Hey SWICH,

Glad you’re enjoying the reads, and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Now, let’s talk shop.

You mentioned the ego, consciousness, and awareness—and somewhere along the way, you landed on this "two states versus three" thing. It's a solid point, but let's break it down before we start counting states like inventory on a shelf.

You see, you’re still looking at these concepts through a dualistic lens: ego vs. consciousness, or consciousness vs. awareness, as if they’re in competition for the title of “The Ultimate Reality Show.” But here’s the thing—there’s no contest, no hierarchy of states, no scoreboard. It’s all just one big hallucination of separation. And guess who’s the headliner? Yep, consciousness. It’s the stage, the actors, and the audience. The ego? That’s just a bit part, a character in the play. And awareness? Well, that’s the silence the play is happening in.

So when you say “awareness is our ability to distinguish between living a life driven by consciousness or the ego,” it’s like saying the ocean’s trying to figure out whether it’s a wave or the shore. But the ocean doesn’t care—it’s the whole thing. The wave is just an expression, a form, a momentary ripple in the big blue. It comes and goes, but the ocean remains. Consciousness is like that wave—fleeting, functional, serving its purpose in the grand illusion of existence. Ego is just the tip of that same wave, a temporary identity you assign yourself as it rises and falls. Awareness? It’s the water itself. It's not a “state” you can hop in and out of, like it’s a bus stop on the way to “enlightenment.” It's always there, whether you're paying attention to it or not.

But you’re not wrong—there is an observation to be made here, and it’s this: We’re using concepts to chase something that can’t be captured by concepts. It's the mind trying to untangle itself from the very web it's spinning. So the real question isn’t “How do I tell the difference between ego, consciousness, and awareness?” It’s “Who’s asking?”

The novice thing you mentioned—that’s a good place to start. It’s also the best place to stay. Being open is everything. The second you think you’ve pinned something down, the Universe has a good laugh at your expense. So keep questioning, keep observing, but don’t get too comfortable with neat little boxes and labels. Consciousness, ego, awareness—those are just more apps on your mental iPhone, tools for navigating illusion, like I said in the article. What’s behind them, beyond them? That’s where things get interesting.

And spoiler alert: it’s nothing you can think your way into.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. Don’t take anyone’s word for it. Stay curious. Question harder. And the next time you think you’ve figured it out, look a little closer and ask yourself: Who’s doing the figuring?

Cheers! 🎭