JESUS said: “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
He was revealing three steps on the Christian journey, and explaining that He embodies those steps.
‘The way’ implies a destination, presumably to ‘the truth,’ while ‘the life’ hints at the goodness enabled by this.
Our ego habitually prioritises self over connection with God, other people and nature, and this can cause us great suffering.
But self-awareness and awareness of others can help us to prevent avoidable suffering.
Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, but Jesus went even further when he said: “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
It seems reasonable to suppose, then, that spiritual rebirth involves seeing ‘the truth’, and that to be spiritually reborn, our ego must die, or at least, we must become self-aware.
When Jesus said: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it,” it seems he was saying, “Trust that change is possible, for God’s truth can be experienced here and now.”
We can become liberated from the egoic delusion that prevents us loving God and other people.
So, we should always monitor our experience, sharing it with God, so that we can recognise our egoic desire and transcend its power.
Anthony Hare is a member of Wokingham Quakers, which meets at Denton Road, on Sundays at 10.30am.
For information, visit: https://midthamesquakers.org.uk/wokingham-meeting/
