on the ego

How does one maintain a sense of self and oneness with the universe at the same time? This may be obvious, but to contribute to one's fellow creatures in a sane and healthy way, one needs to be secure in one's self, one's ego needs to be intact. We speak about 'destroying' the ego--does that lead to destroying one's self?

We must be careful to distinguish between ego and egotism, the latter is the problem. Interesting to learn that the phrase 'ego trip' first entered the lexicon in 1969.

Here are a few dictionary defintions:
E-go–noun, plural e·gos.
1.the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.
2.Psychoanalysis. the part of the psychic apparatus that experiences and reacts to the outside world and thus mediates between the primitive drives of the id and the demands of the social and physical environment.
3. egotism; conceit; self-importance: Her ego becomes more unbearable each day.
4. self-esteem or self-image; feelings: Your criticism wounded his ego.
5.( often initial capital letter ) Philosophy .
a.the enduring and conscious element that knows experience.
b.Scholasticism . the complete person comprising both body and soul.

Word Origin & History
ego
1714, as a term in metaphysics, from L. ego "I" (cognate with O.E. ic , see I). Psychoanalytic sense is 1910; sense of "conceit" is 1891. Ego trip first recorded 1969.

"In the book of Egoism it is written, Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity." [George Meredith, "The Egoist" (1879)]