Experiences of liberation

The important thing as John Main says is: be yourself. And meditation for him is this way in which we can be ourselves, accept ourselves as we are, at this moment. And this is precisely how the breakthrough happens. And a series of breakthroughs, a succession of breakthrough moments, is what we mean by the spiritual life. It’s not just one big breakthrough, or break out of the prison. That’s not like a prison break that just happens once. But it is a series or succession of linked moments and experiences of liberation from the imprisonment within the disordered ego, and we are released into the liberty of the Spirit. This is the defining characteristic of the self. And being yourself is liberty of spirit, the freedom to be able to accept yourself realistically without having to apologise for yourself. As John Main says, without feeling you have to make yourself acceptable to God or acceptable to other people who you want to impress, and free from being trapped into the roles that we play, into role-playing, which is of course what the ego likes to do.

Breakthrough by Laurence Freeman OSB