I would think ego is possible in animals, just that we associate it with our own hoped for superiority, our narcissism. While we are certainly the most self absorbed in terms of an inner world, that would be the id. Other creatures certainly express ego as a function of immediate power dynamics.

How much of this desire to rise above nature is simple fear, whether of predators, or parasites? If we were naturally happy with life, wouldn’t we still be swimming around in the muck? Yes, we are attracted to the beneficial, but we are equally repelled by the detrimental.

Linear goal seeking means that if we reach the goal, we have to find another one, then another, then we start abstracting it, as an ideal. Which leads to things like heaven, or money, or power. Then it’s political, as we try to simply do better than others, rather then some state of perfection. Which then gets relativistic and circular.

Consider the bull is power, as it seeks to get the matador, but the intention of the matador isn’t simply to kill the bull, but to risk his life and do it as art. So it isn’t really linear, as it is building up a performance. More the event, the means, than the end, the goal.

Are we, as humanity, making life an art, or are we simply seeking that goal, be it power, or simply security? Meanwhile we trash the means, the existence of the present.