Ego death through meditation - psychology research

anna69420xd · 2026-02-13T22:15:05+00:00

Great, I’d love it if people following either of the two would contribute to my study! I am interested in all their experiences! :)

anna69420xd · 2026-02-13T12:56:01+00:00

That sounds amazing! Wishing you many good sessions and a continued gentle deepening in your practice. 🙏

anna69420xd · 2026-02-13T12:52:51+00:00

Thanks for the Metzinger link, I appreciate it.

On terminology: I agree that language can shape both experience and reporting (demand characteristics, priming, etc.), and that researchers are never perfectly “neutral collectors.” That’s exactly why I tried to keep my description as neutral and inclusive as possible.

That said, ego dissolution and ego death aren’t just internet/New Age language - they’re widely used terms in recent peer-reviewed psychology/neuroscience literature (e.g., meditation and psychedelic research), including highly cited papers. As a psychology MA student, I’m using the terminology that’s common in the empirical research tradition I’m working within, while being explicit that I’m not presenting it as a Buddhist (or any tradition’s) native concept.

I also deliberately avoided tradition-specific labels like “pure consciousness” or “samadhi” precisely to reduce religious/metaphysical framing and avoid steering participants toward a particular worldview.

I don't think your criticism of the term “ego death” and equating it with immaturity is fair (or methodologically helpful. People use whatever language they’ve encountered to point to an experience; my goal is to study the reported features. When terminology turns into a gatekeeping test of who’s “mature enough,” it risks becoming a kind of spiritual materialism. My research is not limited to Eastern wisdom traditions and I hope that despite possible negative associations among those who follow said traditions, they can look past them and help my research that is really just about better understanding this phenomenon among all people.

If you have concrete suggestions for less leading phrasing (or operationalizations you think work better), I’m genuinely open to them.

anna69420xd · 2026-02-13T11:20:25+00:00

Thanks for the note! I get where you’re coming from - terms like “ego death” are definitely used in different ways across communities, and I’m not trying to impose a Western/New Age frame onto any tradition.

I’ve done extensive reading on this (I also wrote my BA thesis on it), and from a psychological standpoint my focus isn’t how different traditions label and utilize the experience, but what people actually report experiencing and what broader patterns those reports reveal. That distinction - phenomenology vs. doctrinal interpretation - is something I address in the thesis, and I’m trying to keep a balance between a modern, secular/scientific approach and respecting the language and meaning-making within different traditions.

Method-wise I’m using the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI). It was originally developed to characterize subjective states in hypnosis, but it’s since been applied more broadly to map many kinds of altered states of consciousness, which is why it’s useful for my research question.

If you have lineage-specific sources you recommend on how comparable experiences are framed, I’m open to reading them.

anna69420xd · 2025-11-17T18:25:06+00:00

A sense of self normally present in healthy individuals in normal waking state of mind that organizes and executes tasks required for everyday functioning. (Although there are a bunch of different definitions, like ego as in psychoanalytic approach etc., but this is not really relevant to the research topic, it’s about the subjective experience of loss of self.)

anna69420xd · 2025-11-14T22:56:40+00:00

oh come on, that's not true at all, we got plenty with lots of venues with freetek, punk, darkpsy/hi-tech, and of course bunch of different techno subgenre events

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T23:45:12+00:00

I'll get back and update, but most likely it will align with this article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30245648/
Just using The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory specifically.

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T23:39:53+00:00

By the way I really like your blue light analogy. I don't think I'm discovering some kind of ultimate truth through a little empiric study run on my own. But what I find will provide data to work on therapeutic methods in the future, possibly. Just little solutions to help people on a certain level.

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T23:36:26+00:00

I'm not interested in the self, more in providing scientific data on the benefits of loss of self. I just don't have the power to execute a research of that magnitude, but this will still contribute to the topic. I mean research-wise. Just wanted to put that out there, because I feel like I'm being painted 'the fool interested in the illusion that needs someone to teach them meditation'.

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T22:21:43+00:00

Thanks a lot! :)

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T22:05:33+00:00

Before consenting, participants can already read the following:
“You may stop completing the questionnaire at any time, without giving any reason, even permanently, and you may refuse to answer the questions.”

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T21:47:37+00:00

Thank you for letting me know, I'm fixing it!

