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Entering Flow thus can be interpreted as "Becoming One with the Universe" because you've become one with your context and your context is naturally already in flow with the greater context. Think of it as "Merging back into the Lifestream".

What self-consciousness IS is a fork off this lifestream so that you have a vantage point with which to view the lifestream. That is... self-consciousness STEALS from the lifestream. Which is why it "chokes" the flow. Like when an actor or athlete thinks too much.

Thus self-consciousness should always come with a certain sense of humble gratitude along with a pinch of shame. Like finding front-row tickets on the street, voyeurism, or gambling winnings. After all, you get to SEE and BE. Consciousness as the original Promethean Fire.

Which means that to be self-conscious as a human always should involve an element of "Irreducible Rascality" (Alan Watts) Anyone who is overly pure and righteous doesn't understand "Original Sin" and often paves the road to hell with good intentions. (toxic positivity)

A more practical and commonplace example of this you'll encounter is with managers. If everyone is a manager, and no one is doing anything, then nothing gets done. Life isn't lived. Like this joke on american management: https://maaw.info/AnOldJokeOnAmericanManagement.htm …

A good manager recognizes the need for oversight/measurement given the necessities of corporate life and willingly extracts self from the Lifestream in order to SERVE others. They are the true servant leaders vs the humble bragging servant leaders which feel "fake"

When forked from the Lifestream, the main feeling is a sense of disconnect between Being and Seeing. You feel like a robot controlling yourself, trying your best to follow all these morals and all these rules and contorting yourself into knots to become a perfect person.

This state of constant self-consciousness is very painful, especially if one is susceptible to loneliness. An occasional sense of divine oneness is necessary to top up the psychic energy reserves.