How To Make It Through A Spiritual Awakening Without Losing Your Mind

I see the ego as an structure of the mind, rather than as a negative moral entity.  In fact, the ego needs to be pretty strong in the middle stage of development in order to jettison the space capsule of your real self out into space.  If it is weak or flaky at all, you will stay just where you are.  So a strong ego comes first -- and then, shamanism.