The ego is called the "celestial demon." Remember constantly, each moment of your life has to become a constant remembrance, that the ego is very subtle and it has very cunning ways to come back again and again. It follows you to the very last, it hopes that you will be trapped. Beware of it.

This ego is called in Christian, Mohammedan and Judaic scriptures "the devil." It is your own mind, the very center of your own mind.

In the beginning, just try for a few moments to live without any "I."... Taking a shower, just let the water fall on you, but don't be there as an "I." Relax, forget the "I", and you will be surprised: the shower is not only cooling your body, it cools your innermost core too.

And if you search, you will find so many moments in ordinary life when the ego can be put aside. And the joy is so great that once you have tasted it you can do it again and again. And slowly slowly, you become capable of putting it off until it is absolutely necessary.

And then that day of blessing also comes when you know that it is not necessary at all. You say the final good-bye to it. The day when your ego dies, you have reached the point of no-self. That is your real being.

Non-being is your real being. Not to be is to be for the first time.

From The Book of Wisdom, by Osho
Used by kind permission of Osho Foundation International