Ultimately, a spiritual journey is about bringing our inner and outer self into perfect alignment. This happens when we no longer protect, control or project self-images. When this occurs, all that extends outward is fully rooted in our inner self—love and light.

But up until this point, we’ve got work to do to bridge this gap. We have to look for the places in ourselves where we’re trying to protect certain self-images, understand the motivations behind this desire to protect and work to heal those inclinations.

Sometimes this process occurs on a one-by-one, case-by-case scenario by looking at the root-causes behind each image that we’re trying to protect, whereas other times the collective urge to protect can be healed, in one fell swoop, when the overall structure of that part of the ego is understood.

I recently learned that there are many different ways that the ego continues to hold itself together, while it’s being cracked apart…

Think of the ego as a solid concrete pillar:

For some people, there may be a complete dent on one side of the pillar, leaving the other side intact.

For others, there may …

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