[inofindy]

But you are still you, regardless of personality or even beliefs.

Yes, which is something I learned. I used to think that I didn't exist (no, seriously, for years I felt like I didn't exist, like I was just this collection of thoughts, emotions, abilities, etc.). Then I found out that I ALWAYS exist, regardless of the state of my ego, and that the me that always exists is the true self.

Not that I could have put it into these words back then. Back then I just knew I felt like a turtle without a shell until I grew a new one.

I think that both psychology and the New Age and New Thought movements mean different things when they say ego- I probably mean something entirely different.

Well, I mean the material personality we use to navigate the world, interpret our surroundings, make decisions, etc. It's something we wear while we're here, and it's not the true self, it's just the self we use while we're in this environment.

This is why during deep meditation and similar practices, you find you "lose" your material personality for a little while. You're leaving the material environment, not unlike a diver coming out of the water into the air. In our true and natural environment (the spiritual), we don't need our earthly self.

And yes, I think we're probably in agreement.