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Question: What is the EGO!?!? what is EGO death!?
I have a friend who is somewhat invincible to emotional pain and he claims its because he got rid of his ego!. And now he is a lot happier and unselfish!. How does this work!? what is the exact meaning of ego!? and how do you get rid of it!? Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Ego is basically point of view!. Anytime you think "about" something, that is your ego!. Ego is the ongoing separation of "I" from the rest of the world, and some is required for a human to function day to day!. Ego death is a religious-like experience where the boundary between "me" and the world is seen as an illusion!. It happens every time you orgasm: pay attention, and you will learn to see it for what it is!.

What your friend means is, he has consciously restrained himself from judging his experiences according to his point of view!. He sees his attachment to things of the world - even people - as superficial and easily released!. That makes his emotions a lot less turbulent, and puts him more in control!. It's pretty nice if you can pull it off!. But anybody who bragged about it is probably still struggling to really do it all the time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

To me the ego is like a filter that prevents me from experiencing reality objectively!.

To experience ego death, [as in with entheogens], is to face the abyss that is beyond the assurances your ego sets for itself!. When the filter of your experiences are uncapped, the tap is open!. It's very hard to look at life the same way after staring into that!.

By this I mean, the sum of your life's experiences make up your ego - your selfish view of the world through your own eyes!. When you take away all the build up - the plaque - that has built around your ego over time , like a shield [or filter] from reality, you are faced with primordial, and franky scary questions about your own existence!. Many people would rather not think about these things, so they live their live encapsulated within the confines of ego!.


This sounds insane, but it makes sense to me!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

in victus (latin) against victory!.

So your friend is unvictorious to emotional pain!?

ego (latin) I, myself
Anyhow, the ego is two different things!. First it is the part of your psyche that identifies itself as a self!. Second it is a euphemism for grandiosity!. Over-self-importance!.

Your friend has discovered one of the paths to evacuating the self, or diminishing the self!. We all have instinct, but there are ways to train our instincts to be suppressed or consciously controlled!. Here are some methods out there (not an exhaustive list!.)

1!. Meditation and Yoga
2!. Prayer and submission [islam (arabic): to submit]
3!. Fasting and solitude
4!. Contemplating Non-striving
5!. Contemplating a Bodavista
6!. Contemplating a zen koan

As you can see, most methods involve pondering some ideal and giving oneself over to a process!. I believe a rationalist can do this process with a tin can, but spiritual folks use more elaborate methods!. getting rid of the ego (self-importance) does not mean losing identity (ego-self) although many people are confused on this subject!.

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The Ego is the opposing force to the ID, without his Ego his ID is running wild!. The Ego allows to you feel things and so called 'human' thoughts, where as the ID is like innate desires!. He may still have a super Ego however, and to get rid of it he must have done some traumatizing things!.!.!.I think it is unlikely he has just got rid of it and is just looking for a complicated way to say he is suppressing his emotionsWww@QuestionHome@Com

we have what's called an ID:
our needs which are food, sleep shelter, water, sex (which is not needed, though still remains on this list)

Superego: the little voice inside our heads that tells us what's right and wrong (our subconscious or instinct)

and the Ego: the balance between the ID and Superego!.

i think what your friend means is he is just suppressing the emotions in his brain!.!. which is not necessarily the best way to deal with things!. yes this is easy to do -if you aren't in any real pain!. i thought i was doing a fine job of it until my dad was diagnosed with cancer and i realized that there's no way to get around emotions!. he must have just realized that that wasn't the person he wanted to be, so he changed the selfish feelings in his head!. you can do this, definitely!. i don't know about getting rid of emotion!.!. those are two separate things!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Ego is the curse that every human is given at birth!. The only way to rid yourself of this curse is to die trying!.Www@QuestionHome@Com