Healthy ego vs enlightenment, need some clarity

[Howtolive]

Hello,

I have problems with a chronic condition. By trying to heal it I eventually stumbled upon spirituality and emotional healing. At first it was just more mainstream new age spirituality. Over time I got more and more knowledge identified some traps in spirituality and really understood that non duality is portably the hardest thing a person can pursue. I also realised that healing my "shadow" or emotional body is key to getting my health back. So for now I just try to do the emotional work. In that work there is of course already a lot of letting go.

For myself I identified different categories. Personal development, emotional healing, spirituality (non duality), spirituality (being connected as an ego to a higher purpose etc), developing values, morals and ethics and lastly developing a life purpose.

I now want to have more clarity on what I am actually doing right now? It feels like by working with my emotions more and getting more distance to for example to fear, I already went through some kind of awakening and it still continues. Is the emotional healing and personality development needed to actually go to higher levels ( enlightenment) ?

Is what I am doing right now cleaning my ego from all the "bad" stuff and I create a healthy ego?


I am in my mid 20s right now and heared opposite views on the context of enlithenmnet from @Leo Gura.
In his FAQ2 he said that pursuing enlithnemnet early is the right way because it has immense benefits. In his video "250 Traps" he said he whished to not go so early in spirituality. He says going this path at the end of ones life is more natural.

So I am a bit confused right now. It seems like a lot of people that healed that way made tremendous jumps regarding their spiritual progress. It seems like evolving spiritually is key to really letting go of one emotional baggage. On the other side I am thinking  if aiming at getting a healthy ego first is the "better" goal for now. I had one LSD experience paired with reading hardcore non duality book right after. That crushed my worldview big time. It still has me a bit destabilised. I can see how much things can come up when you really go more and more meta.

Is the some kind of order or roadmap for people in their mid to end 20s to how to navigate all these different topics? 

Thanks a lot !!


 

[James123]

@Howtolive There is no such thing as healthy ego, ego is suffering. With enlightenment you recognize what your true nature.

Moreover, after that ego is still there, however under control.

 

 

[Aaron p]

You have a paradox choice my friend. In truth is not healthy ego Vs enlightenment. It should be healthy ego then enlightenment. 

The problem is, younger people have a bind. On one hand getting powerful psychedelic experiences at a young age really opens the ego when it is more receptive. You might drift further and further away from spirituality. After a few dmt breakthroughs that's less likely to happen, the mind recognises "oh shit, there's something absolutely massive here." 

On the other hand, psychedelics aren't for everyone. Maybe psycs will fuck you up. One thing you can be guaranteed is they will make you stronger. Literally going into dimensions and experiencing the impossible really puts all the human bs into perspective. 

The truth is, nobody can tell you what you should do because only you are you. You must intuitively identify the right path. I personally recommend considering a combination of both. Just know this, you must be extremely intelligent and mindful with your use of psychedelics. Lots of people just jump in head first and get fucked up. 

U can't ignore your ego... It must be cared for. And psycs can be used incorrectly or correctly. You can spread your effort between ego and awakening work maybe 20%/80% in favour of ego. Get girls, money and emotional control and maybe just take some threshold doses. But psychedelics are like dynamite. Good or bad? Depends what your trying to do. Good if your digging through a cave, bad if your building a house. There is no rule book that says "thee must get enlightened" and also a major part of spiritual work is the theoretical learning. You can progress without going into other dimensions. 

[Aaron p]

Bonus tip: how to hear gods voice...

Mentally visualise yourself going down both paths... Switch between the two a few times and whichever one you feel most peace in your body and mind with, that's probably it.

Edited January 15 by Aaron p

[WelcometoReality]

5 hours ago, Howtolive said:

Is what I am doing right now cleaning my ego from all the "bad" stuff and I create a healthy ego?

more like healing the body. Ego is ego no matter if you view it healthy or bad.

5 hours ago, Howtolive said:

So I am a bit confused right now. It seems like a lot of people that healed that way made tremendous jumps regarding their spiritual progress. It seems like evolving spiritually is key to really letting go of one emotional baggage. On the other side I am thinking  if aiming at getting a healthy ego first is the "better" goal for now. I had one LSD experience paired with reading hardcore non duality book right after. That crushed my worldview big time. It still has me a bit destabilised. I can see how much things can come up when you really go more and more meta.

Well the moment the mind feels confused it will try to make things clearer. Developing the ego is contrary to letting go. You have to choose which of them you want to do.

[QandC]

You must transcend use and value to investigate Truth

[Breakingthewall]

Spiritual searching is what intelligent people do, because they realize that not doing it sends you straight to hell. People are so stupid that they search for stupid things without realizing how close they are from the abyss, they live in unconsciousness because they cannot become aware that they are alive, their mind is deceiving them as if they were in a movie. Spirituality is realizing yourself, nothing else, but it's not easy, you need to be really motivated 

Edited Wednesday at 10:25 PM by Breakingthewall

[Inliytened1]

7 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Spiritual searching is what intelligent people do, because they realize that not doing it sends you straight to hell. People are so stupid that they search for stupid things without realizing how close they are from the abyss, they live in unconsciousness because they cannot become aware that they are alive, their mind is deceiving them as if they were in a movie. Spirituality is realizing yourself, nothing else, but it's not easy, you need to be really motivated 

Careful. It Isn't spirituality.   It IS.

[Breakingthewall]

10 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

Careful. It Isn't spirituality.   It IS.

Spirituality is realizing that you are, nothing else. Everything else are histories 

[Jwayne]

On 1/15/2025 at 3:52 AM, Howtolive said:

Is the some kind of order or roadmap for people in their mid to end 20s to how to navigate all these different topics? 

Thanks a lot !!


 

This is exactly what I've talked to guys about for the last 5 years. And unlike anonymous internet communities like Actualized (where strangers weirdly boast about their drug usage), I like to have phone calls and do study groups.

Nobody solves all their problems by taking hallucinogens and doing vipassana. Reading the dozens of rants of people's personal meditation sessions that are posted here is a waste of your attention.

You also need to sort out your hormones and diet. You also need a real community - offline and online. It isn't enough to chat on message boards with people you don't even know who they are.

Edited Friday at 01:19 PM by Jwayne

[Howtolive]

On 17.1.2025 at 2:19 PM, Jwayne said:

This is exactly what I've talked to guys about for the last 5 years. And unlike anonymous internet communities like Actualized (where strangers weirdly boast about their drug usage), I like to have phone calls and do study groups.

Nobody solves all their problems by taking hallucinogens and doing vipassana. Reading the dozens of rants of people's personal meditation sessions that are posted here is a waste of your attention.

You also need to sort out your hormones and diet. You also need a real community - offline and online. It isn't enough to chat on message boards with people you don't even know who they are.

How would that roadmap look like ?

I am very aware off the basics you mention 

[Howtolive]

On 15.1.2025 at 5:00 PM, WelcometoReality said:

more like healing the body. Ego is ego no matter if you view it healthy or bad.

Well the moment the mind feels confused it will try to make things clearer. Developing the ego is contrary to letting go. You have to choose which of them you want to do.

I mean I identify as a man and I see that as having a healthy ego foe example. Maybe letting bo and developing both is needed ?

[WelcometoReality]

24 minutes ago, Howtolive said:

I mean I identify as a man and I see that as having a healthy ego foe example. Maybe letting bo and developing both is needed ?

Yeah, do it and see how it works for you. Then after a while evaluate and readjust if needed. 🙂