The Ego and Reality

Ego is a Latin word, meaning 'I'. So, the first question is, what is ego? Sometimes, in spiritual circles, it's translated as the sense of I. Right now, you can probably become aware of the sense of 'I' as you sit reading this. It's the sense of being alive, being present, existing. However, I would argue that this sense of 'I' is not as real as you may think. Here's a few questions to challenge your belief.

1. Are you always aware of the sense of I?
No, of course not. It disappears in sleep and also when you're engaged in a task, the sense of I is forgotten.

2. Who is aware of the sense of I?
As you are aware of the sense of I, you can be the sense of I itself. For example, you can see your computer so you're not your computer. You can see your body so you're not your body. You can see your thoughts, so you're not your thoughts. And you can see the sense of I, so you're not the sense of I. You can never be that which you are aware of, you must be that which is aware of it.

So, hopefully you can see that the sense of I am is actually just a thought which has a feeling associated with it, as thoughts do, which kind of pops into and out of your consciousness. So, then the question is, what are you or who are you? Well, actually, nobody knows, because as soon as you experience who you are, that is just an experience, it's not who you are. The important point is that you know that you are not this passing thought/feeling which is 'I'. That's just a thought, like 'banana' or 'laptop'. Just a word.

Being in this state of not knowing, is it. Now, if someone calls you an idiot, and you call them an idiot back, that's just thoughts operating. They didn't mean to do it, they just had that thought pop into their head, and you didn't mean to react, it just happened. Everything just happens...

So, you are free. You always have been free actually. Just that the brain believed very strongly in the thought 'I am' and not it doesn't believe it quite so much. And even if it does believe it, that's okay - that's just the way the brain is at the moment.

Everything is operating according to the energy and laws of physics in the Universe. So called 'you' are part of that too. It's all unfolding automatically, including the feeling that you are a separate person and need to understand this stuff. This is all part of the energy of the universe doing it's thing. It's all a beautiful mystery and nobody understands it, and that's the beauty of life.

Have a nice rest of the day, or night. Best wishes to you.

Shamash