Is "doing the work" for H/A basically a deliberate and drawn-out way to create the kind of "death of the flesh" event/process that you describe in book 2?
Seems tricky to will something that can't be willed & seems like it's only the un-willed presence of that kind of angry passionate skin-shedding that drives certain individuals to "do the work" without reinforcing the sense of separation.
edit: I realize this is a rant thread, not a Q+A, will move this to my thread in general discussion if that's more appropriate.