• Emotional regulation. The work of James Gross shows that re-evaluating a situation (changing perspective) regulates emotion better than suppressing it.
• Naming the emotion. Matthew Lieberman (2007) observed that putting words to an emotion decreases amygdala activity.
• The self as a construct. For Antonio Damasio and Thomas Metzinger, the feeling of self is a process constructed by the brain and not a fixed entity.
• Default mode network. Judson Brewer (2011) shows that meditation reduces activity in regions linked to self-centered thinking.
• Unconscious and habits. A large part of our reactions are automatic (Kahneman, systems 1 and 2). The repetition of new behaviors modifies these automatic responses through brain plasticity.

Hinduism

In Sankhya, the ego is an instrument, not an enemy. The Yoga Sutras (2, 3) describe it as a veil that is thinned through practice, and unconscious imprints (samskara) fuel reactions. Karma, jnana, bhakti, and raja yoga are offered according to each individual's capacity (adhikara). Ramakrishna distinguishes between the immature ego and the "mature" ego, which serves.

Buddhism

The Buddha adapts his teachings to each individual: these are the "skillful means" (upaya). Several paths lead to the same awakening: meditation, study, compassion.

Judaism

The Moussar proposes balancing character traits (middot) rather than eliminating them, following Maimonides and his "middle way."

Christianity

Ignatius of Loyola proposes the discernment of spirits to recognize inner movements.

Saint Paul: “I do not do the good I want to do” (Romans 7:19): the ego escapes the will alone.

Islam and Sufism

Sufi brotherhoods (tariqa) offer different paths to the same goal, each with its own method and master.

Taoism

Water, being flexible, overcomes hardness (Tao Te Ching, 78): the ego is balanced by flexibility rather than force.

Taming the ego

Our fragility often stems from this: we don't know how to control our ego, how to cleanse it, or even how to recognize its value. We fight it like an enemy or serve it like a master, and in both cases, we remain at its mercy.

Shocks and emotions stem from this. A blow to one's image, a careless word, and the whole world trembles. Yet they are not to be banished: they can be tolerated, for the ego flows through us and shapes us. It is the temporary form our presence takes.

Is there an escape route? Perhaps not a door, but a threshold: the place where we stop struggling and begin to look. To name the emotion, to let it pass, to see the hand that grasps.

Another approach is to descend into the unconscious, that vast subterranean realm where our reactions are prepared. To listen to it, to illuminate it, to offer it new perspectives, to try new actions. New, repeated behavior carves a new channel for the river.

But no method transforms the one who observes it from afar. One must recognize oneself in it, identify with the practice that resonates with us, as one recognizes a familiar path in the fog. Then the ego is no longer tyrant or enemy: it becomes a mature servant, a tuned instrument, and beneath it remains, silent, the presence it did not contain.