Seeing the ego as illusory is not enlightenment, it is the dawn of the spiritual path. The contradiction lies in the very question - if you see something as illusory, it’s not an illusion for you, it’s an understanding. Once something has been truly seen as an illusion, it disappears, it’s no longer there. The understanding always comes first, but it needs to be followed by experience. The spiritual journey is experiential.

You may tell yourself it’s all an illusion countless times. You may even declare the whole world as an illusion as many immature spiritual teachers do. You may declare yourself as awareness, and take identity of awareness, so that you don’t have to even think about the “illusory” stuff as many immature spiritual teachers do. None of that is enlightenment.

All illusions are real, for as long as they are experienced, so even as the mind knows already, on some level, that there is a lot of illusion, for as long as it’s experienced, it is real for you, and so it must be experienced. If there’s illusion, there is also reality, it’s just covered by it. The journey into realty from illusion is the journey into experience, and the shedding of egoic lies happens through emotional (or energetic, as some people like to say) experience.

So, whenever an illusory thoughtform comes, take your awareness into how it makes you feel. I bet it is somewhat unpleasant, isn’t it? If it was all pleasant and blissful, you wouldn’t be asking this question, you would be content, not seeking guidance. Take your awareness there, and look into what it is behind this thoughtform which you don’t want to experience. Where is the discontent, how does it feel like? Is it anger you are feeling? Anxiety? Restlessness? Fear? All of this must be experienced, there are no shortcuts. Take it there and let it stay there for as long as it takes.

Meditation is an especially good practice for this, because the mind is not distracted by the external, so all this “illusory” stuff rushes to the surface and yearns to be experienced. Thoughts aren’t important in themselves, most thoughts in the mind are lies, but they don’t arrive alone - there’s always a discontent behind them, a tension. Emotional, bodily, or “energetic” tension - it doesn’t matter. Focus on that tension and let it come to fruition. Tensions relax via a release, usually an emotional release - so tears may come, anger may arise, loathing. Or your body may start shaking out of fear. All of this is very normal, it is to be expected on the spiritual path.

Those who declare the world to be an illusion, or declare awareness to be their final identity, usually cease all their meditation practice and they can only speak of this one step they took, so they cannot give good advice. Don’t become one of those people.