Hello everyone, open for discussion and questions
The ego isn't bad, it is not something to be "pushed aside" because that is just a waste of time. It is not our job to interact with the ego at all. This is not life. Life is independent from ego. Ego is an extremely small box life puts itself in, unconsciously. Ego is when you identify with some thought, emotion or sensation about yourself, and believe yourself to be that appearing thought, emotion or sensation.
The ego is not always there. In sleep there is no ego, but there is awareness/consciousness (while dreaming, while in deep sleep), ego is not there when you wake up first thing in the morning, it takes checking the phone or some interaction usually to boot it, or if you are very identified in daily life then it will appear first thing in the morning, but in deep sleep there was no ego. That is why we all love sleep, because there is no ego there, total rest.
Ego is personality, whatever you believe yourself to be as a personality is ego. You believe you are great, that is ego. You believe you are worthless, that is ego.
Ego is just the psychological-mind that needs to be set free for the soul to flourish and be what it was truly meant to be here on earth, free, pure, joyful, loving, compassionate and peaceful, being wonderful and divine.
The ego must be transcended for the soul to shine and for the soul to radiate the infiniteness of one's-self, if the ego is not transcended, you are in an extremely limited box, unaware of life completely, stuck in your own mind and helping the suffering to manifest and appear. Unconsciously that is what most souls do, simply because they are conditioned to do so.
The ego does not actually exist, it is merely a thought believed in. There is absolutely nothing there, no substance, no meaning, nothing. It literally exists only as a thought, and that isn't really existence. It is not living, it is not alive, what makes any thought appear to be alive and "real" is only when you (consciousness, the true aliveness) identify yourself with a thought, and therefore that thought borrows your energy (consciousness's energy) and appears to be real and powerful, but that is only because yourself has given the thought/emotion/sensation the power. Without you supplying power to ego/thoughts/emotions/sensations they naturally dissolve into the infinite silence and emptiness of being.
The habit currently is to be identified with ego, thoughts, emotions and sensations. The "goal" is to reclaim our true nature, our buddha-nature by simply being aware of the awareness that is ever-present. By being aware of the awareness, it means we are perceiving from our true place, and we are perceiving that which is true (awareness).
When you stay in the place of perceiving the perceiving itself, you are calm, serene, peaceful, joyful, compassionate, loving, beyond fear, doubt, anxiety, you are in a timeless space, you are home, you are one with the universe. The "goal" is to stabilize yourself in the knowing that you are that. To not feed anything with your attention other than awareness itself. That is living meditation, enlightenment, by being that which you truly are, you are radiating infinite impersonal love, presence, joy, peace, compassion, freedom. Naturally in this state the whole universe conspires for you and life becomes blissful externally just as much as it is blissful internally. First you realize yourself internally, and then naturally the realization follows and appears in the external. You did not change, you simply have discovered your true nature, and rest in that, instead of chasing useless thoughts, emotions and sensations.
By being what you truly are, unconditioned and pure, you are an infinite blessing to the whole universe, to yourself, to your family, to the birds, to the fishes, to the trees, to anything that is, you are a blessing. Every single thing will appear to flourish in your presence, naturally, effortlessly, simply because you have reclaimed your own true buddha-nature. Thank you.