Within
Ultimately, the ego is not something to be defeated—it’s something to be danced with. It’s the shadow to our light, the chaos to our order. Both are necessary for growth, but both must be kept in balance.
The danger comes when we let ego win, when we allow it to turn on us and the ones we love. This is the eternal battle—one that plays out not just in our individual lives, but in society as a whole. It’s the reason we see cycles of war, greed, and division, as well as moments of unity, understanding, and evolution. Hell, our weather on this planet has it’s own cycles that mirror ours spiritually.
Conclusion: The Invitation
As a multidisciplinary artist, I’ve come to see my work as an invitation—not to solve these paradoxes, but to explore them. Ego Declassified isn’t an answer; it’s a question. It’s a mirror held up to the self, asking us to look deeper, to see beyond surface level, and to embrace the complexity of being human.
So I will leave you with this: What apples are you reaching for? What stories is your ego telling you? And what might happen if you stopped chasing “more” and simply allowed yourself to….hmmm..i don’t know….be?
Peace, love and light to you.
-Phoenix Alei <3