The pride of false individuality is like a prisoner bragging about his chains. Transcending egoic identity is also the key to the answer to the second question, how to achieve liberation from the bonds of karma. At first glance, it appears the karmic cycle is endless and unbreakable. As we have seen, once a cause produces an effect, the effect then serves as a cause for a later effect, and so on, ad infinitum. The resolution of this problem is to be had in the experience of grace.
Grace is the descent of compassion from the spiritual realms.
This divine energy helps the aspirant rise above the cycle of karma, an ascension which he could never achieve by his own efforts alone. Some of us have had the experience of trying to assist a trapped bird regain her freedom. When a bird accidentally flies inside a building, the poor creature flies every which way seeking an exit. She will often crash into windows and walls, perhaps even injuring herself in the process. When someone attempts to help her, she struggles even more, trying to escape from the very hands which can save her.