Beyond the Octopus’s Grip: On Ego, Love, and the Courage to See Clearly

Those who know us know we’re almost allergic to “esoteric” people.

Not because the knowledge in these realms is worthless — in fact, we know the opposite is true. But we see so many use the esoteric as a place to escape their pain rather than transcend it. They skim the surface, building a new extension of their identity, finding another crowd, chasing the next “it-thing” to belong to.

The problem? It’s rarely about the actual knowledge. Nowadays “esoteric” is more label than truth — a cover that hides deeper understandings instead of revealing them. To get to what’s truly valuable, we have to dissect, penetrate, and challenge it relentlessly. And we have to do the same inside ourselves — dismantle every internal inhibitor we’ve built.

Once we grasp that living from the heart and from love is the only way to avoid extinction, the next step becomes obvious: remove the ego. The ego can never love unconditionally. It runs on lack.

What is the ego?

It’s not just arrogance. That’s the tiniest fragment of the truth. The ego is an entire construct — a living framework of false beliefs, programmed thoughts, habitual behaviors, and a small army of defense mechanisms. It’s an artificial intelligence we built ourselves, designed to help us fit in and survive. And it works — at the cost of our full human potential and the memory of who we really are.

Picture this: an octopus on your head, its tentacles wrapped tight around your mind and body. That is remote control at its finest — invisible and absolute.

Dissolving the ego takes everything you have: total determination, uncompromising integrity — no matter the cost. And you can’t do it alone. You need someone beyond the octopus’s grip — someone who can see the tentacles you’ve grown blind to, and call them out without hesitation.