Do we actually want our ego to be dead?
Ego death, is a term used for someone who comes to a realization of oneness, where all the things in the universe are eventually part of the same entity. Yes, ourselves, the ones we hate, strangers, nature, anything you can think of – is one. When people experience ego death, they lost the sense of attachment, there is no ‘me’. It’s a state where we just exist, without any thought, without any desire, without ego.
This happened temporarily, but it can affect how people perceive the world in a long term. It possibly happened due to deep meditation, or abruptly with the uses of psychedelic substances such as LSD and mushrooms – or by weed, some claimed.
Although to the one who actually experiences it, the term ego death is usually led to misunderstanding. People want to ‘kill’ their ego for the sake of spiritual awakening. But, do we really need to aim for that?
What is ego? Why would we want it to vanish?
We need to understand why ego is important. Ego is part of us, the one who does the self-defence mechanism, like an antibody. When unwanted substances – like viruses, bacteria, and toxins, come inside the body, our immune system produces antibodies to bind and eliminate them. The antibody needs to acquaint itself with the substance first before can actually dispute it. It works the same with the ego system. Our ego is formed by our past experiences, mostly unpleasant ones. So when we cross a familiar situation in the future, our body gives the warning signal, and that’s when our ego is raised, and unfortunately somehow – expropriates our mind, or heart.
The ego can’t be dead. It dissolves and is replaced by another.
It never satisfies, it’s the one who keeps us going on – the giver of passion and aggression.
The Hungry Ghost — Sixth Realms of Existence
One of the mythological teaching of realms in Buddism is a tale of the hungry ghost (Preta). The Preta is depicted as a creature with a large bloated belly yet a scrawny neck. The stomach always unbearably feels empty, hence they crave so much. But whenever they get to eat something, it then turns into junk – and no matter how much they try to feed the throat, they never full.
Preta is the metaphor for desire. It’s never the objects that led to greed, it’s the ego – the coping mechanism for the insufferable feeling of emptiness, which turns into the longing for fulfilment.
Ego’s nature is to protect us from the dissatisfaction
Therefore, the ego is not our enemy. It doesn’t have to be disappeared, it just needs to be accepted. When the ego comes to the surface, acknowledge the why – what harm it wants to protect you from? When you accept it, it connects to you – to the higher self. Be mindful of how far you actually have to follow it, or whether you only have to nod to it – and say thank you.
