Yes beliefs that are not objectively true still exist but if they are challenged I no longer get upset about it. For instance let’s say that two people where I work have put in for the same job opening. I might feel that one of these people would be better suited for the job. In my mind I have a list of reasons why this person should get the job. However I also realize that others have their own beliefs on what is true. They might think the other person is better for the job. Before I reached a state of ego death I might believe that my reasoning is beyond challenge and that it is the absolute truth that the person I want to get the job is the better candidate for it. However now I know that my “truth” in that situation is objective and so not infallible. If the person I did not want to get the job got it anyway I would not be angry even if I were the one who put in for the job and did not get it.

Most people have a set of beliefs they think are unquestionable truths but there are very few if any unquestionable truths. For instance most people would not argue that the sky is blue and would say that is the truth but it’s only blue because we all agree that it is. If we all agreed that the sky was green then it would be, regardless of what our sense of sight told us. We would perceive what we now call “blue” as “green” instead. Almost everything is a matter of perception. When we think our “truth” is the absolute truth it causes problems but when we see that our truth is a matter of perception it’s easy to let others who disagree go on with their lives without getting angry at them. They simply don’t perceive things the way we do.

As for my parents both of them are gone now but growing up with them was not easy. Both my parents had issues and my mother had some very serious issues and would lash out badly at times. For years I harbored anger against her but I no longer do. Not only can I look and see what she went though that made her that way and find compassion as a result but I also recognize that I am everything and everything is me. I could not have been a victim of my mother as it is impossible to be a victim of yourself. I have forgiven her.

As for what Peter was saying “I” did latch on to “everything is meaningless” for several days after my ego death. It took a little while to recognize that, that was my egos attempt to reestablish an identity around life being pointless. For the first couple of days I walked around with a blank look on my face saying very little and caring even less. I’m glad that’s over 🙂 You are also right about ego being a tool. I guess I see it as a poison because when I look back I can see just how many times I made mistakes or made an ass out of myself because my ego was in control. I’ll have to ponder about the ego a bit. 🙂