The spiritual path is the technique which the ego employs in diminishing itself and allowing more and more of universality into it, by gradual degrees. You cannot say whether the spiritual path is trodden by the ego or by the Universal Being. It is a dual action taking place at the same time. When health improves, disease goes. They are simultaneous occurrences taking place in the person.
Night goes and day comes.
You cannot say which is first, and which is afterwards. It is a simultaneous occurrence. So, likewise, is the entry of the Universal into you, and the diminishing of the ego. Then, in that case, the ego is in tune with God-will. When it comes in tune with God-will, it ceases to be an ego.