Ego - What Does it Mean?

     "The definition of ego I use the most is just 'the resistance to what is.' Ego has a quality of resistance. And its base, when you get right down to the root of it, which is in your gut, the sense of self is literally like a closed fist in the gut. It's like an energetic 'no' to life. And then the energy comes up to the heart, and there it's an emotional, feeling-based protectionism, and fear. And then of course in the mind, what started out as a reflex in the gut as a contraction, becomes one's whole psychology, which is often a pushing away, and or grasping.
     Ego is the thing that's always negotiating with life. This is both what the ego is and does - ego is a verb, a movement, a happening. ... 
     When one's thought process is not about oneself, there is no ego." Adyashanti 

        This & other "Buddha at the Gas Pump" interviews: http://batgap.com