Ego death

Hi everyone,

So I'm wondering about ego death, like when "i" loses importance and you see yourself in everything. Echkart Tolle talks about in his book The Power of Now. Is attainable for everyone? What does it mean if you are not in this state?

I hope I'm making sense and as always thanks for your help :)

[Unseeking Seeker]

In my view, we don’t see ourself in everything, rather everything is enveloped by our expanded consciousness, in the oneness state.

I don’t know what the conventional definitions of ego death are; what happens is that first head melds with heart, in resonance with universal love. We are in alignment, so to speak, inner conflict ends. Then the self-serving aspect or ego takes a back seat as we see spherically, metaphorically speaking, recognising and accepting oneness even when not in the oneness state. Lower mind recedes.

[FairyCrystal]

You don't need an ego death. What is needed is to overcome the issues of the ego: fears, doubt, low self-esteem, and so on.

When you work on that -mostly work on the first 3 chakras- you can get to a higher vibration without all the baggage.
When you get to a real high vibration you begin to feel the desire to serve. This is 5D serving, not the 3D version with the negative connotation.
You want to serve from the Heart & Soul. Live your purpose.
Then you still have ego but it's the pure ego.
Basically it's moving from the troubled inner child into the Golden Inner Child.
Big misunderstanding that keeps getting spread in spiritual circles is that ego is bad. It is not. We need it, first to survive when you haven't worked through your issues yet. Then you need it to be You, to serve, and also to feel connected to All That Is, with your Golden Ego, meaning you feel connected to All while still being you.

Originally Posted by traceyacey12

So I'm wondering about ego death, like when "i" loses importance and you see yourself in everything.

Frankly, ego death is a nonsense and when people have decided that there is ego is dead and they think they've become more Spiritual because of it, all they've really done is levelled-up their egos. In severe cases of emotional trauma the ego can 'collapse' into the self and leave the person dysfunctional, so anyone who has the faculties to come to these forums and post has an ego.

Spiritual solutions such as Tolle's only skims the surface layer of our feelings and doesn't go any deeper than that. What Tolle's certainly doesn't do is explore the 'mechanisms' that produce these feelings, but instead averts attention from them.

The reason we have the kinds of feelings Tolle talks about is because of unconscious processes, and when 'bad things' happen to us what we feel is an emotional response to those events. Instead of dealing with our emotions directly we look for reasons to try and push them to one side, and while they are being ignored they're pushed into the Shadow Self, which is a kind of repository for what we can't or won't deal with. Because they remain unresolved we go back in time and live in the past, when those events occurred. What puts us back in time is not the events themselves but our emotional responses to those events.`

Looking to the future can be a kind of escapism, because again it's a way of diverting attention. Because we've had a 'bad Life' we can look to the future with hope that the future will be better, but that throws up all kinds of other issues because people might not be dealing with what's happening in their Lives in the present moment, instead they're living in some conjured ideal.

When you deal with your emotional past effectively - and that means meeting it head-on and being honest - the past emotional traumas disappear and you don't keep going back in your head. It also means that the present isn't so bad after all so the future isn't something you spend time thinking about. All that's really left is the Now, but it's not the Now that has the power - YOU have. If the Now has the power then your not recognising your own authenticity, you're relying on something external.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by traceyacey12

So I'm wondering about ego death, like when "i" loses importance and you see yourself in everything....
Is attainable for everyone? What does it mean if you are not in this state?

Well, this is my take that I'm content with: Say I am a drop...a separate drop with an identity as 'me'.
I fall down from the sky to the Ocean and merge into that Ocean....picture me
floating on my back going ,"Ahhh" and drinking in the Sun.
I'm part of the Ocean now, expanded, but I'm still consciously me.

Now, is that separate me that was jealous, indignant, prideful, angry, depressed, hurt, gone, yes.
Has my consciousness expanded so I understand the Fullness of Reality now? Yes.

Imagine people without ego's. We would all be walking around like Zombies. As soon as ,if not before you take your first breath, you have an ego. It's all about survival.

[Starman]

Originally Posted by traceyacey12

So I'm wondering about ego death, like when "i" loses importance and you see yourself in everything. Echkart Tolle talks about in his book The Power of Now. Is attainable for everyone? What does it mean if you are not in this state?

The death of ego is a concept. Ego really does not exist, it is only a place where energies meet. It is like saying when I die, when actually the only thing that dies is my physical body. What Eckhart Tolle is talking about is a change in perception, it is a transformational experience. More along the lines of a fourth, or greater, dimension. Words in a language which convey a three-dimensional existence are insufficient to talk about a fourth dimensional existence.

There are lots of people who have had out-of-body experiences, or near death experiences, where they leave this “physical” realm and enter another dimension, or realm. Then there is an experience which we humans may call “cosmic consciousness,” this is an expansive experience you have right here on earth. An experience where the presence of your consciousness expands beyond your physical body; moving out in all directions simultaneously.

