1) Ego. A healthy ego is necessary to safely navigate the world, and to recognize one's unique purpose & meaning. However, excessive ego-identification can make an individual self-centered, rigid, and lacking in compassion. At worst, an un-healthy ego manifests as narcissism, psychopathology, and a total disregard for the interconnected eco-system beyond the self. 

2) Family. It is essential to examine the ideals, belief systems, and relationship models we inherited during early childhood development. This includes conditioning around self-worth, love, relationships, safety, money, power, cultural identity, and personal potential. To mature spiritually, we must lovingly confront and, when necessary, transform these inherited imprints. Unexamined attachment to these familiar patterns—whether out of ignorance, 'blood loyalty', or unresolved wounds—can stunt development. 
 
3) Tribe. A tribe can be a religious or political group, a profession, an ethnicity, a nationality, or any other formal or informal identity group. For example: 'biologists', 'women', 'CEOs', 'people who meditate', 'athletes', etc. There is nothing wrong with tribes; one could easily argue we need tribes to survive. But if we become too dogmatic about our tribe's ideologies, or we elevate our group’s beliefs, priorities, and worldviews above others, we risk dogmatism and forget our shared human and planetary kinship. We fail to honor the simple truth that we are all in this together. 

4) Human. Imagining the universe through a non-human perspective is difficult to fathom because everything we've ever explored, defined, believed, or speculated has come through the filter of the human mind. But we must acknowledge that humans are only one thread in a much greater, cosmic tapestry. A truly honest understanding of the human being's placement within the universe requires a complete de-humanization of the truth. If we fail to honor this, then our reality, god(s), and perceptions of truth will always be diluted, altered, and anthropomorphic. So how can we begin to glimpse a broader consciousness? We can do our best through awareness and conscious contemplation. A good starting point is to meditate with non-human beings: rocks, trees, stars, animals, air, deities. These meditations can help us remember that the universe is not human-centered.

5) Anything. Let's imagine there's a way to identify with something that is essentially unknown, but still possibly is. Perhaps it's a god, a deity, an angel, an essence, or an alien—something quite mysterious and entirely other. I'm creating an identity-sphere for this possibility of being, in case you believe you are, in some way, this. 

6) Nothingness. Non-identity. This is the final and most elusive space. Non-form. Non-thought. Śūnyatā. The abyss-like emptiness that exists prior to, and beyond, all manifestation. In this sphere, there are no forms of being...not even thought-forms. There is only void. In the diagram, I could also refer to this as Pure Consciousness, though even that label is only useful if such consciousness contains nothing but nothing—not even the idea of a witness. This is the reason why the final sphere is the most peaceful state, because no concept of "I" exists, as there is no active mind with which to imagine "I" into existence. While impossible to describe this ineffable state, it can be touched, sometimes spontaneously, other times through meditation, stillness, and communion with emptiness. To experience this state is not to 'know more', but for all knowing to dissolve. 

Whenever I talk about soul, I'm referring to that spark at the center of the diagram—the one that appears like a star. The dark emptiness surrounding that soul-star is the same emptiness of return beyond identity. Further down on this page, I'll introduce the idea of a mythopoetic identity, or your truest soul-centered self. The mythopoetic identity is none of the identities acquired along your life's journey (i.e. none of the spheres in the diagram) but rather something you always were, prior to those states of being. Aligning with that identity is an extraordinarily powerful way to live. As mentioned, I'll touch on this later, briefly, but Bill Plotkin wrote an entire, long book about it that I highly recommend: The Journey of Soul Initiation.