Recently I saw a video of a couple, who are spiritual teachers, giving a talk to a group of their students. They were terrifying the students telling them that in order to awaken one has to die completely to the personality, that all that must end. It was rather funny considering how both of these teachers' personalities were clearly intact and functioning.
If you are one of those who have been so misinformed and are in fear of the end of you, then fear no more. The ego and the personality function as one most of the time. However, the ego is non-existent. Each of us came into the world with a way of seeing, perceiving, and feeling that is individual, as any parent can tell you of their offspring. There are certain energies in each of us that make us different from one another. However, this does not create the sense of separation, which is the ego dream. As we are conditioned by our parents, schools, siblings, TV, and all sort of subtle processes, the ego dream is developed. It may well be engrained in our DNA by now and we may carry it into this life and have it conditioned into an active belief system as we are conditioned more deeply. That conditioning feeding back on itself and creating the sense of a ‘me’ that is not a part of the wholeness of life is the ego. It is a filter over our heart/mind that blinds us to reality. We see through our conditioned images and it is rarely clear seeing. That part of us is what needs to be transcended, to be seen for what it is so that we awaken to the ever-present reality that has always been.
This does not mean one dies to the personality, but the personality is transformed. Each of us, like snowflakes and fingerprints, has our individuality. It is the tendencies we were born with that form the way we react, the way we see the world and so many other qualities that make up a complete human being. There is nothing wrong with that. What a dull life it would be if that were not the case. Life needs diversity to be complete.
Too often, teachers who are not really awake to what the whole process is, read or hear what others have said about ego death, and create their own images of what that means. Not having awakened, they distort the teaching of those who have awakened. If they saw the whole picture, they would realize there is nothing wrong with being an individual personality. If they kept their ideas to themselves, little harm would be done. However, to teach these things and scare the hell out of their students can do great harm. It can scare many people, who may well have gone on and found the truth, into inaction out of fear of ending. Of course, the ego will end, and good riddance, but the real personality will only become richer, broader, and deeper.
The ego is, after all, only an idea that causes misperception. It is not real now, nor has it ever been real. Realize that, and you will find yourself awake. You will not become a vegetable or a dimwit. You can use the tools that have evolved in the development of the human mind to go ever more deeply into what life is all about. You will discover layer upon layer of new insights that are endless and rich. You will no longer function from the ego nightmare with its hatred, fear, insecurity, and greed. You will find a state of poise in which you will deeply sense the reality that underlies all expression and you will know it as your own true being. You will feel a freedom that the ego cannot comprehend. The fear of death will be gone and you will feel that the ever-present life force is beyond all expression and is endless and eternal.
You will still be able to deal with your day-to-day life without any problem after awakening. In fact you will be able to deal with it all more clearly because you will not be fooled by the ego games that blind you now. This does not mean that life will be effortless and easy just because you see clearly, but you will be much better equipped to deal with whatever comes up because of your newfound freedom.
The ego process may well go on for some time because of inertia, the force of habit, but you will know it for what it is and just move on. Most importantly, you will understand and love more deeply than you may now. When we put up conditions of right and wrong, based in ego, we wall our hearts into the fake world the ego dream is and we do not know real love. When you see so clearly that the ego just fades away, you will find a spontaneous rising of love and it will feel so familiar because it has always been there within your being. Life loves Life and you are Life.
