I just randomly stumbled upon a blog that answers this question in a way that made me laugh so hard I’m still in tears… I introduce… Puppetji

…[forget] this nonsensical questions. People seem to believe they are what they do. Stop. This is false my friends. This is merely the identity trying to create meaning or purpose where there is none.

Let go of these questions… freedom comes in not knowing.

If we cut out all the excess information, there is only one primary reason and one primary way to meditate.

We meditate in order to stop our mental chatter.

Stopping our mental chatter brings euphoria, insight, improved physical and mental health, and taps into our intuitive unconscious. These are side effects of stopping our mental chatter and that is the goal of meditation.

Stopping the mental chatter can occur primarily by sitting and breathing. When a random though pops up we observe it from a distance, acknowledge that it is a thought, and then let it go bringing focus back to breathing. Sometimes we get the feeling of boredom that’s just another thought (strong because we’re identifying ourselves with it). Acknowledge it, let it go, focus on breathing.

Chanting is interesting because it’s basically a focus on breathing with an auditory component. Chanting with other people in unison… that’s an incredible experience that makes it very easy to stop the mental chatter.

The meditation books also talk about soft (new agey) music, incense, positions, etc. The point of all this is to put you in a better mood for meditation. They make you feel sacred and help you to relax.

When you meditate, if you’re going to use anything to help you, beyond sitting in a quiet place, make sure that your reason for using it is not ego based.

Being true in your motivations is very difficult to identify. The more you think or talk about it, the more false it is for you. You know right away if something is real, don’t ignore that.

So what is this Ego, that I speak of?

Echkart Tolle says it best in his book “The Power of Now”:

As you grow up, you form a mental image of who you are, based on your personal and cultural conditioning. We may call this phantom self the ego. It consists of mind activity and can only be kept going through continuous thinking. The term ego means different things to different people, but when I use it here it means a false self, created by unconscious identification with the mind.

To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important. This total reversal of the truth accounts for the fact that in the ego mode the mind is so dysfunctional. It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, because without it – who are you? It constantly projects itself into the future to ensure its continued survival and to seek some kind of release or fulfillment there. It says: ‘One day, when this, that or the other happens, I am going to be okay, happy, at peace.’ – Eckhart Tolle

Wow… that’s a scary insight. Our minds create what is essentially a separate manifestation with a will… an agenda. It wants to feel important so it makes us identify with it. We think we are our ego.

So, to escape this … insanity, we have to constantly self-reflect. We take a step back (or out) and observe our thoughts. It’s very easy to identify what is the ego and what is not when you stop to look.

This calls into question the value of everything in our lives. Everything we buy, every abuse we dish out on ourselves (overeating, debasing, self-defeating attitudes), the way we treat the people around us… why do we do all this?

Unconsciousness is the environment that Ego thrives. We must pay attention. We must look inward.

Ultimately, this all comes down to being consciously aware of the present moment. Be here now… and allow your mind stop for a moment.

Here’s a great quote that puts this in perspective:

All fear is nothing more than the ego’s expectancy of an upcoming contradiction. Most of it is not real. dissipate its power by refusing to buy the emotion. Make fear your friend. Talk to it. Accommodate it as a helper and ally, and most of your fear will change or disappear completely.

- Stuart Wilde, Weight Loss for the Mind

What is the Ego that, at its whim, we deliver to it our well-being?