Reddit mentions of Prometheus Rising

I think you'd enjoy Emily Post. Also, You Are A Badass and this.

Here is a theory. Hopefully this will not sound like gibberish:

The ego, which is an important tool and a good thing, like how it allows for the understanding of language, also has an instinctive defense mechanism. It defends what it believes to be self. This is kind of like anger, but not quite anger. It can be seen when people argue about politics. They're defending their 'views' and the ego believes their views is them. Someone will say, "I'm a Republican." and they're not. That's their beliefs, not who they are. Were they born a Republican? No. Being Republican might be worn like a badge on a shoulder, but it is just that: clothing. It's not self, it is a suit, a costume; not who they really are.

The problem is, what the ego believes to be self, isn't self.

As long as the ego thinks you are a thing, you will uncontrollably defend it. This creates arguments, violence, and even wars. The solution is not to get rid of the ego, as it is helpful and just trying to help out and make sure you're safe, but instead to remove the misunderstanding of what is and is not self. This way the ego does not needlessly defend what is not itself. In this way, you can tell if someone is enlightened because they will not get in an argument with you, unless they want to by choice. There is nothing there to defend, and with that, if everyone was that way, we would have a sort of world peace.

However, when enlightened just because the instinct of the ego does not defend self, doesn't mean that an enlightened person will not defend themselves when necessary. They will leave toxic situations. They will yell if absolutely necessary to get their voice out. If they get lit on fire (literally, and metaphorically) they will put it out. They do not become a rug that gets walked over, but someone who gets to choose the best, safest, and happiest way to defend themselves when necessary.

I want to make that perfectly clear:

• This removes the uncontrollable instinct to defend oneself and instead puts it in your hands, so you get to choose how to defend yourself.
  
  
• This does not remove self. It removes the delusion of self. Believing what self is restricts you.. like chains, like being imprisoned by instinct.
  
  I started this journey, even before r/taoism and r/zen, by reading Prometheus Rising. It taught me how to hack my mind, how drugs like lsd work, and helped me remove a lot of my 'self identity' baggage, by giving me the freedom to be anything I wanted to be. I highly recommend it. It's an empowering read, even if not all of it is correct.
  
  edit: And to tie it all together: Transcendence is a sort of freedom. It's more than just the ego's instinct to defend oneself, but without removing that instinct, you will be limited in a way that makes it impossible to transcend fully.
  
  While it isn't necessary, I'll try to give a full map: The part that has to do with suffering has to do with transcendence (even if it isn't obvious, even to people who have transcended) and without it full transcendence might be is impossible. The first stage of removing suffering is removing that defense mechanism (because it is stressful to defend yourself uncontrollably), which is why I'm focusing on that. The next stage is removing all stressful negativity (anger, cruelty, ill-will...), and the next stage is pride/conceit, frustration, and more... then there will be no suffering left. With no suffering left it is kind of hard to have a bad trip or not move with God, you know? Nothing bothers you, so you're enjoying all of it. If something bothers you, the mind jumps to itself, and you lose that larger perspective.