I myself don't believe ego exists, but I do see some tend to fight it and try to rid it.

My question is: Can we expereince hurt feelings, guilt or shame in the absence of ego?

Example: We say something and it hurts someones feelings, causes them to defend themselves or they react angry. Can we really hurt spirit or are we just hurting their ego?

Is then feeling hurt, angry, shame not a clear sign of ego?

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May your awareness be perfection

Thank you Pinsky : )

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May your awareness be perfection

What do you mean by ego?

To me ego is the belief in a separation from God. I don't believe we are separated from God, therefore I don't believe in ego.

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May your awareness be perfection

That differs largely from the standard definition of ego, vivamis.

Not really, Asimov. ACIM speaks of ego in a very simular way. The only difference is that ACIM to me, addresses the ego almost as an enity, where as I address it as a belief. I found the following on the internet:

Questions and Answers on
Chapter 21, Section IV: The Fear to Look Within
Read ACIM Chapter 21, Section IV (pages 454-56)

Why does Jesus say we are afraid to look within?

When we believe in the ego thought system of separation from God, we will be afraid to quiet our mind and see what is there. If we identify with the ego as what we are, there will be fear to look within. The ego teaches that we are full of sin. "Loudly the ego tells you not to look inward, for if you do your eyes will light on sin, and God will strike you blind." (2:3) We do not want to look upon the guilt that we think is there. Often this is why we spend so much time focusing on things the 'outer' world. This keeps our mind so busy and distracted that we have no time to let our mind quiet and listen to what is there.

Yet behind this belief in sin Jesus tells us that there is even a deeper fear. "Beneath your fear to look within because of sin is yet another fear, and one which makes the ego tremble. What if you looked within and saw no sin? This 'fearful' question is one the ego never asks." (2:8, 3:1-2)

What happens as we look within and see there is no sin?

Going within and finding our innocence would be the end of the ego. We would find our true Identity in God's oneness and would no longer wish to join with belief in separate bodies. We would see that we are joined with every brother in innocence because the dream of separation is now seen as just a dream and not the truth. Jesus tells us, "Those who have joined their brothers have detached themselves from their belief that their identity lies in the ego. A holy relationship is one in which you join with what is part of you in truth." (3:4-5)

As we go inward, what does reason tell us?

Jesus answers us in this way: "Your faith is moving inward, past insanity and on to reason. And what your reason tells you now the ego would not hear. The Holy Spirit's purpose was accepted by the part of your mind the ego knows not of. No more did you. And yet this part [your right mind], with which you now identify, is not afraid to look upon itself. It knows no sin. How, otherwise, could it have been willing to see the Holy Spirit's purpose as its own?" (4:3-9) Here we see that as we go inward, we find our 'right' mind, where sanity resides. Here we identify with the Holy Spirit instead of the ego. Here we find peace and gentleness and freedom from the fear thoughts that the ego thought system generates. Here we learn to choose peace instead of conflict; we learn to see innocence instead of guilt in every brother.

For the full article:
http://pathwaysoflight.org/acimtext/21-IV.html

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May your awareness be perfection

The ego of man outside the cave is completely different than inside the cave.

The ego outside the cave consciously connects our inner world with the external world. Its purpose is to allow the conscious integration of our three modes of experience namely thought, feeling, and sensation to experience reality. As we are, these three modes of experience, are connected by imagination in the form of preconceptions and anticipations. Rather then ego providing the conscious purpose it should, imagination sustains the fallen or corrupt ego created by self deception that seeks to justify its imagination at the expense of reality. It is what limits us to life within Plato's cave.

Nick, you keep talking about being in or out of a cave...where do you live????

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May your awareness be perfection

In the cave. But I've seen the light and am trying to "know thyself" so as to make leaving the cave possible.

He's misapplying the concept of Plato's Cave.