Ego death occurs with non-dual awareness, which is the state of understanding that we are all one. Separation is an illusion. Like sunlight being split by a crystal, a prismatic ray is a rainbow – instead of white light, now is seen seven distinct colors. One might think these exist independently, but truly they are from one source.
We are a singular driver, and each body is a vehicle. Like we can step out of a car that we drive, we can also step out of the body into a non-physical realm of awareness – the great stillness, the void, the grand consciousness. An experience of connectedness and omnipresence awaits in that stillness, and once seen the ego complex unravels. We can then choose to play the character, which now looks different because we are no longer burdened by attachments, and we have experienced a realm of pure love where fear does not exist.
Non-dual awareness usually happens spontaneously as a process of complete surrender. This is a spiritual experience, a life-altering epiphany. People have experienced this state on psychedelics, in a near-death experience or as a result of physical trauma, in a rock-bottom scenario when it seems all hope has flown, or through prayer and/or meditation. The state of non-dual awareness can also be achieved through disciplined spiritual practices such as non-attachment but be advised, the mental understanding of non-duality is different from the experience of it.
