CreamCat

How long can the ego stay dead?

18 posts in this topic

Can it stay dead for the rest of my life without an interruption?

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Ego is a lens that you use to view 'what I am'.  A lens doesn't die.  I guess could burn all the books and try to make it die, but that's a different issue.  

'What you are' has nothing to do with beliefs or thoughts (concepts) about 'what you are'.

Edited by Joseph Maynor

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So, the ego doesn't die although Leo said ego death is possible.

Is enlightenment then to free myself from self image?

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8 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

So, the ego doesn't die although Leo said ego death is possible.

Is enlightenment then to free myself from self image?

A lens doesn’t die.  Concepts don’t die.  Maybe they do but not like living organisms die.

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@Joseph Maynor What is enlightenment to you?

By the way, if you meant an ego by a lens, my ego could die if a bullet penetrated my skull.

Edited by CreamCat

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13 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

@Joseph Maynor What is enlightenment to you?

By the way, if you meant an ego by a lens, my ego could die if a bullet penetrated my skull.

It is both simultaneously dead and alive. When considering nonlinear time.

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Ego death is knowing you're not the character in the movie.

The character in the movie will exist as long as the movie is ongoing.


God is love

Whoever lives in love lives in God

And God in them

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Nothing should die. Everything should be integrated and included.

Can't kill what's not there.

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Permanent ego death is unnecessary, nothing has to die for you to stop identifying with it.


“Man’s faith in God is measured by his confidence in himself... Your faith in God is measured by your confidence in yourself, because your true self is God.”  - Neville Goddard

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7 hours ago, CreamCat said:

Can it stay dead for the rest of my life without an interruption?

It's up to you whether or not you keep up with spiritual practices. You need your ego to live in this life so I'm not sure what you mean with this question. Your identity to the ego gets dropped, that's what will die.

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@CreamCat think of ego death as losing attachment to your sense of self, and seeing it for what it is. Your ego still exists, but you have the ability to not be controlled by it. You still need the ego to survive, but your relationship with it is quite advanced and nuanced. I hope that helped!


"The greatest illusion of all is the illusion of separation." - Guru Pathik

Sent from my iEgo

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@TheAvatarState I've had many deep realizations of not being my ego/realizing I'm just playing a character over the past 4 years and will reside in this state for a few weeks but then I inevitably fall back into daily life and get tricked back in to identification, I'm assuming this is part of the process as the ego will do everything it can to fight to survive. Is this par for the course? It seems over time as I move through these cycles and become re-identified that I gain a deeper understanding of what the ego is and how it operates.

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4 minutes ago, TheAvatarState said:

@CreamCat think of ego death as losing attachment to your sense of self, and seeing it for what it is. Your ego still exists, but you have the ability to not be controlled by it. You still need the ego to survive, but your relationship with it is quite advanced and nuanced. I hope that helped!

No !!!

I MUST get rid of something that doesn't exist,

Like that I will stay stuck until I die !

This is my truth Leo, you don't my truth !!!


God is love

Whoever lives in love lives in God

And God in them

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29 minutes ago, kev014 said:

Is this par for the course? It seems over time as I move through these cycles and become re-identified that I gain a deeper understanding of what the ego is and how it operates.

Precisely. There are many degrees and forms of the realization of ego death (almost synonymous with enlightenment). The ego death itself is an experience (like an enlightenment), but the actualization is the steady and difficult process of learning to live harmoniously with it. Do not shame your ego, for that is a part of you. You could not continue being YOU if you demolished your ego! You'd just dissolve into the universe as nondual consciousness, unable to function as a social creature. Of course what we're after is non-dual awakening, but you have to integrate that with reality. That is where the real growth happens. It is the paradox of staying on your toes, but never taking life so seriously, an idea so beautiful illustrated in The Alchemist by the parable of a man sightseeing while instructed to hold a spoonful of oil without spilling it. It's easy to see why this is such a difficult task for the ego. 


"The greatest illusion of all is the illusion of separation." - Guru Pathik

Sent from my iEgo

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8 hours ago, ivankiss said:

Nothing should die. Everything should be integrated and included.

Can't kill what's not there.

Nice one

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Temporary.  Unless you’ve actually achieved it, permanent Ego Death is simply a concept.  From my point of view, one never has a permanent Ego Death.  Ego is like the Body, it’s always gonna be there — the question is how it’s regarded in the whole scheme of being in the Now.

Edited by Joseph Maynor

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10 hours ago, CreamCat said:

@Joseph Maynor What is enlightenment to you?

By the way, if you meant an ego by a lens, my ego could die if a bullet penetrated my skull.

The idea that you have an Ego is a concept.  It’s a more or less useful concept though — kinda like the concept of gravity.

What is Enlightenment to me?  That’s a great question.  I would have given different answers at different stages of my Path too.  From where I am now — Enlightenment is the ability to look at reality simultaneously through the lenses of Ego and No Ego.  This has a profound effect on how you ARE or BE in reality in actual contexts of Now.  The lens of No Ego is like a counter-balance or pressure release valve to the lens of Ego.  Enlightenment is about understanding the contours of Egos — but this knowledge is an observed knowledge not so much a theoretical knowledge.  You learn the most about Ego by looking at your own Ego.  And finally, the insight that Ego is not bad: Ego can be made good, which is what I call an Enlightened Ego.  Notice that these lenses don’t affect reality — they only affect how we interpret reality.  And that interpretation can be more or less useful depending on the context.  Ego and No Ego are lenses or concepts that we use to interpret reality — but reality itself just is what it is irrespective of these conceptual lenses that we have.  The lenses of Ego and No Ego both apply to us, although neither lens is a perfect fit.  And that’s not to be lamented.  I know the Ego wants to find a simple, linear definition for “what I am” — but you gotta be wise enough to see the limitations of this.  You cannot capture a baseball pitch in concepts alone.  Ditto for reality.  These things exceed concepts, although the mind hates to think this way — the mind wants conceptual answers to everything to the extent that is possible.  

Edited by Joseph Maynor

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Asking if the ego  can die or stay dead is like asking if a rock can die or stay dead.

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