Comment by kgwxd

> What's the difference between ego death and physical death?

When the body dies, the lights go out (as far as we know). When the ego "dies" (I agree with your sibling comment that maybe the word "death" is not the right word), you can go on living your life with a fundamentally shifted perspective.

> Doesn't physical death include ego death? If so, why bother trying to kill it before then.

This line of questioning doesn't make much sense to me. Why learn language, study philosophy, form relationships, have kids, and otherwise gain life experience if we're just going to die eventually?

For the same reasons "death" is potentially a misnomer, so too is framing this as "killing" it. The ego does not "die" because it was killed. It "dies" because we realize it was never what we thought it was to begin with. Ego is an idea. A concept. A formulation of thoughts and feelings that is so pervasive in our psyche that we form beliefs about its nature despite those beliefs not withstanding rational scrutiny.

The "death" of ego is the felt sense of this truth.

Clearly there is a difference between physical death and adjusting one's beliefs based on new evidence/experience.

> If we already have "connected to everything" at home, shouldn't we take advantage of the situation while we're out?

This is a misconception about the experience of no-self. Many people hear about this concept, and draw conclusions about what such an experience means about the rest of life that are unfounded (I was one of them).

It reminds me a bit of the arguments some of my religious friends make. "Well if we all just evolved, and are the result of random chance, what's the point of living life?" as if gaining a deeper understanding of existence will somehow suddenly change what it means to be human and to have a human experience. To me, this is a nonsensical line of reasoning. Learning more about the fundamental aspects of the universe doesn't de-value life for most people. If anything, it makes it all the more fantastical.

> Because home sounds kind of boring.

I'm right there with you. Experiencing ego "death" didn't make me suddenly decide to just rot at home because I have everything I need. It didn't remove the things I'm passionate about in life or make me less likely to engage with the world and do interesting things. It didn't even remove that internal collections of thoughts and feelings that I had previously identified with as synonymous with "me".

It just changed how I understand myself, relate to those feelings, and how I relate to the world around me. In a practical sense, it helped me reframe the more distressing aspects of life and deal with my anxiety and depression in new ways.

Your questions seem to reveal a belief that experiencing no-self somehow devalues or reduces the richness of experience. In my experience, the opposite is true. It makes life richer, fuller, and more amazing. It's anything but boring.