False Concepts of Nondual Teachings About the Ego and Its Death
by Atman Nityananda
Introduction
Contemporary nondual teachings have popularized a seductively simple idea: that the ego is nothing more than an I-thought, and that recognizing this thought as illusory is sufficient for liberation. This view has become so widespread that it is rarely questioned, despite its profound disconnect from actual spiritual experience.
But what if this understanding is fundamentally flawed?
What if the ego is not a thought at all, but something far more substantial — a crystallized field of psychic energy that cannot be dissolved through intellectual insight alone?
What if the path to true liberation requires not the dismissal of the ego as non-existent or just illusory, but the arduous work of actually dismantling its component parts: desire, lust, anger, pride, envy, and all the defects that constitute our psychological conditioning?
The Challenge
This article challenges the prevailing nondual narrative and presents an alternative understanding based on direct observation, inquiry, experiential insights and logical analysis.
It argues that confusing the ego with a thought is not just a philosophical error — it is a practical obstacle that can keep sincere seekers trapped in intellectual understanding while the actual ego remains untouched and operative.
The Path Forward
For those genuinely committed to liberation rather than comfortable concepts, this exploration offers a more demanding but ultimately more authentic path forward.
Quick Reference: Key Points
- The ego is not the I-thought — it is a psychic energy field of desires and defects
- Thoughts are instruments — the ego uses them but is not reducible to them
- Ego dissolution requires — elimination of desires and defects (lust, anger, pride, jealousy, etc.)
- The ego is experienced as — a subtle energy field between chest and nose,
- Direct observation is possible — but requires high awareness and understanding its trick of becoming the subject (perceiver, observer, experiencer)
- The ego is independent of — language, thoughts, identifications, beliefs and the body itself
🔶 Part 1: Fundamental Misconceptions
1. Is the Ego the I-Thought?
👉 The ego is essentially desire and a bundle of defects, and not just an I-thought. In fact, the ego is not the I-thought, as Nondual teachings suggest, nor any other thought. The ego is a psychic energy field crystallized in our psyche.
This crystallization of the ego, with its flaws and passions in the human psyche, according to the Bible, occurred in the era of Adam and Eve, as a result of desire and the act of eating the forbidden fruit — which symbolizes sexual indulgence for the sake of pleasure.
Thus, thoughts are just thoughts and have nothing to do with the ego, which manifests in a variety of tendencies (defects, flaws) and uses thoughts as instruments to experience or to achieve what it wants.
The ego also naturally produces identifications, primarily with the body-person. But these identifications are effects, not the ego itself. The ego is the causal force, the underlying field of psychic energy that generates desires, tendencies, and identification. Terms like I, ego, or self are merely labels to communicate the experience, not the experience itself — just as saying “tree” is not the tree.
2. Does the Death of the I-Thought Bring About the Death of the Ego?
Since the ego is not the I-thought, how could the death of this specific thought cause the death of the ego?
Moreover, thoughts cannot die, and they can still be used even after the death of the ego.
To say that the ego is the I-thought is like saying that our name-thought (e.g., John or Maria) is our body or self, and that by eliminating this name, the body or self would die. This is a confusion of thought with reality — mistaking mental constructs for actual existential entities such as the body, the ego, or the Self.
Only the dissolution or death of the desire element and of all defects (lust, envy, hatred, anger, jealousy, etc.) can bring about the death of the ego.
The ego is essentially desire and a bundle of defects such as lust, pride, anger, jealousy, etc.
Therefore, their dissolution brings about the dissolution of the ego — and nothing else.
🔶 Part 2: Why the Ego Is Not a Thought
1. Ego Persists Independently of Thoughts
Thoughts are transient; they arise and vanish in consciousness.
The ego continues to manifest desires, tendencies, and identifications, even when specific thoughts like ‘I’ and ‘me’ are absent
Logical implication: If the ego were a thought, it would vanish whenever that thought vanishes. It does not.
2. Ego Organizes and Uses Thoughts
Every aspect of the ego — lust, anger, jealousy, pride — operates through thoughts, but the thoughts themselves are instruments, not the origin.
The ego actively directs experience, using thoughts as vehicles to satisfy its desires.
Logical implication: A cause cannot be identical to its instrument.
3. Ego Is Distinct from Identification or Sense of “I”
Identification with the body or “I-am-aware” is an effect of the ego, not the ego itself.
The ego produces identifications, primarily with the body, but these are effects, not the ego.
No conceptual ‘I-thought’, sense of I’, or linguistic label accounts for the ego.
