Hi I'm sure there's a post somewhere on this website on the topic already but oh well! Despite not relating to many of the poison qualities listed as the Ego in certain lists I have read, I do have some qualities that are very toxic towards me and my health and they can be linked to my ego. I want to truly feel ego death. (Ironic to say I want as that feels like an egoic statement) I have watched a few videos and read many things. I am currently reading the power of now by Ekhart Tolle which has been brilliant so far. Does anyone know any ways or have any personal experience with Ego death without drugs as I can't take any lately and have been 42 days sober and substance free, and I want to keep that up for now. Thank you! Mokah
I'm not sure if you just want to feel a temporary ego death or permanent state of no ego, which I imagine is very hard. I've experienced temporary ego death through transcendental meditation. Do you meditate or have you tried? There are techniques, that are simple but require regular practice. In these states one can forget the self, the ego, and experience great inner peace and cosmic bliss. Such meditation has proven successful with recovering drug addicts. (Not suggesting you are one yourself!)
Just practice witnessing or mindfulness or present moment awareness as Eckhart Tolle puts it. All are one and the same thing. There are many meditation lessons in 'The Power of Now' and you can easily follow them to be anchored in present moment awareness. The more you practice it, the more you will get it right, and self-generated feelings of bliss or peace will show that you are moving in the right direction. It will be easier to first practice this in solitude and silence without any external distractions. Practicing in the midst of nature or the beach or the garden is also helpful. This will then enable you to practice it in the midst of work or conditioned society without becoming emotive or reactive. By practice of mindfulness or thoughtless awareness, you will also intuitively be guided towards doing the right thing at the right time. There were a couple of times when I had been intuitively lead towards shops with feng shui statues, even though I had no prior interest in feng shui. Later I developed an interest in them, studied some books on the subject and profited a lot from it. Similarly I had been intuitively lead towards seeing attentively blooming flowers in parks and gardens, even though I had no such prior interest in flowers earlier and would have just walked past them. Viewing flowers has a sort of energising influence on me as I see it. Garchen Rinpoche had stated thus ," If you maintain mindfulness you will unmistakenly know what to do and what not to do. Thus clear awareness is most important; it is your inner Buddha." Similarly Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had stated thus," When every action of yours is preceded by witnessing, then every move you make in this world becomes perfect and significant. " Best wishes.
I've actually had some experience with ego death but it was forced upon me at the time. The world is always willing to help you achieve ego death and then use you until your physical death. You don't walk around on this plane for very long without an ego unless you are well on the path of enlightenment. After my ego was murdered, I walked around with death in my consciousness everyday like a parrot sitting on my shoulder. I never embraced her nor pushed her away, I tried to keep the needle on zero. Then finally after a long bit of time, love found me and death was no longer in my consciousness without my consent. But of course ego was reborn but now is a tool of my soul.
I don't really like the term 'ego death'. It appears to have come out of early experiments with psychedelics, and IMO it's not the best way to look at it. Too dramatic and emotive. And of course, what Leary and friends were experincing wasn't really the 'death' of anything, merely its suspension for a relatively short space of time. (obviously that might be an important space of time) 'Overcoming the ego', 'getting beyond the ego', even the old fashioned Christian mystical term 'self-abandon' seem better to me. How to get there? That's a lifetime's quest. Meditation seems to help some people, as do other kinds of spiritual practice. Possibly seeking to adopt a modest kind of attitde may help. Not always trying to assert oneself or push forward one's own agendas. Of course, one has to be assertive at times, but often we get it wrong. Some say that only by identity with the higher can we overcome the lower. Others say the lower has to go first before the higher can become manifest. Maybe the thing is just to keep going on whatever path you follow, with the aim of moving out of ego awareness, or if it isn't working, look for something else. Like Ajay said above, trust your intuition.
Thank you to all of you who replied to this thread. Around two days ago, I experienced an amazing overpowering feeling and since then I have felt 'different'. I feel a strong lack of need to judge, a lack of need to complain and my anxieties have subsided, I am not sure if they are completely gone as it's only been a few days, but this peaceful feeling is so beautiful. I am now trying to start my spiritual journey through learning the fundamental practices of Buddhism. I don't know if Hipforums notifies people if threads they comment on are replied to but nevertheless if you read this I hope you have a lovely week and thank you for your above comments. - Mokah
how about just learn not to expect. i mean without rejecting logic and probability. why see the universe, or anything else, as being about yourself anyway? i don't know why the ego should have to die any more then that, just see everything from its own terms and context, instead of being from or about your own. i keep saying just, when i know that doesn't appear to be so easy for some people. but to me, it is something of a complete mystery why it is not. some people seem to think this is not human of me, well that's fine with me if i am not. as long is one is considerate of all things, impartially and without bias, there really is no other basis of morality then that. as for mind altering substances, i really don't understand what they supposedly have to contribute to this.
ego dissolution is the more appropriate term as it more succinctly describes what happens. nothing dies, it merely gets dissected into it's constituent parts and examined as the sum of those many parts.
All you can do is strengthen it. It may appear gone at times but it will still be there in more subtle, deceptive ways.
