How often does ego backlashes generally happen?

[kag101]

It is normal to fluctuate, but if it is extreme like you're describing (one day you're at cloud nine; then, the next one you're feeling like crap for no apparent reason); then it is not a sign of growth. Stability is very important.

I used to "spiritualize" my clinical depression by saying that it was an ego backlash. I was seeing my "ego" as some sort of a demon — as if there was a part in me that wanted to fuck up my life. Now that I am treating my illness, I see that what I was experiencing was not normal. 

[The0Self]

Can depend on what model you use. The Theravada Buddhists might say it’s just cycling through the ñana’s in the progress of insight. Firm, clear objectification of sensations is what drives one further along. To stay where you are, you can get absorbed in whatever appears. To move on, you can objectify sensations clearly and persistently.

That’s just the Buddhist paradigm but it’s one of the most reliable imo.

[SamC]

10 hours ago, Barbara said:

@SamC I've never perceived as backlash the ups and downs of the normal personal development routine. I've experienced backlash tho, after my first Vipassana. It was an intense experience so I guess it's normal to experience it. I know a lot of people also experience it after psychedelics. It's the Default Mode Network, DMN that gets repressed and shrinks during psychedelics for example, and when it ends, tries to go to his normal activity and size. Some say that DMN is responsible for the sense of the self, so when it grows again, we experience ego backlash.

But, the Law of Rythm: 
"Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides;
    all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests
    in everything; the measure of the swing to the right,
    is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm
    compensates" -The Kybalion.

So everything in life when goes up, also goes down. There will always be a swing forward and backward, it's a pendulum-like movement. This manifests in all areas of life, even the little things. Knowing the law is knowing the cause and effect. If you take this knowledge with you and deepen it, you will see and experience it  
Wish you the infinite best 
 

Love it. Thank you 

[Hotaka]

I remember reading a quote by Nisargadatta, which said that before we want to get enlightened or advance to higher levels of spirituality we must clean up the rubbish, or sort out the mess that we left behind. This means that we can't leave without doing what we have to do. It might be our karma, or just the fact that in a way we are connected to the world and the things in it. 

[SamC]

2 hours ago, Hotaka said:

I remember reading a quote by Nisargadatta, which said that before we want to get enlightened or advance to higher levels of spirituality we must clean up the rubbish, or sort out the mess that we left behind. This means that we can't leave without doing what we have to do. It might be our karma, or just the fact that in a way we are connected to the world and the things in it. 

super interesting 

21 hours ago, kag101 said:

It is normal to fluctuate, but if it is extreme like you're describing (one day you're at cloud nine; then, the next one you're feeling like crap for no apparent reason); then it is not a sign of growth. Stability is very important.

I used to "spiritualize" my clinical depression by saying that it was an ego backlash. I was seeing my "ego" as some sort of a demon — as if there was a part in me that wanted to fuck up my life. Now that I am treating my illness, I see that what I was experiencing was not normal. 

Yeah. That's Good to remember. Thank you