Spiritual practice is primarily a matter of dealing with this automatic gesture of emotional withdrawal from larger life or, if you will, God. It is this continuous gesture that is the ego, and it is the ego habit that prevents God-realization, or enlightenment, in the moment. Therefore, spiritual practice consists in constantly going beyond the wall of the ego, in reaching out and embracing all life fearlessly, with an open heart. There must be complete clarity and integrity in one's feelings. Most people are "collapsed at the heart." They are in doubt of God, others, and themselves. Their feeling is being stunted.
Lee Sannella, M.D. - "The Kundalini Experience" p121