The ego is another word for the separate self. It’s the psychological sense of ourselves as a
person in the world with a given identity. This identity is a collection of stories, memories, beliefs, desires, fears, judgments, and feelings that we believe to be true about ourselves.
And when we believe this identity to be true, it becomes the distorted veil through which we view ourselves, other people, and the world.
Do you suffer? It’s because you believe that this limited, mind-created identity is who you are.
This belief that you are this separate self masks the reality of things, which is that you are none of these limited ideas. If that is so, then who are you?
Opening your exploration beyond the personal identity, you become aware of the totality of your present moment experience. Specifically, you realize that you are aware and that this being aware experience:
- Is happening right now
- Includes the stories, beliefs, and emotions of the separate self but isn’t defined by them
- Is peaceful and alive.
It’s the field of presence that underlies everything—and when you bring your attention here, you have a new relationship to the
elements of the separate personal identity. They can be here and you can love them, but you don’t have to believe that these thoughts and feelings define who you are.
This understanding is revolutionary—because you know you’re not who your mind tells you that you are. You realize in your own experience that suffering is optional.
Return your attention to present moment awareness, over and over, and your attachment to the objects of suffering unravels. You get a taste of the endless freedom that’s possible—right now and in any moment.
Experiment with identifying as this alive presence and letting your attention fall away from thoughts and feelings. You're not
rejecting or dissolving them. You're just not making them real.
Be like the sky—infinite, empty, luminous—and let the clouds do what they will.
