The teaching presents the ego as a false identification with the body–mind, a constructed “person” made up of memories, habits, and conditioning. This ego is not treated as a substantial entity to be perfected, but as a mistaken belief—“I am the body, I am the mind, I am this or that”—which appears in awareness yet is not what one truly is. It functions as a psychological construct that generates the sense of being a separate individual, thereby obscuring the underlying reality of pure consciousness. In this view, the ego is rooted in ignorance rather than in moral failing, and its apparent solidity rests entirely on not knowing one’s real nature.

A central distinction is drawn between the changing, qualified sense of “I am this person” and the pure, unqualified “I Am.” The ego arises when attributes, roles, and stories are added to the original sense of being, corrupting the simple “I Am” into “I am this” or “I am that.” The true Self is identified with that bare sense of being, prior to all descriptions, which is identical with pure awareness or consciousness. From this standpoint, the ego is ultimately unreal, comparable to a dream character that seems vivid while the dream lasts but has no independent existence once there is awakening to the witness of the dream.

Because the ego is a misunderstanding rather than a real entity, the emphasis is not on violently suppressing or “killing” it, but on seeing it clearly. Practical functioning—thinking, choosing, acting—continues, yet the notion “I, as this separate person, am the doer” is exposed as a false claim of ownership over impersonal functioning. Psychological suffering is traced to this claim of personal ownership, to the constant reference to “my” pleasure, “my” pain, “my” success, and “my” failure. As identification with the ego relaxes, the sense of separation and the suffering it generates naturally begin to lose their hold.

The recommended approach to ego-transcendence is a form of inquiry and sustained attention to the pure sense of being. By remaining with the simple feeling “I Am,” without attaching any qualifications, the habitual ego-stories are gradually recognized as passing appearances in consciousness rather than as one’s identity. This is often expressed as turning toward the witness of thoughts and feelings, seeing the ego itself as an object known rather than as the knower. Through such insight, the center of identity shifts from the constructed person to impersonal awareness, and liberation is described as abiding as that awareness while letting ego-thoughts arise and pass without identification.