He will make the depressing discovery that even when he believed he was climbing from peak to peak in overcoming the ego, he was really walking in a circle on flat ground--such is its power to delude him. When he thought he was becoming free of its chains, he was merely clanking them in another part of this circular area! It will make for melancholy reflection to find that he is still a prisoner after all these years of endeavour. Nevertheless the awakening to this fact is itself a triumph over illusion and should be used to counteract his sadness. For from then on he will be in a better position to know what are the false steps and what are the right ones in seeking to escape and he will also be more ready to look outside himself for help in doing what he must recognize is so hard to do by himself.
-- Notebooks Category 8: The Ego > Chapter 5 : Detaching from The Ego (Part 2) > # 359