Terms like ‘I’, ego, or self are merely labels to communicate the experience, not the experience itself — just as saying “tree” is not the tree.
Logical implication: Since the ego exists and operates independently of thoughts, identifications, and labels, it cannot be reduced to a thought or a sense of I.
4. Ego Is Independent of Language
Thoughts are expressed in language, and languages differ: Yo, Je, I, Aham, etc.
If the ego were a thought, it would depend on the language of the thinker, implying that different people would have fundamentally different egos.
Logical implication: This is absurd, because ego and egoic tendencies are universal across humans, independent of language. Therefore, the ego cannot be a thought, since it exists beyond linguistic expression.
5. Ego Is Not the Body
The ego survives bodily changes, ages with continuity, and can dissolve while the body persists (as seen in realized sages).
Logical implication: The ego is a distinct, operative field of psychic energy, not a material body.
Conclusion
From pure logic, observation, and experience, there is no valid argument to support the claim that the ego is a thought.
Any reasoning that equates the ego with a thought either assumes unverified premises or confuses effect with cause. The ego is an operative field of psychic energy, independent of thoughts, language, beliefs, ideas, and the body.
🔶 Part 3: The Experience of the Ego
1. The Direct Experience
Ego is pre-reflective and non-conceptual. Ego exists before we label or think about it. You don’t “see” it as a thought or image; you sense its energy and perceive its movement and inclination.
In essence, the direct experience of the ego itself is the feeling of a subtle energy field, felt mostly in the zone between the chest and nose.
This contracted energy has a specific taste, and it gives us the sense of existence because the ego energy field is endowed with the reflection of consciousness. Because of this, and because of identification with the body, we perceive the ego together with the body as ourselves.
This ego-energy causes all kinds of identifications, primarily with the body. That is why we feel that we are the body. And because the ego is endowed with reflection of consciousness and identifies with the body, we attribute this sense of existence to the body instead of to consciousness.
This ego-energy is rarely at rest; it is always seeking, moving, and generating identifications, thoughts, impulses, emotions, feelings, or body-based sensations.
This is how we really experience the ego.
2. Observing the Ego
Can we observe the ego as any other psychical tendency?
Yes, we can, but it requires a very high capacity of awareness, detachment, and the realization that we are the silent space of awareness.
It is difficult because, by nature, the ego assumes the position of agent or the subject (perceiver, observer, experiencer, etc.).
The moment we try to observe the ego, the ego becomes again the perceiver or observer instead of the perceived.
- When the ego expresses itself as a specific expression or tendency, for example anger, it splits in two: the anger and the experiencer of anger (the agent or subject of experience).
- When we try to observe the anger, the ego becomes the observerof anger.
- When we try to observe the ego itself, it takes again the position of the subject and “disappears” as object.
How can we get out of this loop?
How can we get out of this loop, where the ego settles itself as the agent — the subject, observer, perceiver, or experiencer — of our experience?
Ego is very tricky. However, with a higher state of awareness and detachment, and realizing that we are silent awareness, we can perceive the ego itself as any other element witouth being deludec that the ego observing the ego.
It is a matter of skillful practice. By acquiring the necessary abilities, and then persisting in practice, one can understand the trick of the ego and perceive it directly, without it assuming the position of agent.
Conclusion: The Path to Ego Dissolution
The prevalent nondual teaching that the ego is merely an I-thought represents a fundamental misunderstanding that can mislead sincere seekers for years. This reductionist view confuses a mental label with an actual psychic force.
The ego is not conquered just through intellectual understanding or the dissolution of a single thought. It is a complex energy field that must be dismantled through the systematic elimination of its constituent elements: desires, defects, and passions.
The Real Work
True spiritual work involves:
- Direct perception and observation of the ego as an energy field
- Persistent observation of desires and defects of all kinds as they arise
- Actual dissolution of lust, anger, pride, envy, jealousy, and all egoic tendencies, through prayer, mantra or other methods
- Cultivation of awareness capable of witnessing the ego without being absorbed by it
The Ultimate Truth
The death of the ego comes not from understanding that “there is no ego” or that “the I-thought is the ego, but from the actual, experiential dissolution of desire and all psychological defects. This is the authentic path, though it is more demanding than simply adopting a philosophical position.
Only when the psychic energy field of ego — with all its desires and defects — is truly dissolved can we realize fully and establish ourselves in our true nature as pure, silent awareness, free from identification, free from seeking, and resting in what has always been, eternal peace, freedom and bliss.
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