I'd like to share some lines from the Maharal (Nesivous Oilom, Nesiv Koach Hayetzer, Perek 4)

 I've put part of it in the spoiler just to make it look less daunting. The main part I'd like to share is below in bold.

האדם הזה אשר ברא הש"י יצר הרע בקרבו צריך שישתדל להסיר את יצרו ואף אם הוא צדיק וחסיד אל יראה בעיניו שהוא קל רק הוא דבר קשה מאוד מאוד. והענין הזה שיתפלל האדם אל הש"י תמיד שיסיר את היצר הרע ממנו אבל מעצמו קשה הוא כי האדם נחשב שהוא שבוי ואסור ביד מלך זקן וכסיל הוא יצר הרע שנקרא בכל מקום בשם הזה והרי אין חבוש מתיר עצמו מבית אסורים וצריך לאחר להתירו ההוא השם יתב' אשר מוציא אותו מבית אסורים

וכל זה שאם יחשוב האדם כי כח יש בידו לעמוד נגד יצר הרע ושנים שהם מתנגדים זה לזה גובר האחד על השני ואין האדם יכול לעמוד נגד יצר הרע. ועם כי בודאי יש לאדם לעמוד נגד יצה"ר בכל כחו, אבל לא יחשוב כי יכול להתנגד אליו ולעמוד כנגדו, רק יחשוב שהוא דבר קשה מאוד מאוד והוא ירא מן יצר הרע, רק כי הסלוק הזה הוא מצד הש"י אשר הוא מסלק היצר הרע, אבל האדם כל זמן שאמר כי הוא בעצמו יכול להתנגד אליו ולהיות גובר עליו אז היצה"ר גובר עליו בכח כמו שנים שהם מתנגדים זה לזה, וקשה לבשר ודם לנצח אותו כאשר היצר הרע מגרה, רק יאמר כי הש"י יסלק היצר הרע ממנו ובזה הוא עצמו אין מתנגד אל השטן כ"כ. והדברים האלו אף כי נראים פשוטים הם דברים עמוקים בענין יצר הרע, ואין להאריך יותר

I found it interesting that he explains the importance of tefila in overcoming the YH, not only because we can't do it on our own and we need the help of Hashem to succeed, but also as a tactic because by handing over the removal of the YH to Hashem, it avoids a head-on confrontation which would provoke strong resistance from it.

Does anyone have any insights into what the Maharal says is a deep concept?

Has this anything to do with the idea taught in 12 steps?

thank you very much for sharing this fascinating Maharal.

Some points here:

1) A differentiation between something called being "omed neged," and something called being "misnaged."
2) Being "gover" is through being "misnaged" and not through being "omed neged"
3) Being "misnaged" automatically defines the other as "misnaged" too, therefore the other comes to be "gover" (we see this point from the fact that the Maharal says that the cause of the Yetzer being "gover" when one is "misnaged" is "like two who are misnagdim", but he never introduced the fact that the yetzer is "misnaged" when one is "misnaged" as a separate step

Maybe the difference between "omed neged" and "misnaged" is that "omed neged" means not to have your existence be misbatel to the yetzer, whereas "misnaged" means your existence is a cause of bitul to the yetzer. So if the existence of Reuven is m'chayev the bitul of Shimon, also the existence of Shimon is m'chayev the bitul of Reuven. But if I am not trying to be m'vatel the yetzer but to see the yetzer as something which is trying to define me, and I say no I have my own definition, then the yetzer doesn't have to be m'vatel me. 

So it seems that the yetzer can function in two different ways, 1) to try and shlep me in 2) to try and be m'vatel me. And we want to keep it in 1. I have no idea if this is the dvarim amukim or not, but this does seem to be what the Maharal is saying laniyus daati

So I could see myself as something that b'etzem fits with the yetzer, that there is a m'halach of me being k'fi the yetzer, but af al pi ken, I'm not going with that m'halach in myself. Or I could see myself as something that b'etzem doesn't fit with the yetzer. 

What's the difference between seeing the good in myself as something that could be k'fi the yetzer or not as something that could be k'fi the yetzer? I would suggest that it's about whether you consider your grasp of goodness as a grasping of goodness that's rooted in seeing good in the world, in which case there's a makom ta'us, because the world can be seen as nifrad from Hashem chas v'shalom, or grasping goodness itself, without the makom for ta'us which is inherent in the world.

The maharal says b'makom acher (netzach yisrael perek beis) that the geder of the yetzer is a koach that exists as part of seder olam which is m'vatel that which exists within the world which is not k'fi the seder olam. If so, when a person's maala is through grasping emes in the world, the m'halach of the yetzer is to shlep that tfisa back to the shekerdika tfisa that the world is m'chayev, that makom ta'us. But if the persons t'fisa is from beyond the world, and taka doesn't have a way of existing k'fi the seder ha'olam, then the m'halach of the yetzer is to be m'vatel that thing.

For us who definitely don't have the madrega of recognizing emes outside of the world it means that we have to understand that all of our values and our understanding of what's good and right comes from recognizing expressions of truth and good in the world. But we walk a tightrope, because the good in the world is never pure, it's always mixed with bad and self centeredness to some degree. We have an avoda to pull out the good and recognize the chelek which is good without our musag getting influenced by the chelek hara. But we are in constant danger of missing the boat and taking the bad together with the good

Wow! what a piece
This is the essense of the 12 steps, Powerlessness, realising what we are up against, realising that G-d can take us out of it  and handing it over to G-d, steps 1,2,3