Kinds of ego

Core ego strength comes from love received in early years or mystical experiences: feeling the love of God sufficiently to create a sense of core love and security.
Superficial ego strength comes from external validation from others in adult life; worldly pleasures and worldly security from money, possessions, job, relationships: friends, family, etc.

Then comes mystical presence and an experience of transcendence of self/ego. This can lead to ego strength, but is not necessarily ego strength if it is accompanied by an acute and continued acknowledgment of the Manifestation's presence and superiority.

When one needs to ward off feelings of inadequacy and deficiency, the ego structure is more rigid and less permeable. When one grows up with love from mother, the ego structure is more flexible, since there is not the sense of doom that accompanies release of ego defenses. Of course if you grow up with love (ego/worldly love--the only kind you'll get from parents these days), you might have less pain and therefore less incentive to strive for spirituality and transcendence of ego.

There is spiritual materialism and there is spiritual intellectualism, which is talking about spiritual things without any transcendence, emotional changes, or transformations occurring.