Do Enlightened People Have Egos?

Category Ego, Enlightenment

Short answer:

YES!

Long answer:

Sort of…

Awakening is a radical shift in identity, not the literal killing off of an ego. It is a letting go of any mental self-concept. It is a letting go of any place where ‘I’, as a separate self, as this and not that, am centered, revealing one’s true nature as actually being simultaneously everywhere at once and omni-present, and thus nowhere in particular.

As Davidya so wonderfully put it, there’s the experience of the separate self popping out of existence upon awakening.

Upon awakening, there is still the ability to think. Thoughts may arise. Thoughts are just recognized on the spot to be illusory and not actually true and so they are treated with a sense of lightness.

Any thought that could arise such as, “Whoops, I shouldn’t have done that” or whatever else, if it’s actually believed in as if it’s literally true actually pulls a “me” back out of the awakened state. As the enlightened state matures, one progressively loses the ability to truly buy into any belief, thought, or opinion as if they were real because they all become more and more obviously illusion. Thought is just thought. Period. It has no more reality than that. Thoughts are neither true nor false, for that is perception. Everything is what it is. Period.

One doesn’t lose the capacity to think altogether. See, the mind is a tool that can be used to solve math problems, plan building layouts, visualize a certain idea, etc. It’s a tool that can positively serve us, but it’s not a place to go and find truth or a true sense of identity.

Thoughts may arise in the same way that the sun rises or cars drive by. Egoic thoughts and otherwise. They just happen. They’re just not identified to be part of a separate self. There is no separate self. There’s no identity wrapped up around ‘this’ versus ‘that’ any more than you currently identify with the air all around you. It comes and goes, but it’s not the ultimate essence of what I am.

The ability to discern between chair and building and potato chip and edge of cliff still exists, but this recognition is secondary. It takes a backseat to the Essence of All That Is, the underlying unity of Spirit that takes the form of all things. The so-called individual things are recontextualized and intuitively realized to simultaneously all be the same One non-thing.

Photo by Kevin Pieper

Interacting with the Ego

Opinions still exist, but they are recognized to simply be the opinion of a personality raised in a specific environment, during a particular time, with a certain set of experiences… they’re just opinions that are in no way more right or wrong than any other opinions. Opinions are in no way literally true. Buying into them simply creates the experience of them being true, but it doesn’t make them inherently true.

There is no real separate self who owns or takes credits for these opinions as if they’re “my opinions.” Opinions simply exist, unless they don’t.

The ego, along with its thought patterns and ability to “suck awareness in” the way a movie can “suck you in,” all still exist.

In fact, as long as the body is alive, an ego is NECESSARY. The ego will not and can not die until the body dies. Period.

Someone once asked the enlightened sage Nisargadatta Maharaj if the ego still arose in him and he very casually responded that of course it does, but that he sees it at once as illusion and discards it.

At any point even after enlightenment, there still exists the possibility for identification with the ego to happen and for “unenlightenment” to occur. This is a very painful experience but it still is, nevertheless, possible.

Even if the mind totally disappeared, there is still the ability to create something from nothingness, including the mind. So there is still the possibility, however remote or improbable it may be, that a “me” could arise again from Allness.

“Enlightened people” have not literally killed off the ego, but rather realized their true nature as the indescribable everything and nothing and no longer identify solely with the ego, its thoughts, or any of its false concepts of a separate self. That’s all. There is no longer any identification with this as opposed to that.

So… who are YOU?

…you sure?

Continued Discussion | 4 Forum Comments

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8 Responses to “Do Enlightened People Have Egos?”

wendy mewhort said:

Hello Ariel.
Happy holidays…
The realization that one still has an ego after ‘enlightenment’ need not be a painful experience.
It can be- and truly is- a blessed tool… that can help assist others toward enlightenment.
When we allow ourselves- and fully accept ourselves- to be conscious channels of the divine (enlightenment in action) our egos are used for the greater good of all, as we hear ourselves say, and watch ourselves do, that which others need to receive for their own growth and development.
A beautiful system it is :-)
Honor it. It’s a blessing.
And yes, sometimes… well most of the time… true enlightenment is disguised as total normalacy…
This is important Ariel… there is so much work to do… don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself until the time is ‘right’.
Trust… continue to surrender… all is well.
Much love,
Wendy
2Da1 said:

Great blog. Thank you so much for sharing. Will be around a lot.

Peace and blessings,

2Da1
TJones said:

This makes a lot of sense and has cleared things up for me.
Ismaelia said:

The term and concept of surrender is used often here. I find myself more easily resonating to “soften, melt and dissolve”.
Does anyone sense any kind of resistance in this? Is this my ego in disguise in some way?
Thanks!! :-))
Davidya said:

Hi Ariel
Thanks for the mention and an interesting article. I don’t describe it the same way, but I think the difference is semantics.
For me the ego is the idea of being separate. I differentiate this from the personality and the deeper identity. They are certainly closely interrelated, but they shift in stages. On awakening the core of the ego -the idea of being other -does die. But there is usually a mesh of concepts and beliefs built around that that continue for a time. These can arise and mind can even try to take over again. But if you have truly ‘switched’, the dynamic will fall away over time. Key is to clear the emotional drivers that push them up again. Drivers that are pushed by the sub-conscious identity.
Some use ‘ego’ far more broadly to describe any aspect of individuality which for me makes it harder to see the process.
A key point to note to illustrate ego death is to forget what it was like to have an ego. Like forgetting what it was like to be 10.

The personality is a separate beast. Its built of a number of factors, including the ego, and does indeed continue to death. But it also arises from a wide range of other influences, some having nothing to do with the person. The need of the time we could say. It may be racially changed by awakening or it may not.

The identity is something much deeper, not usually revealed until the one heart has been cleared post awakening. It is that which creates the idea of “inside” and “outside”, that prevents Oneness. That which has a name. Thus, after it falls, Unity can awaken. But that’s getting ahead of the discussion ;-)

Thanks again. The more voices, the larger the picture, the greater the whole.

Davidyas last blog post..Fullness of Emptiness

Ariel Bravy Reply:
January 24th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Yeah Davidya, seems like just different definitions for the word ego. The way you define it, the idea of being separate, that does fall away for sure.

Thanks for posting this part. It’s a big help for me in the present: “Key is to clear the emotional drivers that push them up again. Drivers that are pushed by the sub-conscious identity.”

As you said, the personality does seem to continue, though it does change and often become more lighthearted, not taking things so seriously, for example.

Someone mentioned, and this might have been on your blog actually, the idea of there being a functional ego that keeps you focused in physical reality and helps you get things done such as eating or whathaveyou, versus an identity-based ego which is what dissolves when Unity itself awakens.
Davidya said:

Wendy
Beautiful comment. Thank you for sharing that.
Davidya said:

OH – It’s worth noting that when some people awaken, they get what some call a “spritualized ego” or “premature immaculation”. Their identity grabs hold of this dawning transcendent knowledge to enhance it’s specialness. Some of these become teachers. It’s one of the traps one can fall into in that post enlightenment phase.
Teachers who seem to be awake but compare themselves with others or put themselves up tend to be a giveaway, although sometimes this is just personality (laughs). Wendys advice holds well.

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