Egoism quickly becomes egotism if it likes what it sees and supposes that the function of the universe is to provide verification for its inflated sense of self-importance. Professional performers or media celebrities are easily persuaded that the universe barely exists outside the immediate focus of their interests. Egoism without such delusions of grandeur is simply the self-awareness motivation to obtain adequate life-sustaining circumstances. It is literally the will to live and as such is necessary for the continued activity of any self-awareness, no matter how altruistic the individual may aspire to be. Without some egoism there won't be any altruism.

The spectrum of the influence of egoism, with respect to a particular behaviour, ranges from the most uncompromising egotism, where the individual will not defer to the needs of anything in the entire universe, thru to a supposedly all-encompassing altruism where the individual attempts to subjugate their own existence to the service of anything and everything. It is often assumed that a particular individual will possess a particular degree of egoism as a consistent element in all behaviours and circumstances but this is not the case. Many individuals exhibit different behaviours in different settings. Business executives, politicians, and sports identities for example, frequently exhibit a ruthless egotism in the public arena and yet contribute considerable amounts of time and money to diverse altruistic causes. From a cynical perspective this behaviour is often seen as being undertaken in order to generate public approval and further advance their own cause... but again... this is not always the case. The preoccupation of certain mystics and ecclesiastics with prayer and meditation is an extreme psychotic concern with their own ego. They claim their ego can identify and become at one with the universe but what actually happens is an introspective isolation. Their ego becomes its own universe by excluding reality. One can only identify with the universe by participating in it.

Awareness usually expands until it is limited by the preoccupations of daily living. From the time that an awareness becomes aware of it-self, as the feedback loops of sensory perception start to include the perception process itself, the flowering 'I' that can be called the 'ego' has the capacity to expand its awareness. From the initial inclusion of the immediate environment of its nurture, it may then go on to develop an interaction with the culture of the local society, a sense of citizenship and nationality in the broader physical world, and then perhaps eventually, to entertain such abstract concepts as physics, sociology, geology, palaeontology, ecosystems, cosmology et al. The imposed enforming structures of nurture, the progressive selective propensities to explore appealing aspects of reality and the influence of the egoism poles of altruism and egotism, all contribute to the life choices of the individual ego. The individual is eventually immersed in the preoccupations of everyday activities and the expansion process is inhibited. The desire to become the greatest athlete in the country consumes all thought and action. The perceived need to make money pushes all else into the background. For the curator of a garden, the necessity to weed, dig, plant, water, compost, engage in warfare against pests and harvest the produce, consumes all of the daylight hours and some of the night. The celebrity basks in an all-consuming feed-back loop of narcissistic ecstasy. A relatively small proportion of individuals... by virtue of their inclination and propitious circumstances... continue to expand their awareness thruout their lives into the chaotic diversity that is the universe.