/lit/ - Literature

don't you understand child that the physical realm IS desire.

haven't you considered, that even with the ego gone, the body remains? HA

Drop acid.

>how do I kill myself?

you kill yourself

>>6867101
Practice Stoicism.

>>6867177
How

>>6867177
Thus far the only sensible answer in this thread. The immanence of your ego is insurmountable as long as you are a living thing that is conscious of its existence and its contextual play. You don't ''kill'' your ego; you learn how to deal with it —and quieten it if needed.

>>6867241
You can achieve ego death in a variety of ways:

1. Drugs
2. Meditation
3. Brain trauma

>>6867246
>Drugs
Transitory, lasting twelve hours at the most and while it may be enlightening the eventual returnal into the wheel of egotic thinking is only a matter of time.
>Meditation
Transitory, again. Bear in mind these practices are utilitarian at heart: they are meant to reduce the impact of the ego but they rarely (if ever) achieve ego death.
>Brain trauma
That may be so.

ketamine

>>6867282
without an ego one could never expect to survive in a society full of egos.

>>6867101
why would you kill your ego?

>>6867101
I've been practicing meditation for years. I got into it after I served in the military. All I can say is, the meditation/introspection deconstructs myself temporarily.

I'd say there is no killing the ego, only letting it go temporarily through meditation. However, it is nice to hit that reset button through meditation on a daily basis. It changes you profoundly forever, much like combat changes you forever.

>>6867101
Do something you suck at. Like talking to women. That's a good ego deflater

ITT: children arguing over a vague, ill-defined entity that goes by the name 'ego'. A set of means, among various others, have been proposed as effective ways of accomplishing the killing of OP's 'ego': 'drugs', 'meditation', and brain 'trauma'. But of course, none of these proposals are any more clearer than 'ego' itself.

Dimwits

>>6867426
k

>>6867426
>any more clearer
>calling us children
Learn grammar first

>>6867426

>>6867426
heh feels euphoric man

>>6867435
>understood what was meant
>quibbles about grammar
Ok

>>6867451
How does it feel to take the meaning of a controversial concept for granted (if this isn't a token of delusion then I don't know what is), and to go on and give a fucking advice on how to "kill" it?

Dimwits.

OP, the ego is not a good or a bad thing, don't seek to kill it. Your ego is your protection, it is the mechanism that allows you to differentiate between yourself and others, and thus, to experience these others. More often than not people are criticized for their egoistic actions and so on, but you have to understand that the criticism is precisely for those moments in which we protect ourselves from change, from seeing the point of view of the other, when we protect ourselves from learning things. The ego functions in a lot of ways. One thing is to try to deal with it, to understand your limits, to know when to keep it down and let the other enter you, or to say no and use it. This desire to kill the ego is, more often than not, a desire to deny oneself, to repress and diminish oneself, inspired by a lot of factors, including the "attacks" of others who might have convinced you not to act through your ego (that's their ego talking). To desire to kill the ego is often a sign of a weakened ego in the first place. What you need is not to kill it, but to learn to see value in it and to learn how to use it. The ego can be tamed, dealt with, used, instead of using you.

>>6867357
Working up to suicide...

>>6867493
>and so on

Zizek detected. quit sitting in front of your computer and watching movies all day, Slavoj.

>>6867493
>Ego in Fantasyland: the post
Define your terms you incompetent, Hegel-deifying obscurantists. The term 'ego' equivocates like a gazillion times in that paragraph of yours.

>>6867499

>>6867282
I never claimed that drugs/meditation could permanently kill your ego.

Brain trauma or other such things can, though. And people who've experienced it have been perfectly capable of going about their daily lives.

>>6867426
>clearer

Okay, then:

LSD
Ketamine
DMT
Mushrooms

Clear enough for you? Take a massive dose of any of those and you'll be one with the universe and your sense of being an I will evaporate.

>>6867525
Ok, so we finally have something to chew on. I take it you equate the meaning of 'ego' with 'sense of being an I'. Although this definition sheds light in *some* respect--we now know that if one has an ego then one takes an attitude towards something, this 'something' being the 'I'. But just what do you mean by 'I'? Do you mean 'oneself'? Are you talking about the sense of being yourself? Aren't we just talking about memory here? Now why would OP want to evaporate his memory and leave the rest of his body intact? Has OP completely lost his marbles? Or is OP just conducting a scientific experiment?

And don't get me started on "be one with the universe".

>>6867101

How do
>I
kill
>my
ego

>>6867574
Hey...

>>6867511
>hyperbole: the post
Cool your butt.

There are two things to consider. One is that OP already comes with the term ego and who knows where he took that from. I can only work with assumptions. The ego means different things for different thinkers and schools, it is also translated and mistranslated for a lot of terms in other languages. But I don't think it is the point here to talk about one in particular, because the issue at hand is directed towards the OP and I believe his idea of the ego, even if ill-defined, is what should be at the center.

Second, the idea of the ego that I'm working with is, as said, "a mechanism that allows you to differentiate between yourself and others". That is, a psychic mechanism that mediates between what we want and how we see things and the way the world is presented to us and how we encounter others. The ego is the name of the thing that makes you believe being in the wrong side of the argument is a bad thing, that it is preferable that the other dies than yourself, it is that bias that puts you in a special condition over all others.

It has a purpose to survival, but it does not always work like that, much like fear can ruin your life or save it. Fear is a product of the ego. That's why, much in the same way you can say it is not about living without fear, but about not letting fear reign over you at all situations, it is the same to other aspects of the ego. The ego is like a bubble around yourself that can be expanded, so if I insult your family, you feel insulted, or if I use your stuff, you feel invaded. But also, when I question your ideas, you also feel threatened. This can lead to stubborn resistance to change, as if changing your mind was a loss to you.

I sense that OP comes with the intention to obliterate the ego, that is, to be without a difference with all others, because it is understood that putting you in this special position can be harmful. If you did not identify yourself with anything, you cannot be hurt. That's the paradox of the ego, because this desire to kill one's ego is a way to defend yourself from the pain of being attacked. It is egoistic in itself.

There are other ways to deal with it and use the ego, to pay attention to it when it is working, to realize at what points you are being stubborn, when your angered is triggered, when you fear for your life and instead of denying it or even to feel guilty about it, you can learn when not to be taken away by it. To understand that growing and learning is itself a process of constant destruction of what you once were, and thus, the ego is always being killed, always coming back together. The final goal is not to kill it, but to take the chance to move with it. Otherwise, this resistance can make things harder later on and you'll be pushed for more radical changes.

So where are the helpful literature recommendations?
:(((