What’s ego death?

Now Reading

What’s ego death?

Ego death is when you let go of your ego and realize that you aren’t the things you previously identified with. It can be a beautofcul and terryfying experfience. Here's everything you need to know, if you even exist.

Gwella Mushrooms | Dec 02, 2022

Share

Ego death is an interesting concept. Hopefully, this article will help you understand it better.

The terms “ego” and “ego death” get thrown around a lot in the psychedelics community but you’d be hard pressed to get a clear answer on what ego death really means. Some people call it enlightenment or transcendence while others describe it as becoming a blank slate.

This article hopes to teach you what ego death actually is, how you can make it happen and how it can help you.

Quick Summary

Ego death is when you get rid of your old sense of self. You can achieve this through study of spirituality, various spiritual practices or the use of psychedelics. People usually want to achieve ego death to experience a sense of enlightenment and peace.

What is “ego”?

Let’s start from the beginning.

Your ego is the way you see yourself and this affects every aspect of your life. It affects how you perceive and experience the world as well as how you interact with those around you. This is a pretty simplified way of explaining ego but it’s mostly correct and easy to understand.

The more in-depth definition of ego is "the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity." That’s the word for word textbook definition of ego. Pretty confusing right?

Ego can also be defined as your sense of self-esteem. You develop your ego from a very young age, almost as soon as you can think and perceive the rest of your surroundings.

What is "ego death" ?

Ego death is when you let go of your ego and realize that you aren’t the things you previously identified with. You realize that the sense of self you have in your mind isn’t real and it’s all a fabrication.

Ego death is a sought after experience because it’s often said to bring about feelings of deep peace that’s almost indescribable. Experiencing ego death also usually brings about the feeling that you’re much more connected with the world around you since your ego has “died” and the walls around you have effectively been destroyed.

However, if your ego resists ego death, the experience can be extremely unpleasant and leave you feeling detached or scared. It makes sense that your sense of self dying would be a scary experience, right?

Either way, ego death isn’t a casual experience and it isn’t supposed to be. The experience of ego death can change your life entirely. Hopefully for the better.

What happens when you achieve ego death?

The experience of ego death is different for everyone. However, there are commonly used methods for triggering ego death as well as common experiences that many people share when they achieve ego death.

It’s interesting to note that some people have experienced ego death spontaneously without ever trying to achieve it. However, these cases are few and far between.

Here are a few common stages of ego death that you might go through:

A spiritual awakening.

A spiritual awakening is the first stage of ego death that you’ll experience. It’s the moment your ego no longer has power over you.

A “dark night of the soul”.

This stage is when you start questioning everything you know and were taught. You realize that almost everything isn’t as it seems and all that you know might be wrong. This stage can feel terrifying as it feels empty and “dark” while you feel as though you no longer have an identity.

A heightened sense of curiosity and longing to explore.

This next stage is more pleasant. You feel more curious about the world and want to set out to explore it. You begin to experience old and new things alike in order to fill the void left from the death of your ego.

Growth as a person and enlightenment.

This is the end goal for many people who seek ego death. You feel much lighter and peaceful since you’re no longer held down by your ego. You experience everything around you in a new way and have a noticeably different energy around you.

How can you achieve ego death?

Achieving ego death is not a casual experience so you need to be prepared to take the journey seriously and patiently. Do your best to understand why you want to experience ego death and how exactly you plan to do it.

The slowest path to ego death is just learning as much about spirituality as you can and putting all that you’ve learnt into practice. You’ll slowly become more enlightened as time goes on instead of achieving ego death by suddenly shattering your ego. Once again, this path is the slow choice.

Certain spiritual practices like specific meditations, breathwork and rituals are said to be able trigger ego death. While these can help speed up your journey to enlightenment, you should be wary of people who sell retreats or workshops that promise a guaranteed shortcut to ego death. Spiritual practices like meditation can absolutely help you achieve ego death… but there’s nothing guaranteed and it’s still a long road forward.

The use of psychedelics are becoming extremely popular as a means to achieve ego death. This is because they’re often regarded as the fastest and easiest way to trigger ego death. However, it’s noted that using psychedelics usually only helps you achieve ego death and enlightenment while you’re on your psychedelic trip. Your ego death is usually temporary and doesn’t last past your psychedelic experience.

FAQs

Can you achieve ego death with psychedelics?

Yes, you can experience ego death by taking psychedelics and going on a psychedelic trip.

Can you experience ego death without using any substances?

Yes, you can experience ego death without using any substances by learning about spirituality and doing spiritual practices like meditation as well as breathwork.

Are ego death and transcendence the same thing?

Ego death and transcendence are similar concepts but aren’t exactly the same thing. However, ego death can be described as self-transcendence.

Final Thoughts

Ego death changes the way you think and experience the world. It isn’t a stretch to say that it's a life changing experience. Don’t be frustrated if it takes a long time to achieve even with the use of psychedelics, that’s normal.

The journey is long but ultimately worth it.