Ego's Religious Creed

In these things three I believe:

That I must survive,
That I must gain approval,
That I must gain control.

And my world will be built on these pillars three:

Manipulation of myself and those around me;
Control of my surroundings and myself;
Denial of anything that I may be unable or unwilling to deal with.

And I will resolutely march on,
In defiant ignorance of pain and suffering,
That I inflict on myself or others,
For the gilt carpet of threaded pain covers it all.

And this carpet I will continue to expand,
Until I cannot,
For when I stop,
It will be the end of me,
Because I believe deep inside me,
That my very existence depends upon this charade.

So help me God,
But remember that I will be rejecting all the help you do offer,
For I am the Ego,
And it is what I do.