Having an identity VS not having an identity?

I’ve been pondering this awhile and figured I’d share it with my fellow spiritual junkies :smirk:

I’ve been observing the egoless state of simply I AM, and it’s always a beautiful state in which I can basically just reside in it indefinitely without a care in the world.

But of course… I live in the world, and thus can’t decide to go under a tree and become a celery stick.

So I believe our primary vehicle for this world is our “world-self”. Our ego. Our “person” and its many facets, ideally aligned with our virtues and thus being both a vehicle and expression of our highest will and qualities.

Thus I do a lot of work on my “self” (ego) to optimize it and make it a more functional and optimized vehicle of my mind and will.

I also noticed something interesting while doing shadow work. I was breathing forgiveness and love through some old wounds when a thought popped into my mind:

“Isn’t the person whom experienced this as illusory as the narratives themselves?”

I pondered that for a moment and I had a mini ego-death upon doing so. It just stunted my mind to the point it just derped into the oblivion of the void.

And then it kinda made sense. All the wounds, all the habits, behaviors, patterns, narratives… they’re qualities of the person. The world-self. So what if I were to breathe forgiveness and love through the PERSON itself and not actually focus on its specific “problems” and “imperfections”? So I did just that, and felt radically rejuvinated and uplifted without necessarily knowing the details of what was cleansed.

I notice that when I choose to be my world-self after a meditation, it feels like a descent of conscious awareness. As if my awareness was expansive, and then contracts into a limited viewpoint entirely dependent on the beliefs, paradigms, patterns, narratives and states that the “person” has. Thus meditation usually feels like I’m awakening from a dream because the shift in conscious awareness is so dramatic.

So my question is…

In your opinion, do you think I might be right in my assumption that the identity/world-self is indeed important and thus should be worked on, or is there possibly a way to live in that expansive non-dual state without actually needing the “person” at all (while being functional in the “real world” as in, daily life)?

Thanks lads n lasses

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You’ll always have some degree of ego. Yes, it’s important and yes you should work on it.
I think you’ll learn to do a lot with little ego, but you probably won’t be as good/ egoless or consciously expanded unless you’re in a temporary state (read meditation). You’ll have to come down some time, but how much below is partially up to you.

Hope I somewhat answered and remember to have fun.
The way I see it, it’s like a simulation. Suppose you play a game. You forego a lot of stuff, you digital avatar only does the cool actions. No bathroom breaks, no eating, your world is small, just a map, maybe a city. But you accept theses limitations, it puts some challenge, urgency, stress, with the hopes of rewards. Sure the “trophies” or in-game currency are worthless when you’re in the “real world” dimensension. But you had a fun evening playing and earning them, no real consequences.

A more condensed experience, is not necessarily worst

Think of the people who play zombie games, it’s an horrible situation for the avatar. But fun for the real player, behind the « screen », he can’t fit his whole body in the PlayStation. He use a controller. It’s bad, but no consequences, so cool :man_shrugging:
In a race game, you only go left-right, faster or slower. Talk about limitations, but it can be fun.

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I don’t think they are seperate it’s just ones viewpoint. The more you work on what you call the earth self the more you change your view and you become more of this non-dual state.
That is why you can experience both states in the first place I think. It’s just that when you come across some situations that trigger energies from the earth self (energy blockages) you can learn from it and grow again

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