Ego Death

[step1]

I got back into the strong determination sitting yesterday after talking some time off to do more self enquiry.  My meditation experiences seem to be getting stronger and at some points I feel like I am on the verge of becoming totally disassociated with my body and ego.  Unfortunately whenever I seem to get close I become excited and the state diminishes.   What I have also noticed is that the experience I am coming close to having feels very similar to an experience I have had many times in the past...

When I was younger I experimented with drugs (by the way I do not advocate taking drugs) and on many occasions after taking a certain drug I would go into a state where I had no idea what I was or who I was.  I would have no understanding of time, concepts, labels.  When heavily sedated under this drug I had no memory of me.  It was as if I had awoken into a mysterious world having no memory of anything before that moment.  What I was experiencing was ego death and only I have only realised this recently...

So getting back to meditation.  The experience I have during meditation feels similar to the drug induced experiences I have had in the past, but much milder..

So my question; is the ego death you feel from tranquilizers or psychedelic drugs the same or similar experience you have during a sober awakening/ego death?

 

[Corte]

I don't know from personal experience because I've never been intoxicated, but I have researched a lot about this. I think the most important difference is that while on drugs your experience is erratic and completely out of your control, while a similar experience induced through your own consciousness is completely in your own control. 

Drugs can produce these different states of awareness but it's lost just as quickly as it was gained. They may help to open your mind and gain insight but they are of no use for any kind of real consciousness work. 

[cetus]

@step1 I would say that is not quite the same. When ego death is experienced in a totally sober /meditative state, it is happening for no other reason than it "is" happening. No outside influences to shelter or tranquilize the ego mind.. It's raw naked truth of what is. As far as "getting close" and backing off, I did that too a couple times. Than one day it came over me so fast I didn't have a chance to back off. I was completely sober so it hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt as if I had one foot in each world and didn't know where to stand. My ego self was exposed as the illusion it is. The very foundation of what I  "thought" I was. was bought into question.

[key]

@Corte 

I seem to disagree slightly with your last bit, drugs can in use gain insights and open the mind with high enough awareness while on them, it can create a lingering effect on the insight, able to lay groundwork with consciousness work. 

Just my opinion, there is many traps but it can aid.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Kenya

[step1]

Thanks for the replies guys, they helped