Is the ego just an idea?

[Raider15]

Imagine if, for the rest of my life, you experienced all of the thoughts, sensations, and memories that I experience. You would not know of the you that's reading this, because as far as you're concerned, you are me. This would suggest that the person you identify as by name is not who you are, it is just an idea that comes from your senses and thoughts.

[yogapradipika]

Of course, ego is just an idea. Ego here means the identity of the Self. What normally identified as Self is ego. For example, I am writing this post. This I-ness is ego. This ego is false and it should be overcome. How? Of course, by identifying the true-self.  How could you identify it. By self-enquiry. Who am I? Am I this body? Am I this mind? Am I anything beyond this? A sincere meditation upon the questions like these will lead you to Self-Actualisation.

 

 

 

 

[Leo Gura]

It is an idea but it is also a state of consciousness. Which is why it's so difficult to drop. It doesn't really go away even if you stop thinking for a few minutes. Because there is an entire egoic state of consciousness which makes it feel as though you are real.

It takes a lot of deconstructing and focused concentration to break down that egoic state of consciousness.

[Joseph Maynor]

It’s more than idea.  It’s a clinging to a connection between Thought and Experience that’s a me or a mine.  Ego is both your Ego and not your Ego.  Just like Body is both your Body and not your Body.  Ego like Body is gonna be a part of reality.  But neither Ego nor Body are connected to the true Self.  In that sense Ego and Body exist but the connection to me or mine is an illusion.  But see these are not just ideas.  It’s when God Awareness clings to Thoughts and Experience that identification with Ego occurs and causes suffering due to ignorance.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Rilles]

The most persisent idea! Its like trying to convince yourself death is not real and then going wrestling with a rabid dog. Youre not gonna believe it as much then are you...