My whole body of work is based in demystifying ego…that mysterious “thing” that veils us from knowing our deepest truth. So it’s not uncommon for someone to ask me to define ego.

Internally I think, “My whole body of work points to its various attributes, how do I narrow it down to one sentence that actually gives a graspable understanding of what ego is?”.

I usually say it’s our false self, but I know it’s still too abstract and only makes sense to those who are already somewhat familiar with a spiritual path.

However, when my personal mentor was asked this, he gave the perfect answer, one that was both succinct and graspable…

He said “it is that which can be hurt.”

This answer is a thousand times better than describing ego as our false self because it points to something that can be easily recognized…emotional pain. It points to the aspect of our nature that feels vulnerable…the part of our nature that acts out through defense or attack to minimize any sense of vulnerability.

It immediately causes us to begin an inner exploration as we ask ourselves “where am …

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