https://periodic-reset.writeas.com/tag:Mortification https://bit.ly/periodic-reset-of-civilizations Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:39:01 +0000 https://periodic-reset.writeas.com/st?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[St. John of the Cross & Mortifications. “St. Catherine of Genoa said: “I AM NO MORE MY OWN”. From Facing Adversity with Grace: Lessons from the Saints by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker: “As we look at the ways saints dealt with adversity, physical pain is a good place to start since almost everyone has experienced physical pain at some time in their lives. In fact, many other types of suffering, such as torture, hunger, disability, and even mental anguish, are expressed physically. Pain is one of the common denominators of humanity. You'd be hard-pressed to find a saint who didn't suffer physically in some form or another. Sometimes the pain was the result of illness or injury; at other times it was the result of self-mortification, and especially in the past, it was often the result of torture. Like all addicts, Matt Talbot had to exercise self-discipline in order not to take up drinking again, but he did more than just resist the urge to drink. Some of his additional self-discipline came in the form of PHYSICAL MORTIFICATION. WHY IS SELF-DISCIPLINE important when dealing with the suffering associated with addiction? AS IS THE CASE WITH SO MANY OTHER KINDS OF SUFFERING, IT'S BECAUSE LIVING A DISCIPLINED LIFE STOPS THE CYCLE OF SELF-PITY.” MEANING ACTIVELY DESTROYING THE EGO. The Awakening IS THAT. “Often whatever we concentrate on INTENSIFIES, so if want to lessen our suffering, WE MUST STOP FOCUSING ON IT. Living a disciplined life is the key to making that happen.” Meaning the Will. You will see from the rest of the article that many so-called saints are not indeed saints. Because they forced this focus on something they did not like. Ending up believing that they “have arrived” when they have not even begun their work of destroying the ego. From Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross: “No soul therefore can overcome his might [...] without [...] MORTIFICATION. St. Paul, saying: “IF BY THE SPIRIT you mortify the deeds of the FLESH, YOU SHALL LIVE.” By the siege is meant the passions and desires, WHICH, WHEN NOT OVERCOME AND MORTIFIED [...]” From that Edition of "Spiritual Canticle" translated by David Lewis: We find; Mortal 1 time, mortal flesh 1 time, mortal body 3 times, mortal tongue 2 times, mortal nature 1 time, mortal eyes 1 time, mortal sin plus mortal sins 4 times, mortal life 3 times, mortal vision 2 times, mortified 5 times, mortify 2 times, mortification plus mortifications 7 times, mortifying 2 times. THIS IS THE THEME OF THE TEXT, and of all the “Mystical literature”; TO OVERCOME HIS FLESH. What is written in the religious texts has nothing to do with the conception of a monotheistic god at all; it's a state 'that it is about'; the mystical state. For this reason, everything is an allusion in these religious texts: For the Allusion exceeds the mental (mind). Mental in the sense of “something Reactive”. Example of the mental; eating chips reminds you of barbecue; nudity reminds you of sex; the heat of the sun reminds you of the feeling of warmth, et cetera. IT'S ALL ABOUT MEMORIES in the mental process; one idea calls 'to another idea'. A tool used 'for the Basis of marketing'. The MIND “works” this way: one idea calls to another. I wish it were more complicated, but it's not. It's simplistic and 'NOT VERY SMART'. IN FACT 'NOT SMART AT ALL'. TO USE A CONTEMPORARY VOCABULARY: OVERCOMING THE FLESH IS OVERCOMING THE MIND. This mind “that always knows what is best for you”. BUT IN FACT NOT, AS IT IS ONLY REACTIVE. [...] You know when every time an idea pops up, and that it's just related to what you're used to doing. But this idea is not the right one, IT'S NOT THE BEST IDEA YOU COULD HAVE. BUT THAT THERE IS AN INSISTENCE in the brain on “getting this idea through”; because you are used to; IT'S THAT MENTAL ACTIVITY 'that needs to be overcome'. Mystics talk about that nothing else. It is 'this state that the mystics speak of'. This is what the mystics pointed 'to as a state'; awakening is about that, nothing else. The mind is not the one, WHICH HAS TO CONTROL YOU, you have to control 'the mind'. And yes, WE CAN CHANGE THIS BIOLOGY. This is the Essence of Esotericism. Esotericism is the ESSENCE of Religions, religions are not meant TO BE institutions at all. It is a 'USURPATION OF RIGHT'. THERE IS NO LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY in a religion AS A STRUCTURE. NONE. 