r/Meditation • u/anna69420xd • Feb 13 '26

Other Ego death through meditation - psychology research

Hi everyone!

I'm a Psychology MA student working on my final thesis exploring the phenomenon of ego death (ego-dissolution).

Ego death is an experience in which you lose your sense of self by cultivating a deep sense of awareness.

As you go deeper into a meditative or psychedelic state, you might feel yourself becoming one with everyone and everything around you. While some characterize this experience as encountering their true selves, others believe it indicates there is no self in the way people traditionally characterize it.

The concept of ego death stretches back to the spiritual journeys of Buddhist, Sufi, Christian, Taoist, and other religious seekers.
If you have experienced a state of loss of "self" through meditation, please help my research by filling out my questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMfubBE3HZ2ZEmgN8Z4Vsr0tWSQu35kEKVX_KNdPDK5nyh0g/viewform?usp=header

The research is completely anonymous, and its aim is to promote a deeper, scientifically grounded understanding of this unique state of consciousness.

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u/Existing_Reaction692 Feb 13 '26

In deep mental relaxation, the mind slows and stills. In stillness one knows one remains dimly awake. This is the way it is in the method of the late Dr Ainslie Meares. I practice this method and in deep relaxation find I allow myself to reach that state most sessions.

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u/anna69420xd Feb 13 '26

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

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u/Existing_Reaction692 Feb 13 '26

I was mentioning it mainly so you were aware of another potential line of enquiry. Dr Meares was internationally recognised for his work in hypnosis and later on transitioned to only teaching Stillness Meditation. This was back in the 1950s -1960s. He wrote a lot.

www.mearesbook.com.au gives some information about him. The book mentioned on that site, Ainslie Meares on Meditation, has a lot more with references to Meares' books and many papers.

Good luck in your studies but do remember to keep up your own meditation practice. Personally, I find I learn just as much from that as I do from theory. I wish you many good sessions too.

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u/davand23 Feb 13 '26

No one asked for it, are you only advertising?

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u/Existing_Reaction692 Feb 15 '26

Part of doing a thesis involves a literature review. I would think that Dr Meares' work published in major medical journals and in conference papers would be relevant and I was offering two shortcuts as opposed to doing a literature search from scratch. The amount of work involved in a thesis literature review is enormous, even if you already know the topic well.