..........The ego functionality  feeds on the emotional energy that it generates, by making a continuous flow of comparisons about the protagonist’s perceived progress (past and future) and its relative well-being and position with regard to each event that has taken place or is about to take place.  It is this continuous flow of monitoring, comparing, and positioning (with a keen focus on the story, and projections of reality, based on interpretations of the past and imaginings about the future, instead of seeing the present moment, from within the NOW), energized by the emotion arising from it all, on which the ego builds and defines its sense of self.

The more rapid and intense this flow of mental activity is -- the greater the perceived sense of self definition or identity. It is as if the intensity of the flow of activity brings the projected/imagined self into crisper focus, mistakenly giving the impression that life is maintained in this manner and might not continue if such activity slowed or ceased or was not adequately attended to.  It is as if it believes its activity is actually creating and sustaining what is there and that if it were to falter or stop, then life would stop.  It misinterprets reality, based on extensive filtering, projecting and re-projecting (based on preset biases, erroneous interpretations of the past, and hypothetical projections about the future), to the extent that the REAL and the “Present Moment’ in which the REAL is REALIZED tends to be obscured and distorted, and/or entirely missed.  The tendency toward misinterpretation includes misinterpreting the nature of its own existence and its relation to the greater field of being and consciousness, in which it resides and from which it draws whatever limited being it has.

........ It is always waiting eagerly for the next thought, which enables the process of the flow of judgments and comparisons to continue; thereby fueling and maintaining its sense of anticipation, urgency, excitement, self, self-worth, self-importance, and self-identity.  Negative thoughts work just as well or better than positive thoughts in bolstering and defining the perceived/projected identity and yielding more emotional energy or juice to perpetuate the process. 

When it has no immediate crisis from which to extract energy or juice to maintain and sharpen the projected identity, then ordinary everyday thinkingness, mental chatter, noise, and external stimulation have to suffice.  It grasps these, as if they were the breath of life itself, because the observation and experiencing of these help to perpetuate a sense of existence.

However, it is not truly alive and it is not the SELF.  It is merely a linear functionality run amuck.  It is an illusion, based on misperceptions and misinterpretations, so tightly focused on a misperceived past and an imagined future, that it is blind to the REALITY of the moment and blind to the SELF.  Its self-perpetuating activity can be diminished in a variety of ways, a few of which are mentioned here.

First is when attention and intention are directed to the field of awareness/consciousness, beyond thinkingness and the lower level ordinary mind.  In focusing on the divine attributes (such as LOVE, Joy, Peace, or Beauty), the ego may sometimes be bypassed, allowing a greater degree of awareness or consciousness.  Sometimes the divine presence or radiance will shine forth revealing a truer, deeper, clearer, higher reality.  Sometimes there will only be a glimmer and sometimes it will be quite bright.  Sometimes it will be for a moment, and sometimes it will last longer.

Second, is when attention and intention focus precisely on the NOW and not on the past or future.  It consists of having attention so completely focused, that there is no sense or even slightest concern or anticipation of past or future, just full attention - NOW.  This second way is enhanced and facilitated by the first way mentioned and the second also enhances and facilitates the first.  Both of them bypass thinkingness, so that quietness of mind, awareness beyond mind, and knowingness can begin to be experienced. 

Third, is when strong and effectual attention and intention are directed to giving up the “personal story or local identity” so as to be aligned with spirit and higher consciousness.”  The goal is to diminish and minimize the story (refusing past interpretations and future imaginations, which eventually leaves one with only the NOW), by continuously questioning the story’s credibility and illuminating and eliminating any falsity; by refusing to take actions that are based on false elements of the story; and by ceasing to tell the story.  This approach requires humility and strong allegiance to the pursuit of radical truth.  This takes place, as described by Hawkins, by the giving up whole chapters, the giving up the pages, paragraphs, sentences, and phrases of one’s story; and finally even the energy of each thought, as it starts to arise.  One simply refuses to engage with, focus on, energize, or attend to any part of the story.  Essentially, the ego and that which feeds it is gradually whittled away, becoming smaller and smaller, so that more of the SELF shines through.

Fourth, is selfless service, where one makes oneself a gift or servant to ALL THAT IS, by offering oneself to be a channel of Divine Grace and LOVE to others. In so doing, the awareness of the Divine Presence, in oneself and in the one who receives  -- the GIVER, the RECEIVER and the GIFT,  SOURCE OF ALL, within all, and beyond, shines forth.  As the intention to allow ones self to be a gift or channel of Divine Grace, Love and Blessing grows, one is more and more used as the conduit of Divine Love; and the power and radiance of the PRESENCE within purifies and brings one powerfully into alignment with the SELF, one’s TRUE IDENTITY.  Serving others through prayer, sending blessings, teaching, encouraging, inspiring, giving and offering hospitality or acts of kindness are all forms of selfless service.

The fifth way is when in pursuit of higher truth there arises a firm intention inspired and strengthened by SPIRITUAL WILL to detach from and/or refuse to accept the emotional pay-off or “juice” of comparisons, positionalities, false-identity, and thinkingness.  When the emotional payoff is refused, the self-perpetuating ego function is left without the essential fuel/energy to maintain the process and it effectively collapses.  It is similar to an engine that will run continuously for as long as it has fuel, but which starts to sputter as it runs out of fuel, and then comes to a complete stop.  When such a breakdown of the ego function occurs, it becomes quickly and clearly evident how dependent the ego is on the fuel of the emotional-payoff, without which it cannot sustain. It becomes obvious that its existence is temporary, illusory, tenuous, fragile, and conditional. It does not exist of its own Power and Being.  Rather, its existence is derived from something beyond its limited self.  Therefore, it works continuously, seeking to maintain a tenuous continuity of activity and identity, which it views as its self and its life.  This fifth approach, like those previously mentioned, facilitates all of the others and is facilitated by the others. 

All of the above five ways of diminishing the ego were being used in the days leading up to the shift in consciousness and the ego collapse or diminishment that attended it.  In the moments leading up to the shift, a meditative technique that draws on the first, second and fifth of the above approaches was in use.  These were focusing on beauty and divine radiance, focusing on the present moment (not projecting the future or the past), and a vigilant refusal of thought and thinkingness, so as to disallow the payoff that the ego extracts from thought and thinkingness.   This meditative technique is described in more detail further on.

When a major collapse of the ego takes place, the ego-generated sense of a personal “I” that had been projecting its self to be the “who you really are”, is seen to be merely a shadow puppet impersonator run amuck -- and not True REALITY.  Once this happens, the illusion and misperception, on which the so-called ego-functionality is based, is laid bare.  From this point, it is difficult for the ego function to fully recover its old dominance, because even if it receives some fuel, its tenuous existence is now KNOWN (even to the ego) to be based on illusion.  Any remnants of the old linear functionality are confronted with the glaring certainty of the Higher Truth, and in the light of that Truth, know that they are not true reality.

In other words, it is difficult for a misperception to continue when its cover is completely blown.  It is abundantly clear that life goes on quite well without being driven by unbridled thinkingness, without necessity of emotional payoffs to bolster erroneous and illusory projections of a pseudo-personal-identity, and without the linear functionality of the ego-generated personal “I” acting (with all of its monitoring, experiencing, evaluating, and responding to each misperceived event), as if it were the captain of the ship. 

The local aspect of the broader field of consciousness is still present, aware, fully alive and well, and life, with its various levels and dimensions (body, mind, and spirit/higher consciousness) continues perfectly well, without the ongoing chatter and erroneous interpretations of the ego, which was always crediting itself for what it did not do, imagining, fearing and striving for what was not real, and missing the underlying reality of the SELF at every turn.