"When the ego is cornered and has nowhere to go, the only thing one can do is to put it down. And when one puts down the ego, then that is enlightenment." One of the world's most respected Buddhist masters—a lineage holder in both existing schools of Ch'an Buddhism—speaks about the joy of liberation, the pitfalls of the path and the one-pointed desire required to see through our attachment to a false sense of self.

Interview by Carter Phipps

In this groundbreaking interview—his first since being asked to step down as the director and spiritual teacher of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health five years ago—a world-renowned yogi speaks candidly with Andrew Cohen about yoga, purification and the dynamics of trust in the student/teacher relationship.

Interview by Andrew Cohen

From the jungle abode of South Indian sage Ajja to an interview with one of Hinduism's most respected scholars, WIE goes in search of the answer to the question: Is the ego only an illusion?

Interview by Andrew Cohen

What happens when you combine a leading transpersonal psychologist and an ordained Sufi sheikh . . . in the same person? WIE interviews the alter egos of Dr. Robert Frager, founding president of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology and Sheikh Ragip of the Halveti-Jerrahi order of Sufis to find out how one man walks the line between psychology's endeavor to heal the ego and Sufism's call to destroy it?

Interview by Craig Hamilton

Do we need to strengthen the ego before we let go of it? Is psychotherapy necessary on the spiritual path? A provocative dialogue with the psychiatrist and Buddhist meditation teacher who coined the phrase, "You have to be somebody before you can be nobody."

Interview by Andrew Cohen

What would the Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, Sasaki Roshi and H.H. the Dalai Lama have to say about transpersonal psychology's perplexing predicament? We asked one adventurous transpersonal psychologist to channel the masters and find out.

Interview by Andrew Cohen

Has the traditional goal of ego death been replaced by the need to "accept ourselves as we are"? Four spiritual teachers comment on the popular new paradigm of self-acceptance on the path to liberation.

Featuring Deepak Chopra, Cheri Huber, Paul Lowe and Saniel Bonder

The fathers of modern psychology—Freud, Adler and Jung—debated their theories of the self in early 1900s Vienna and Zurich, launching a revolution in Western consciousness and culture. But these pioneers eventually came to radically divergent conclusions about the nature, structure and purpose of the ego. Three leading torchbearers of their legacies speak about the elusive "I" and the key role it plays in our psychological, and spiritual, evolution.

Featuring Leon Hoffman, James Hollis and Henry Stein

By Susan Bridle and Amy Edelstein

Otto Kernberg

A pioneering psychologist whose theory of "object relations" has revolutionized our modern conception of the self shares his encyclopedic understanding of the forces that shape the human ego, and explains why distinguishing between "healthy" and "pathological" narcissism is essential on the spiritual path.

Interview by Susan Bridle

Taylor Hackford

The acclaimed director of The Devil's Advocate discusses his film's powerful portrayal of the precarious balance between good and evil, the ever-present temptations of ego and why selling our soul to the devil is always just one choice away.

Interview by Carter Phipps