Planet Dharma - The Launch Pod

The first step in spiritual awakening is becoming aware of our ego structure -- actually perceiving the particular beliefs and images that we have identified with and taken to be true -- then dissolving that, letting go of that part of one's identity. --- Doug Sensei teaches on the enneagram, drawing from this source: Facets of Unity: The Enneagram of Holy Ideas by A.H. Almaas, 1998; Chapter 4, Basic Trust Search inside: http://books.google.com/books/about/Facets_of_Unity.html?id=gdTz5Mt0WtgC&redir_esc=y Extended paraphrase: The ego is a psychic structure that is based on crystallized beliefs about who we are and what the world is. We experience ourselves and the world through the filter of this structure. Spiritual awakening involves connecting with those dimensions of experience obscured by ego structure. The first step is becoming aware -- actually perceiving the particular beliefs and images that we have identified with and taken to be true -- then dissolving that facet of the ego structure. Th