It’s the difference between a sleek-prow’d ocean liner and a square-bow’d barge – being Ego-centric and being ego-centric. Having your own ego or genuinely reflecting God – the one Ego.

God, Ego is All. So when we understand that we express Ego, that God is doing it all (I can of mine own self do nothing.), we can be as large as the ocean liner and slip through the water with ease – effortless, buoyant – moving forward with great power, cutting through any resistance.

Or – we can believe we have our own ego that is separate from God, responsible for every aspect of our experience – that we’re the source of everything we are. Then we don’t even have the power to move ourself through the water. We are powerless and need an external power source (things that feed our ego to keep it alive – the tow boat) to pull us – drag us – through the water, with our square bow and heavy burden pushing down on us, keeping us low in the water, meeting a broad wall of resistance, water slapping across the square bow, slowing us down.

It’s not a perfect analogy, obviously, but I liked the imagery of it… it helps me remember that life is much easier when I understand that God is doing it and not me.