The Ego Isn’t the Enemy
There’s a teaching that circulates in non-dual circles: that self-enquiry, done properly, destroys the ego once and for all. And if you’re still experiencing difficulty, still feeling the pull of the personal, still navigating the messy terrain of being human… then you haven’t done it properly yet.
I wonder if something important gets lost in that framing.
What if the ego isn’t the enemy?
What if it’s a contraction within consciousness: a functional movement, not a fundamental error?
When recognition deepens, what shifts isn’t that the ego gets annihilated. It’s more that it loses its position as the centre of gravity. What gets annihilated is the belief and orientation around “that’s who or what I am.” Instead, it appears within something much vaster… and that vastness is quietly recognised as what you actually are.
Not destruction. More like… context.
When the context shifts, life doesn’t become less human… it becomes more fully itself.
What some call integration or embodiment is simply that — recognition landing in the body, in relationship, in the texture of ordinary days. Not a second journey. Not a remedial stage for those who didn’t quite arrive.
Loss still arrives. Difficulty still has texture. The human continues to be fully, sometimes uncomfortably… human. And yet none of it is happening to a fixed self that needs defending. It’s appearing in the openness of awareness… experienced, held, not resisted. Waves occurring in the ocean.
Perhaps the real question isn’t how to transcend the human. It’s whether, established as one’s true nature, the human can be met more fully, more honestly, with nothing left out.
Join Imogen for Weekly Zoom Groups, Sunday Satsang Gatherings, Retreats and other events. Book a 1-1 Session or explore Imogen’s other offerings at beyondimogen.com.
You’re also warmly invited to explore her two other Substack spaces — Imogen’s Satsang: video recordings from live gatherings, and The End of Seeking: a podcast Imogen co-hosts with her husband, Martyn.
If you feel moved to support this offering:
• Like, share & comment — it’s a huge help in getting these words out there.
• Leave a one-time thank you — A small gesture of appreciation and support can be made here:
• Become a subscriber — Support the growth of this space and receive new writings and reflections straight to your inbox.
Thank you for walking alongside me ~ Imogen
There’s a lot in this that feels more grounded than the usual “destroy the ego” narrative.
Besides assumptions and claims, it seems like the same structure is still in place, just softened.
Ego is no longer the enemy, but it’s still treated as something inside consciousness. And consciousness or awareness is still positioned as what’s more fundamental, even as “what you actually are.”
So the center doesn’t disappear, it just shifts.
From “me as a person” to “me as awareness.”
This brings me to a very simple question.
If something is doing the recognizing that this “ vastness ” is who you are.
What is it that’s doing the recognizing?
Because whatever recognizes, names, and stabilizes that shift still looks like the same structure reorganizing itself.
So is anything actually being transcended here, or is the same pattern just taking on a more refined form?