I’ve also said I’m interested in certain kinds of beliefs, people, women . . . then you get anyone trying to apply their one and only system . . . one size fits all, generic. The problem with that is there is also an idea already behind that . . . this is what he is, doing, etc. Hmmm . . . .

That’s separate mode for you . . . even a person is considered as an object that can be described and pinned down in a particular way, by everyone.

Externalizing . . .

The old ones say that the surface world, the one we can see and touch and smell without using our inner and deeper senses, is the work of the Twins and their ancient conflict.
Moss, Robert (2012-01-20). Dreamways of the Iroquois: Honoring the Secret Wishes of the Soul (p. 108). Inner Traditions Bear & Company. Kindle Edition.

In the deeper Iroquois mythistory of the Battle of the Twins, we will find that each contains something of the other. The Light Twin is capable of deception and killing; the Dark Twin has creative as well as destructive gifts, and a wicked sense of humor. We will find the deep wisdom that the two are actually one. As the battle is played out over the centuries on different fields and in different bodies, we will also find the practical understanding that to bring true healing and balance to our world, we must make friends with chaos as well as order.
Moss, Robert (2012-01-20). Dreamways of the Iroquois: Honoring the Secret Wishes of the Soul (p. 104). Inner Traditions Bear & Company. Kindle Edition.

The one becomes two, and we are set for a fight, if the divided halves no longer recognize themselves in each other. Humans who identify exclusively with one of the Twins—or are entered and possessed by a split archetype, which lodges inside them like a crystal shard or a dagger of ice—will turn the world into a war zone. Partisans of the light, if it blinds them, may demonize the dark side and crusade against perceived forces of evil, making enemies of half the world and tending to become what they hate, even as they fight against it. On the other hand, those possessed by the dark side are consumed by the ravening jealousy of the Dark Twin, writhing against the light wherever it manifests, simply because it is the light.
Moss, Robert (2012-01-20).

Got me thinking . . . ego is just one small part of the whole. There’s options here: what is the ego facing? If the personal self feels separate from the world, there’s just the other half, which may be the nasty; if it feels interconnected, there’s multiple fulfilling connections possible. Both could be scary, but the results are different. The figure/ground explains it. If one is into the figure, or if one is into the rest. The old sorcerers went one way, the new the other. That’s how there can be a spiritual war! But one can be in an evolutionary position, even if one is an average guy. The new average.

Having a more expanded context takes you further than the external physical, social world; and having it interrelated takes you beyond the colloquial interpretations, psychoanalysis. There’s meaning, and many more possibilities.