There are no thoughts, no feelings, and no objectivity. Only a very light and peaceful, natural connection with a greater reality. It defies logic and reasoning, and has nothing to do with “I,” or ego. There is lots of literature online about cosmic consciousness but reading about it is not it. It transcends words and thoughts. It transforms your very being, including your perspective, and it is removed from time and space as we know it experiencing life in a human body through human senses.

I have had this experience and it happens when I let go inside, it happens when I least expect for it to happen. There are all sorts of spiritual experiences a person may have. I am not concerned about ego; in my opinion it is a concept which is given too much attention, and ego thrives on attention. I strive to humble ego, not kill it out. Humility is a requisite for me on my spiritual path. In my opinion this is the aim of selfless service, volunteer work, and humble prayer. Diminish ego and something greater will emerge. It is wonderful to have a big heart but not good at all to have a big head.

[pixiedust]

Originally Posted by Starman

The death of ego is a concept. Ego really does not exist, it is only a place where energies meet. It is like saying when I die, when actually the only thing that dies is my physical body. What Eckhart Tolle is talking about is a change in perception, it is a transformational experience. More along the lines of a fourth, or greater, dimension. Words in a language which convey a three-dimensional existence are insufficient to talk about a fourth dimensional existence.

There are lots of people who have had out-of-body experiences, or near death experiences, where they leave this “physical” realm and enter another dimension, or realm. Then there is an experience which we humans may call “cosmic consciousness,” this is an expansive experience you have right here on earth. An experience where the presence of your consciousness expands beyond your physical body; moving out in all directions simultaneously.

There are no thoughts, no feelings, and no objectivity. Only a very light and peaceful, natural connection with a greater reality. It defies logic and reasoning, and has nothing to do with “I,” or ego. There is lots of literature online about cosmic consciousness but reading about it is not it. It transcends words and thoughts. It transforms your very being, including your perspective, and it is removed from time and space as we know it experiencing life in a human body through human senses.

I have had this experience and it happens when I let go inside, it happens when I least expect for it to happen. There are all sorts of spiritual experiences a person may have. I am not concerned about ego; in my opinion it is a concept which is given too much attention, and ego thrives on attention. I strive to humble ego, not kill it out. Humility is a requisite for me on my spiritual path. In my opinion this is the aim of selfless service, volunteer work, and humble prayer. Diminish ego and something greater will emerge. It is wonderful to have a big heart but not good at all to have a big head.

Do you ever feel you are unified with everything? Or is unity an illusion

[pixiedust]

Originally Posted by traceyacey12

Hi everyone,

So I'm wondering about ego death, like when "i" loses importance and you see yourself in everything. Echkart Tolle talks about in his book The Power of Now. Is attainable for everyone? What does it mean if you are not in this state?

I hope I'm making sense and as always thanks for your help :)

Perhaps it's more like the ego loses its dominance and love takes over at last.

[Starman]

Originally Posted by pixiedust

Do you ever feel you are unified with everything? Or is unity an illusion

Yes, by the grace of God; the One Source of being, I have a very consistent expensive experience. It is a wonderful feeling of wholeness, not experiencing any separation. Now as far as a unity with everything, everything goes beyond the features of the human mind. But we can still feel unity with the great unknown, unknown and unable to know, by the human mind.

I was standing on a beach in California, late at night looking at the ocean, when my awareness expanded without warning. I found myself in the sky, the ocean, the land, and my human body was inside of me; inside of my awareness. I could still animate my physical body but I did not identify with it.

One day I was camping in a national forest, leaning against a tree meditating on silence. I came out of meditation looked around at the very majestic and beautiful world of nature, but then thought of the suffering in this world, and said out loud; “why is everything the way that it is.” It seemed as though the tree I was leaning against answered me; I heard in a strong voice that was not my own. “Everything is as it should be, everything is connected.”

I went to a bull ring in southern Spain some time ago, where a guru was sitting on a stage in the middle of the bull ring talking about the miracle of life. There were at least a few thousand people sitting in the circular bleachers around the bull ring. The air was soft and sweet with a light breeze, and there were no thoughts in my head to be found anywhere; nothing but deep silence. I got up from my seat, for whatever reason, and walked outside of the bull ring and suddenly, without warning, everything disappeared, and I found my self floating in golden light and the light was rich and thick with love. It was like I was in a fetal position and it felt like being in the womb, for my body was also made of that light, and I felt the comfort of being at home. The experience was timeless and it felt so fulfilling and comfortable. Then again, without warning, I was back walking towards the bull ring, staggering, intoxicated on the love from the experience I‘d just had,

These are but a sampling of connective experiences which I have had. I have also had clairvoyant experiences. All of these, to me, are but window dressing on the way to a greater awareness, a greater perception. Experiences which I do not expect to have, but feel are available to everyone. I have been doing quiet meditation for more than forty years. Inner silence is precious. Another word for silence is peace. A peace, or silence, which is rich and thick, with wisdom and love. A peace which surpasses understanding. That peace, or silence, extends into every crevice and occupies all space. Silence is in the backdrop of noise, it is always with us, and we can expand into it. Unity is not and illusion, in fact it just may be the only non-illusive reality.