Ask: Questions About Ego Dissolution and Choosing One's State of Consciousness

          “I have been reading about this topic and would like to hear your thoughts. Is a peaceful ego dissolution long before physical death possible? Is it possible to choose the state of consciousness you would like to die in?...” –ESA

 

Well, the ontological ego (see last week’s article) fell away here over six years ago, and Liz is still here. But peaceful? No. The psychological ego remains behind to wind down (dissolve) and nothing about it is peaceful, although Peace (Spirit) is also here in consciousness as this occurs. So, yes, ego can fall away before physical death, revealing that ego and the person are not the same. But, no, it will not be a wholly peaceful experience. I have yet to hear of anyone who dropped both the ontological and psychological ego at the same time. Every story of ego falling away (“the center dropping out”) has included at minimum something left behind in shock and confusion. Usually, there is at least some fear. Often, it is terrible, at least for a while, as the psychological ego left behind is still almost at full strength before it begins to fall away.

It can happen that one experiences the total dropping away of ego and the body for a short while as they experience pure consciousness, or consciousness before appearances arise. But this is not sustainable given that the nature of consciousness is to be the space in which appearances occur. Awareness of the body and of other appearances, if not of ego, will return. One can also experience Spirit (wholeness, love, happiness) in consciousness, either before or with appearances. When Spirit is present in conscious awareness, ego is not. But until ego falls completely away, it will return.

A brief direct occurrence of God, in which even consciousness drops away, is also possible. (See the article on this from a few weeks ago.) Obviously if that was more than brief, consciousness would be over.

What these experiences reveal is other states of consciousness without ego are possible here and now. And a direct occurrence of Reality (God) reveals Reality is right here, right now beyond consciousness and despite the appearance of ego asserting another “reality” in consciousness.

It is not possible to choose anything, much less the state of consciousness in which the body dies. Here is where you see how differently ego sees consciousness from the way consciousness really is. It thinks it has free will and is making choices and that it determines its fate and the fate of the person. It feels it is autonomous, a world unto itself. The degree to which it feels this reveals the degree to which ego dominates a consciousness. But what is truly unfolding in consciousness is an expression of the moment of the idea of not-God arising and being undone by God’s (Reality’s) All-encompassing nature. This is the Atonement. As such, it is predetermined what will occur in time. What feels like choices and decisions are the Atonement unfolding through an individual consciousness, so choices and decisions that ego make are part of the whole expression of the Atonement and are not independent from it. An ego’s unhappiness is often the result of deciding for itself what should happen instead of flowing with what is happening. An individual consciousness does not have to transcend ego or manifest Spirit or attain enlightenment (ego falling away and Spirit taking the center of consciousness) for it to play its part in the Atonement perfectly. All consciousnesses are playing their part in the Atonement perfectly, no matter how it looks.

 

>>>> 

If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in this newsletter/blog.