the basics
Short answer; you are! Your individual self is an ego. But it’s the whole of you as an individual, rather than just the image you have of yourself, it contains all aspects of you including your shadow, your unexpressed potential, personal themes, your beliefs, memories, and emotions (even repressed).
We as souls/aspects of the universe need an ego to interact with time and space in physical existence. It’s the character you’re playing in this lifetime.
It should be noted that people often use the word ‘ego’ to mean the aspects of us that are inauthentic; the “not-self”. Or more commonly; the parts of our ego that are possibly overinflated. While these are generally also accepted as ‘ego’, I use ego to mean the definition given in the previous paragraphs. A deflated sense of self is just as much part of the ego as the overinflated parts. Just that society generally praises a deflated sense of self because it makes us much more pliable to the will of the people around us so is often overlooked or not something people bother to try and ‘correct’ unless they’re already aligned & thriving within themselves.
The ego is traditionally considered to be the internal self, and the persona is considered to be the external self that we present to the world depending on the circumstance. I prefer to see the persona as an outer facing aspect of the ego (in this case the ego is therefore both internal and external due to this inclusion).
Think of the persona as either a mask (over the ego) or a window (into the ego) depending on circumstance & in/authenticity. When we’re presenting an inauthentic or idealised version of self to the outside world; it’s a mask. When we’re presenting an authentic version of ourselves to the outside world; a window. The mask is opaque - we’re attempting to obfuscate what’s truly lying underneath to ensure the people we’re interacting with see us in a certain light - in this case the persona is being generated from the shadow aspect of the ego (even if what we’re presenting is typically considered desirable to the average observer, and even if the person is consciously deciding to present a false self). When we’re authentic, it’s a window - when you look into a house through a window, you can generally only see some of the house inside, but what you can see is a true image of what is inside - in this case the persona is being generated from the conscious & authentic aspect of the ego.
The reason why I consider the persona to be part of the ego is because even when someone is deeply out of integrity and presenting a false persona frequently, it can be read by the discerning observer to determine the inner world/intentions of the observed, particularly given enough time, interaction, and familiarity.
ego death
Ego death is a sticky subject. There’s many on the spiritual path who believe that the way to enlightenment is to ‘kill’ the ego. When given the benefit of the doubt, these folks hopefully mean the ideal of undoing the ‘not-self’ or the shadow; all the parts of us that get butthurt when challenged or are overinflated (note though that these folks rarely speak of inflating the deflated parts to bring balance) - however I’ve mostly met those who talk about killing the ego to mean developing an (often artificial/inauthentic) display of humility, those who would claim it ‘egoic’ to recognise one’s own strengths, talents, or natural roles (e.g. leadership), or using the idea to claim others are ‘egoic’ to have a sense of confidence, self esteem, or self love that they themselves believe to be underserved or unwarranted.
If it’s not clear contextually; having a healthy sense of self is not only ‘okay’, it’s ideal. Everyone genuinely doing the work to heal themselves or otherwise find alignment and authenticity will come to a place of balance. Knowing who you are means knowing your positive character traits and integrating the negative ones so they may be used consciously, in healthy ways. Obliterating (or rather, attempting to obliterate) any sense of having interpersonal or physical needs, pursuing goals & desires, or having standards & boundaries is paradoxically going to result in a much more inflated & shadowy ego because since we all require these aspects in balance to operate healthily in the world - denying them consciously means our shadow is forced to overcompensate to get those needs met. People who practice life through this perspective of minimising the ego are generally the most manipulative & unwilling to see themselves clearly when compared to the average person who is not consciously on the journey to integrity & alignment.
Ego death is actually really just a moment in which we take a leap closer to inner alignment. It can be tearing down an inflated sense of self or an obliviousness to the truth of our behaviour or self image, but it can also mean facing the ways we’ve been dampening our own light to pander to others, or realising we’ve been ignoring our needs or past pain to not rock the boat (really pandering to our own shadow in either case). Either way it’s a revelation of some kind + a quantum leap closer to ultimate conscious authenticity, no matter which direction the pole swings to move closer to the balance point.
This course is, in part, aiming to teach you how to self induce an Ego death through emotional transmutation/catharsis - some of these will be smaller and not really feel like the same impact of that big leap in perspective or vibration, but others will be bigger shifts and feel like a dramatic change of character.