It was Thomas Merton, the Cistercian monk, who first suggested the use of the term False Self. He did this to clarify for many Christians the meaning of Jesus’ central and oft-repeated teaching that we must die to ourselves, or “lose ourselves to find ourselves” (Mark 8:35). What is the self that must die and what is the self that should live must be clarified, or we invariably aim at the wrong target. This quote has caused much havoc and pushback in Christian history because it sounds negative and ascetical, and it was usually interpreted as an appeal to punish, deny, or reject the material world and physical self. But its total intent is personal liberation, not self-punishment. Centuries of Christians falsely assumed that if they could “die” to their body, their spirit would, for some reason, miraculously arise. I assure you, this is a waste of time. And in fact, Jesus is criticized precisely because he was not ascetical (Luke 5:33)... Apart from a general Platonic denial of the body in most religions, Paul made a most unfortunate choice of the word flesh as the enemy of Spirit (for example, Galatians 5:16-24). Today we would probably say “ego” or “small self,” which would be much closer to his actual intended meaning. Remember that Christianity is the religion that believes “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), and Jesus even returned to the “flesh” after the Resurrection (Luke 24: 40)—so flesh cannot be bad for us. If it is in any way anti-body, it is never authentic Christianity, but some form of Platonism, Stoicism, or dualistic Manicheism (all of which are quite common among Christians). Merton rightly recognized that it was not the body that had to “die” but the “false self” that we do not need anyway precisely because it is only a part of us, but trying to pass for the Whole. Adapted from Fr. Richard Rohrs Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self, pp. 38-39
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:58:10 +0000
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