They who live not for themselves but for him, find in death itself the way to life.

One of the important themes you’ll hear in the talks and lectures by Christian contemplatives, and specifically advocates of Christian Meditation such as John Main and Laurence Freeman, is the concept of “dying to self”. In the contemplative sense, this means connecting with the transcendent and intuitively knowing the transience and insignificance of “the self” or “the ego”. By denying our “self” in contemplation and prayer, and self-denial in word and action, we can achieve great things, such as Burnley’s Pastor Mick…

In scripture, the concept of dying to self is expressed metaphorically by the crucifixion and resurrection, and articulated directly in Paul’s epistles. Specifically, Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 3:3-5. speak to the ideas of being crucified with Christ, of being dead and of Christ (or the Logos or the Word of God) being the motivator of our thoughts, words and deeds. How do we die to self and what does it offer?

I once saw a cheeky meme refer to sleeping as “death practice” but to me the real death practice is contemplative prayer. To attempt to have no thought whatsoever is the best approximation we can have here above ground of what our being will be like when we’re below it. The more we practice it, the better we are at not being consumed by our own thoughts and desires. And while I can’t maintain that state all the time, the benefits and realisations that come from regular contemplative prayer are noticed by me and those around me.

I’ve written about the flip-side of denial of self, which is self-denial, here, here, here and here so I don’t want to belabour the point, but suffice it to say that being able to resist the self, or the ego, imposing its will upon me, being able to do the right thing in this moment, is essential to being able to resist one’s ego or self imposing its will on others.

So what happens when I’ve freed myself from my own ego, or my own will? What happens when I’ve died to self? Well, I don’t know anything about the path that Pastor Mick took to reach this level of compassion for his fellow man, but I imagine this is what it looks like. As it says in the new story, there’s a personal cost to Pastor Mick — it’s mentally, emotionally and spiritually draining to care for the marginalised, to care for those with mental illness. But this is someone that is clearly altruistically motivated. So to those that believe that religion is detrimental, just look around you for examples like this. They don’t often make the news, let alone international news, but they’re there. And these examples are just another reason to take that first step on the journey to life.