9/25/13 Ego death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ego death[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] is an experience[8][9][10][11][12] that makes known the illusory aspect[note 1] of

the ego[note 2] (Ahamkara[note 3]), undergone by mystics, shamans, monks,psychonauts and other adepts of
the mind.

The occultic practice of ego death as "mystical experience"[13][14][6][15][16][17] variously overlap with, but is distinct
from, traditions concerning Buddhist enlightenment and Nirvana(in Buddhism);
Or, Moksha[note 4] (in Hinduism and Jainism). These latter concepts are understood as transcendence of the notion
of non-illusory ego[note 5] with which to experiencedeath.[note 6]
See also: Ahamk ara, Kensho, and Sotāpanna

Contents [hide]
1 Characterizations and perceptions
1.1 Definition
1.2 Methods and experiences
1.3 Modern claims of ego death
2 See also
3 References and notes
4 External links

Characterizations and perceptions [edit source]

Definition [edit source]

Ego death is characterized[note 7] as the perceived loss of boundaries between self andenvironment,[18][19] a sense of
the loss of control,[20] personal agents, and cognitive-associations.[21][22][23] This re-organization, reidentification,
and reinterpretation ofboundaries between self and environment experienced
through sensations [note 8] ofwholeness [note 9] or by refutation of the "I".
According to Stanislav Grof,
Ego death means an irreversible end to one's philosophical identification with what Alan
Watts called sk in-encapsulated ego.[24]

Methods and experiences [edit source]

Various methods, practices, and experiences may affect[note 10] mental states (mental processes)
including:[25][26][27][28][29]

“
soul-searching,[note 11]
... transforming
lucid dreaming, one's mental model to
sleep deprivation, take into account
spiritual fasting, thedependence of
meditation, personal control on
psychedelics (psychedelic experience), or a hidden,separate thought-
isolation effects.

Modern claims of ego death

source ...
”
—The Entheogen Theory
[edit source]
Instances serving to illustrate the precept of experiential claims include those of Ramana Maharshi and U. G.
Krishnamurti. In 2000 Eckhart Tolle claimed that he underwent the experience after having suffered from long periods
of suicidal depression.[30] He says he woke up in the middle of that night and thought,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_death 1/2
9/25/13 Ego death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“ I couldn’t live with myself any longer. And in this a question arose without an answer: who is the ‘I’
that cannot live with the self? What is the self? I felt drawn into a void. I didn’t know at the time that
what really happened was the mind-made self, with its heaviness, its problems, that lives between
the unsatisfying past and the fearful future, collapsed. It dissolved. ”
Tolle recalls going out for a walk in London the next morning, and finding that “everything was miraculous, deeply
peaceful. Even the traffic."[30]
Psychedelic users [note 12] of psilocybin,[note 13] DMT, LSD, DXM or Ketamine report experiences of ego death along
with other mystical experiences common with psychedelic substances. Study of psychedelics report subjective
observations of dying and mortality,transcendence, and expansion of consciousness.[31][32]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_death 2/2