As Joab now reflected, however, much time had passed since David lived in that natural God-state and treated his devoted people with that kind of tender loving care. Nowadays, with his ego having taken over his life, David was a different machine. He had become callused, manipulative, and greedy. It was all about money, power, and control. He was now easily threatened, even by what seemed like small insignificant things. Disagreement with him in any form was dangerous. It didn’t take much to set him off, and when it did, anything might happen.

What Joab did not and could not know was that it was ego, and the ego of a king is just like the ego of anyone else. It is a social infection, entering each person as a psychological virus that is passed on by their parents’ egos and other social stimuli. It is born of negativity—of not being good enough thoughts of not having enough, of fear, and worry of failure. Because of its insecure nature, the ego loves to dominate and control others. It’s control or be controlled.