"And calling the crowd to him, he said to them, 'if anyone would come after me , let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me' "(Mark, 8:34). Jesus said this to people who would like to be his disciples as an absolute condition without any exception. Why should we be the disciples of Jesus with such a heavy cost to our present way of living? Why should we take the risk of discovering our true self in exchange for our present sense of well-being? The simple answer is that this is the only sure shot method to be perfectly happy. Does it mean that those who follow other masters are not happy? Not at all! Being a disciple of Jesus is not limited by religious allegiances or various belief systems. The principle of self-denial being universal, all those who follow it are in fact disciples of Jesus. It is the only method for two reasons: 1. Jesus identified himself, through what he did with his life, with the Kingdom of God, inaugurated and gradually built up by his very being, to attain which is perfect happiness. 2. What we are called to deny is our false self, accumulated and tended by our daily involvements in wrong ways, and not our true self that is hidden in us. It is the treasure hidden in our soul as the image and likeness of God(Gen.1:26) to be chiseled out in preparation for the Kingdom of God, that is our perfect happiness.
To achieve this gradual manifestation of the image of God deeply engraved in our hearts, we should make use of the art of spiritual life. The first part of this art consists in getting rid of the negativity infesting our life. It is but the outcome of our false self indulging our 'Ego' in manifold ways.These ways of appeasement of our false self appear to satisfy our need for happiness enticing us with short term and uncertain feelings of satisfaction. However, they fade away the moment we attain them urging us further to look elsewhere for additional avenues of satisfaction. All of them are merely sense-related and centered on our body and the things in the world. Gradually, we are ruled by the worldly spirit keeping us chained to our own weaknesses plunging us into boredom, depression etc. All the vices in our lives totally consume us making us impervious to our real well-being connected to our true self. What do we do then? Should we completely abandon the sense pleasures and worldly pursuits?Such a way of life is opted by some. But, the remaining vast majority only need to be aware of the nature of such satisfactions and be detached from them even while enjoying them (See our Post on 'Detachment').
The second part of the art of spiritual life consists in developing our true self and it is already operative when we start realizing the folly of our false self. The best way to dismantle our negative attitudes is to inject true values emanating from our true self as the image of God, which is equivalent to taking up our cross. Such values are all the noble virtues like love, gratitude, justice,honesty, humility, purity, peace-making, serviceability etc. They will effectively fight our negative inclinations like hatred, anger, jealousy, injustice, dishonesty, pride, lust, greed, selfishness etc. uprooting our false self. Uprooting and destroying our false self is what Jesus meant by denying our own self as it is the outward and visible part of our self we are used to and easily understood. The true self being hidden in our soul, spilling over into our body, we need to completely turn around, i.e., conversion demanded by Jesus in relation to the Kingdom of God and our happiness.
Jesus himself gave us practical tips about ways and means to deny our self, take up our cross and follow him (See Matthew, chapters, 5-7). We have already seen in the previous Posts about the Beatitudes and the need of the disciples to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Once we have assimilated them in our life, it is possible to understand and practice the instructions given in the rest of the chapters.. The main point to remember here is to understand the sense of the instructions as against mere literal understanding and application of their supposed meaning. Let us keep in mind that the letter kills and it is the Spirit that gives life (2 Cor.5:6). It is how God Himself teaches us (John, 14:26; 1 John, 2: 27) depending on the stage of preparedness we are in our spiritual journey.
The art of spiritual life requires us to understand the Word of God in depth through study, prayer and meditation. As we understand the message, we are called upon to apply it concretely in our daily life expressing the image of God in us. This image may take the form of the salt of the earth, light of the world, servant of the people, dispenser of charities, care-taker of the poor and the marginalized etc. This is a life-long program and journey where ups and downs are normal and to be expected. We should not be disheartened by the slow progress or static stage of the journey. Such occasions can be used to refresh ourselves and restart the pilgrimage that is our life in search of perfect happiness in the Kingdom of God.
To achieve this gradual manifestation of the image of God deeply engraved in our hearts, we should make use of the art of spiritual life. The first part of this art consists in getting rid of the negativity infesting our life. It is but the outcome of our false self indulging our 'Ego' in manifold ways.These ways of appeasement of our false self appear to satisfy our need for happiness enticing us with short term and uncertain feelings of satisfaction. However, they fade away the moment we attain them urging us further to look elsewhere for additional avenues of satisfaction. All of them are merely sense-related and centered on our body and the things in the world. Gradually, we are ruled by the worldly spirit keeping us chained to our own weaknesses plunging us into boredom, depression etc. All the vices in our lives totally consume us making us impervious to our real well-being connected to our true self. What do we do then? Should we completely abandon the sense pleasures and worldly pursuits?Such a way of life is opted by some. But, the remaining vast majority only need to be aware of the nature of such satisfactions and be detached from them even while enjoying them (See our Post on 'Detachment').
The second part of the art of spiritual life consists in developing our true self and it is already operative when we start realizing the folly of our false self. The best way to dismantle our negative attitudes is to inject true values emanating from our true self as the image of God, which is equivalent to taking up our cross. Such values are all the noble virtues like love, gratitude, justice,honesty, humility, purity, peace-making, serviceability etc. They will effectively fight our negative inclinations like hatred, anger, jealousy, injustice, dishonesty, pride, lust, greed, selfishness etc. uprooting our false self. Uprooting and destroying our false self is what Jesus meant by denying our own self as it is the outward and visible part of our self we are used to and easily understood. The true self being hidden in our soul, spilling over into our body, we need to completely turn around, i.e., conversion demanded by Jesus in relation to the Kingdom of God and our happiness.
Jesus himself gave us practical tips about ways and means to deny our self, take up our cross and follow him (See Matthew, chapters, 5-7). We have already seen in the previous Posts about the Beatitudes and the need of the disciples to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Once we have assimilated them in our life, it is possible to understand and practice the instructions given in the rest of the chapters.. The main point to remember here is to understand the sense of the instructions as against mere literal understanding and application of their supposed meaning. Let us keep in mind that the letter kills and it is the Spirit that gives life (2 Cor.5:6). It is how God Himself teaches us (John, 14:26; 1 John, 2: 27) depending on the stage of preparedness we are in our spiritual journey.
The art of spiritual life requires us to understand the Word of God in depth through study, prayer and meditation. As we understand the message, we are called upon to apply it concretely in our daily life expressing the image of God in us. This image may take the form of the salt of the earth, light of the world, servant of the people, dispenser of charities, care-taker of the poor and the marginalized etc. This is a life-long program and journey where ups and downs are normal and to be expected. We should not be disheartened by the slow progress or static stage of the journey. Such occasions can be used to refresh ourselves and restart the pilgrimage that is our life in search of perfect happiness in the Kingdom of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment