Neo gains a sense of self, the way I look at it. He doesn't loose it. And yes, he looses fear. My perspective is this: The ego *is* fear. The two are synonymous. When eastern traditions talk about losing your sense of self, they're really talking about eradicating fear conditioning. Where the ego is like stop-and-go city traffic, no-ego/no-fear is like the autobahn (no speed limits). Of course... there's probably lots of horrible accidents on the autobahn when you're going 150+ mph!!!
Now obviously Neo is still Neo in the sense that he still has a personality. I think, rather, that "a sense of self" refers to a feeling of self-consciousness, an "I'm here, danger/limitation is there" mentality. --stop and go traffic.
That was quite a fight, btw! How did it feel *as* you were fighting? Afterwards, there is regret, the pain, the damage, the wrath of the law, life-long enemy, and all that great stuff. But how would you describe your inner experience as it happened, out of curiosity?
