there is a point within vyourself that, provided you can dig past, and still come bac, will destroy your self image. it will completely change your ego. i cant say it will reduce or eliminate it, but your ego will become aware, so to speak. after this point, you might, like myself, try to eliminate your ego, or mold it into something less demanding and less vulnerable.

the mind holds many keys to many doors of reality, and dispite what you might think, you do not need outside influences to learn, you do not need experiance to know, although it helps greatly, even if you already KNOW, the experiance will still garner much wisdom. now we face a problem; you know, or at least think you do, about a certian situation, one you've never experianced yourself, and you try to avoid it, without experiancing it. not that this is all bad, but without the experiance, you will forever lack the wisdom that goes hand in hand, the experiance itself is much different than knowing the experiance and what can or does come of it.

of course, some experiances are prefered to be avoided, with or without the wisdom or knowledge, some things are just flat out best for an individual to avoid, or at least untill their mindset is prepared to handle it, or tolerate it.