So the death experience we have just described, the dissolution of the identity with the body, does not necessarily mean the death of the ego. The death of the ego itself is a deeper thing. You may know that you aren’t your body, but you still have a mind, an ego. You are now attached to your inner experience, experienced as somewhat disembodied. You’re attached to your psychological identity, your psychological makeup, to all your thoughts and feelings. This is the source of all the other identities. The self-image, the body image, the body identification all emanate from this kernel, this pea of identity. This finally is the ego. This is why people who die are not necessarily free from the personality, the ego identity, because even when they die consciously they are not free from the mental configuration, mental existence, their personality. This means that a person can experience ego without a body before he dies. The moment you see that you’re not your body, it is possible then to see the ego, finally to identify the center of the personality—the ego that we call “myself” or “I.” When you say, “I’m doing this,” “I want this,” you are attached to this sense of self. That is the deepest attachment. These attachments are there all the time; we see each one under the last one but they all exist simultaneously. The deeper attachments are the strongest. We aren’t usually aware of them, because we can see only what we allow to be conscious. Of course, the ego identity, the “I,” is still not truly who you are. You can identify a certain interaction between the true self and the false self, and this will help you to see what is really you and what is not you, what is your personality. – Diamond Heart Book Two: The Freedom to Be, ch. 4
The I, the ego, is engaged in continual activity: rejecting, wanting, justifying, judging, discriminating. This activity itself is suffering, and is the source of the point of view which believes in its separateness. As long as you are engaged in any desire to change things inside you, to want something to be different, you are coming from ego and identified with that point of view.
You cannot perceive reality as long as you are looking at the world from the perspective of the ego. To act from that point of view means to perpetuate it. The moment you think of change, of fundamental transformation, of enlightenment, you are speaking from the point of view of the ego. You think there is someone who is going to change, be enlightened and have all kinds of wonderful things. You want the island to become a paradise—lush and beautiful with all kinds of rivers and gardens full of fragrant flowers. You can’t think any other way! If you believe in islands, no matter how rich and wonderful your island may be, you are bound to suffer fear and frustration. – Diamond Heart Book Two: The Freedom to Be, Ch. 9