Meditation also does it through poverty. Through the simple renunciation of all the materials that the illusion relies upon, the ego will be involved in using, materials like ideas, memories, images, fantasies, desires and fears. By renouncing all of these, as the Desert Fathers described it, renouncing all the ‘riches of the imagination’, the sense of the separate self begins to diminish. And what is left is the self, our simple true being. And where the true self is shining, we see God’s light. The light of the self is the light of God, the light of self-knowledge is divine love. And our way is through the mind of Christ, the mind, the being, the person, the spirit of love that is transparent, egoless and completely other-centred. It is this that Jesus is expressing in the Gospel of John when he says: ‘I am the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ (Jn 8:32). Free from what? Free from illusion and fear. Free to use your imagination creatively and enjoyably as a celebration of the unlimited beauty and diversity of God and of God in creation.
( The Brick Wall of the Ego 2 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