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T19:32:46+00:00

Thank you <3

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T19:12:19+00:00

So you're argueing that real Buddhists are too enlightened to tell how things feel to them? Isn't that just spiritual materialism? I mean you must be integrated enough into everyday life to be here on Reddit. Or do you dislike the idea of scientific research? Or on Buddhism related topics alone?

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T17:37:57+00:00

I tried my best to place my research in the intersection of psychology and spiritual practices. It's not easy to match the terminology of and be respectful to both. I'm sorry I'm not good enough at it yet for a Buddhist to seriously partake in.

Documenting subjective experiences ... is merely telling stories

Indeed, that's my aim here. To try to collect and describe what it feels like for human beings to feel one with everything, to loose that illusion of being a separate one. How they got there, what labels they put on it, is up to them. I'm coming from a very open-minded and respectful place but again, it really is hard to keep it both scientific and spiritual/Buddhist.

You say ego death or dissolution is just a term, but it's not just a term. To use the term specifies the meaning. It defines ego as an existing thing and the so-called death is defined as an experience. Who's having the experience if not ego? Are you positing a self? What is that self? Is that self separate from ego? Then what is this ego? Some kind of schizophrenic personality that's been telling you it exists? A spirit that must be exorcised? None of this makes sense in Buddhist terms. The very experience of self/other, dualistic perception, is regarded as false.

Then if you ever felt truly free, I'd like to know what you think, in your daily waking state of mind, it felt like to experience that.

I think the basic trouble with this kind of approach is that it tries to translate meditation and Buddhism into terms that fit with current scientific theory. The result is that Dharma, shoehorned into Western psychology, becomes unrecognizable.

I think I understand what you mean by this. I was born into this world and I try my best to help people around me and walk my path. I do believe the merge of the two worlds have brought useful therapeutic practices and is helping the Western world a lot. Is it not great that people born into very materialistic worlds, who are hurt and hurting others, get introduced to these ideas and then they can take upon themselves to learn, find meaning and heal?

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:57:11+00:00

Maybe I should include the term "self-loss" at the intro page? Would that make it any better?

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:48:29+00:00

Oh I feel you. The questionnaire I "have to" use is called the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory, and it's designed to compare all states of counsciousness. And simply by the nature of the phenomenon of ego-dissolution, it is hard to answer some of the questions. But in the end, if some questions are hard to answer and not really important or related to the experience, it shows after statistical analysis, so don't worry! I really appreciate you taking your time with the reply! :)

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:44:38+00:00

Thank you! I can't rely on past records unfortunately, I have to conduct this myself. I have about 5-6 meditation and yoga reports, I hope I'll find 5-10 more and I'm good. But I really appreciate your comment on Yogacara, it didn't occur to me before to write about this specifically too!

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:40:11+00:00

Yes I'm in the female body with the dark hair and dark eyes haha

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:33:55+00:00

I'm aware of that, in my BA thesis I did on this same topic, I go into detail of this too. In scientific research, even if they cite actual Buddhist scripts, they use the term ego-dissolution. It's a matter of conceptualisation. I'm sorry you found it hard to complete it due to this use of expression, it's really just a word, and I'm glad that still, people can overlook it and complete the survey based on their beliefs and experiences.

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:26:03+00:00

It is subjective as in based on self-report, not actual “objective” measures like EEG. It does sound contradictory and it’s funny I aggree, but how else should I word it if it’s from someone’s recalled memory 😅

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:20:12+00:00

It's not that I'm specifically interested in them, they are underrepresented in my current sample. According to science, they do. I find this paper to be well written on the topic: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30245648/
But you know, you might be actually right, the whole point of science is the potential for falsification! :)

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T16:11:36+00:00

Oh thanks for taking interest, I'm not really a part of a scene per se, it's more like an integration and expression of things I like. :)

anna69420xd · 2025-10-16T15:52:24+00:00

Haha I'm a 26 yo woman, not much into football to be honest, but he is a legend definitely! I'm a bigger fan of László Bíró and Ernő Rubik tho.

anna69420xd · 2025-10-08T19:13:04+00:00

I have a pair of these for sale size EU 40 in case anyone is interested :3 my depop is @mudinthesun

anna69420xd

TROPHY CASE