(PHOTO: LAURENCE FREEMAN, FRANCE) Jesus’s teaching on this question of finding oneself doesn’t put it just in terms of finding oneself but in following him. This puts a different spin on it. To follow him means what? Say you are driving in two cars somewhere and the first car knows where he is going, you don’t. So they’ll say ‘Just follow me.’ What does that mean? It means there’s trust, trust that they know where they are going. It also means you have to be very careful that you don’t lose the other person, you have to make sure that another car doesn’t come in between you and the car you are following. It’s a small example of what it might mean to follow: to pay attention, to be faithful, to stay connected, to keep going in the spirit of trust or faith. And it means to take the attention off ourselves: ‘Whoever wants to follow me must deny himself’. It sounds very negative, but we can see it in a better light if we see it in the light of meditation – taking the attention off ourselves. That is what it means to leave self behind.
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