Page 354 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

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348 Mystic pathways through the bible
the darkness of life’s dif cult situations. But once you transcend your ego through prayer and allow your spirit to discover just a single ray of the transcendental light of God, you nd that the world is not as strange, terrible, or sorrowful as you had imagined. Rather every moment that you live, you feel sustained by Divine glory and surrounded by Divine majesty. The message of Christ’s life is that you must discover that glory and majesty yourself. This is the implication of the teaching, “Take up the Cross and follow me” (KJV Mark10:21):
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall nd it.
(KJV Matthew 16: 24-25)
Taking up the Cross is a constant effort to let go of the illusions that one’s ego has created. You are not here on this earth to live for your ego. You are living to see that your ego dissolves.
Through His cruci xion, Christ symbolizes the effacement of ego and presents that attainment as a great challenge to all spiritual aspirants. As you purify your reason and learn to introspect deeply, you begin to see how many egoistic illusions and irrational thoughts abide within the mind. Due to the pressure of ego and an erroneous sense of individuality, so