Do You Want To Kill Your Ego?

Are you attempting to rid yourself of your ego? To become ego-less?

Well, as long as “you” exist in physical manifestation, you will always have an ego. It’s as simple as that.

The ego’s fundamental role is to give you the ability to exist in the physical reality you chose to be born into by creating separation where there is none. The ego is what allows us to differentiate between a this and a that where there is only One.

It is what allows Jesus to heal this person’s legs or that person’s eyes. It is what allows the Buddha to sit under this tree to meditate or teach that group of people. It’s what allows you to know that that food needs to go into this mouth when this stomach starts growling.

The purpose of spirituality is not to rid yourself of that ability altogether, but to recognize that you don’t have to allow a negative ego to unconsciously control your actions. This happens when we mistakenly identify with the separate self, the little voice in our heads, and think that it ACTUALLY IS us.

Enlightenment is about a radical shift of identity, about the realization of your true nature.

Enlightenment is about integration and realizing that you are All That Is. There is no part of All That Is that is rejected, including the human ego.

Waterfalls in Paradise Meadow by Daniel Ewert

Light does not overcome darkness by rejecting it, but by transmuting what used to be dark into light, rendering darkness “dead” in a metaphorical sense. When you realize the moon is made of rock, you don’t have to kill the belief that it’s made of cheese, as if there was a battle in the first place. In a similar way, the light of Truth and the realization of Oneness automatically overrides the incorrect belief in a separate self, one of the main lies of the ego. You don’t attack and attempt to kill a lie. You simply bring in the presence of Truth.

The ego is simply a tool, a conduit. It’s what keeps the physical you where you have chosen to be focused into here in this physical reality. As long as you are in physical manifestation and have a unique personality, you will always have an ego and that’s totally okay. That’s how it’s designed by Creation. Even enlightened people have physical bodies.

So Love your ego, just like you can Love every other aspect of All That Is, of Creation.

The process of self-inquiry by asking the question “What Am I?” is about dissolving the ego’s grip over you, about shifting your sense of identification from what is Illusion to what is Real.

Identification with the ego and the separate self can “die” the same way you can let other mistaken beliefs fall away and “die.” The ego you have and the ability to subsequently differentiate between a this and a that in physical form, even though it’s not ultimately REAL, is still a helpful ability while experiencing physical reality. It allows you to play with the illusion.

Just like when you go to the movies, you know that what’s happening on the screen isn’t actually real and that it’s all a made-up story, you can still have a good time watching the movie anyways. No one said you have to believe that what’s happening on screen is actually happening.

So don’t try to kill the ego or become literally ego-less. Just free yourself from all attachment and aversion to what is. Inquire in to your true nature to realize who you truly are, yet don’t actually believe a single thought the mind tells you. That’s what it’s all about. That’s the heart of spirituality.