Greetings
As I thought about the post, I want to go a step further and say that religion in general is a product of the ego. Religions comes from man's fear of death. An afterlife is rationalized to make death easier for ones to deal with.

If ones realized that death is really only a return to the source/whole, which is a regeneration in it self in different form, their would be no fear of death.

But the desire to stand out and see one's life as important and significant in the grande scheme is too hard to overcome for most people.

So ones personal salvation becomes something to strive for.

No personal salvation = no egoism

Peace