cut away one's soul

1.
USUKGloballiteraryfigurative
- To cause profound spiritual, emotional, or moral damage to a person; to diminish or remove what gives someone inner life or moral compass.
- To experience or perform an act that severs one from one’s deepest feelings, convictions, or sense of self.
2.
USUKGlobalpoeticarchaicfigurative
- To figuratively sacrifice one’s soul by abandoning conscience, principles, or spiritual beliefs.
- A dramatic or poetic expression for undergoing extreme inner loss or alienation from one’s own spirit.

Examples: