Speaker: Natasha Carter. Natasha explores how progressing as practitioners depends on how effectively we work with the ego. Clinging to the ego as real is the root of all suffering; liberation from samsara arises from learning to recognize that this clinging is dependently-originated and that the ego is illusory. To counteract the universal tendency to cater to the habitual self-cherishing mind of ego, the Dharma offers many remedies: analytical meditation, vigilant introspection, humor, vision, and the aspiration to free all beings from samsara.