'Don't be IMPRESSED BY THEM'. IF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE 'TELL YOU OTHERWISE'; THEY LIE. RELIGIOUS PEOPLE have no legitimacy over you or society. From A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor and Karen Armstrong: “BY FIERCE ASCETICISM, cloistered incarceration, sleeping on straw and rising in the darkness after a few hours’ sleep, by abstinence, fasting, humiliation, the hair shirt, the scourge, the extremes of heat and cold, and the unbroken cycle of contemplation, prayer and back-breaking toil.” 'THE GOAL IS TO BREAK THE EGO', that identification “we have”. What remains after the broken ego will be the mystical state. The Mystical liberation which is the basis of religious texts. ALL RELIGIONS ARE MYSTICAL, then became institutions without authority, WANDERING LIKE 'A CHICKEN THAT HAS JUST BEEN DECAPITATED'. From Alchemical Active Imagination by Marie-Louise von Franz: “And then comes the “SYMBOLIZATION”: when one speaks such different languages, one can communicate only by using symbols. AT FIRST THE BODY CANNOT UNDERSTAND SYMBOLS but always says to stop and cease THAT SYMBOLIC WAY OF TALKING AND BE CONCRETE, FOR HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND IT. But after a while he begins TO UNDERSTAND THE SYMBOLIZATION, and then they can be reunited IN A NEW ONENESS.” This is 'why Myths' WERE SO IMPORTANT in the Antiquity and why the population 'was much more' EVOLVED THAN MODERN PEOPLE ARE. FOR THE PRACTICE OF SYMBOL, evolves this mental capacity towards 'MORE ABSTRACTION'; AND ULTIMATELY “this is how the brain Works.” The Ancients were much more sophisticated than we are, we see this in their art, in their texts, 'in their poetry', it is they who gave us the MODERN ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY, The Civilization. Since we have Abandoned this way of functioning, we are 'ONLY DRIFTING', especially in the West WITH THIS RIDICULOUS DEMOCRACY. “That is why first the separation or distraction, distractio of the mens from the body, is necessary, so that the later union can be achieved. Many call this distractio a voluntary death reached by making animus and anima one and by making them subdue the body, which has to be forced to give up his petulance, his agitation, and his constant worry about worldly things, and also his lack of moderation in his desires. THIS HAS AN EFFECT ON THE WILL. The latter starts liking THIS CHANGE AND BECOMES THE MEDICINE. Just as wild animals become ferocious when they eat too much, and get a cancerous tumor when they do not cleanse their bodies of all superfluous juices through the excrement, through defecation, SO THE PHILOSOPHICAL MEDICINE HAS TO CLEANSE OUR BODIES FROM EVERYTHING THAT IS SUPERFLUOUS AND CORRUPT, AND THEN IT CAN CURE THE BODY.” MORTIFICATION. “If you read certain medieval texts on the spiritual education of a monk, such as the Exercitia Spiritualia by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, you will see that some orders also have such rules as to how to OVERCOME THE DESIRES OF THE BODY. Saint John of the Cross even said that someone who really took the imitation of Christ SERIOUSLY SHOULD NOT LIVE BEYOND FORTY.” The STATEMENT is a bit exaggerated. But it's TRUE in the sense that if you don't economize yourself (if you refuse the gentrification of life), THEN BY DEFINITION you're not going to 'take care of that body' and age faster than someone who does economize. The bourgeois lifestyle being as opposed to the mystical lifestyle and mystics aging faster than a typical 'middle class man'. And the reserves of the body being not inexhaustible. You age faster. But after enlightenment, this Preoccupation disappears; being alive or dead doesn't matter. “For in medieval meditation texts, the body is always tortured, mortified, and abused as much as possible, treated completely as an enemy. Here he is treated not quite as an enemy BUT RATHER AS A POOR CHAP WHO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND, and he gets a decent meal in another room. He is not just mortified or rejected, as in medieval treatises like Diligendo Deo, or in the writings of Saint John of the Cross and others.” The objective is to 'BREAK THE RESISTANCE'. From Cultivating Virtue: Self-Mastery With the Saints by Anonymous, translated from the Italian by A Member of the Order of Mercy. Originally published as A Year With the Saints: A Virtue for Every Month of the Year in 1891: “In it the soul becomes like that of a little child, enjoys a pure and holy tranquility, never thinks evil of others, nor interests itself in what does not belong to its own position.” IT'S SUPER HARD TO EXPLAIN, because THERE'S THE RELIGIOUS INTERPRETATION that comes up first; THE ONE WE WERE RAISED IN; PURITANICAL, BOURGEOIS. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT IT'S ABOUT. IT'S NOT ABOUT SOCIAL DECORUM. The transformation (enlightenment) of the body leads to THE INTERIOR. THE ENLIGHTENMENT SEALS THE BODY FROM THE OUTSIDE, NOTHING EXTERNAL CAN ENTER FROM NOW ON. The Wanderings of others can therefore only be foreign 'to us' because there is no longer a exterior “perceived”. It is not explicable. This is why esoteric traditions speak of Unification, although Unification “is not the right word”. “Thence he brought her up to the second terrace, [...] Here he enumerated to her the properties of TRUE LOVE, WHICH IS PURE, SIMPLE, UNSELFISH [...] These are: a true mortification of ALL VICES AND OF EVERY EARTHLY AFFECTION [...] A LIVING DEATH, by which the soul dies to itself and TO ALL AFFECTIONS OF SENSE, and lives in a total annihilation and transformation into its crucified Lord, so as to be able to say: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.” [Gal. 2:20]” Read this sentence and Especially the End of this sentence; “its crucified Lord, Christ liveth in me”, in a non-dualistic way, for that is what it is all about. EVERYTHING HAS BEEN INTERPRETED “dualistically” by religions ('institutions'). And the mystical state 'is not about that'. “The soul that has gained this state seems to have conquered the world, and bears sufferings and crosses as if it could no longer feel them. The fourth terrace, he said, TYPIFIED THE STATE of real and perfect union.” That is why you read in the mystical writings; “that they walk on the world”. St. Francis de Sales: “I hear nothing talked of but perfection; yet I see it practiced only by few. Everyone forms his own ideal of it. Some place it in simplicity of attire; some in austerity; some in almsgiving; some in frequent reception of the Sacraments; this one, in prayer; that one, in passive contemplation; and another, in the gifts called gratuitous. BUT, BY A GENERAL MISTAKE, THEY TAKE THE EFFECTS FOR THE CAUSE, AND THE MEANS FOR THE END. The greater part of Christians usually practice incision instead of circumcision. They will make a cut indeed in a diseased part; but as for employing the knife of circumcision, to take away whatever is superfluous from the heart, few go so far.” “FOR MY PART, I KNOW OF NO OTHER PERFECTION THAN LOVING GOD WITH ALL THE HEART, AND OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES.” And here too this has not been understood by the christian who, from where he is, has God on one side of his head and himself on the other; this is not possible. Whereas the saints and mystics 'do not speak of this' but of a Union meaning not two. […] That is, no longer God on one side and you on the other. This means that the monotheistic notion of a God is false and showed by 'the mystical state'. “Whoever imagines any other kind of perfection deceives himself, for the whole accumulation of virtues without this is but a heap of stones. And if we do not immediately and perfectly enjoy this treasure of holy love, the fault is in us. We are too slow and ungenerous with God, and do not give ourselves up entirely to Him, as the Saints did.” The Master-Disciple relationship: a relationship that has not existed in the West 'for 1800 years': “The Saint sought to mortify his disciple, while the latter, in the meantime, obeyed promptly in everything and bore all WITHOUT REPLY. And thus, in the course of only five years, he reached a very high perfection and sanctity.” It doesn't take more than 'five to ten years' to awaken; from the moment 'you have two people who have one will. You don't have that anymore in the West, that's why; there is no way to awaken 'anybody in the West'. The Esoteric Tradition has been Interrupted in the West and is not in a position to resurrect anytime soon in this 'moribund continent'. St. John of the Cross: “I wish I could persuade spiritual persons that the way of perfection DOES NOT CONSIST IN MANY DEVICES, nor in much cogitation, BUT IN DENYING THEMSELVES completely and yielding themselves to suffer everything for love of Christ. And if there is failure in this exercise, all other methods of walking in the spiritual way are merely a BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH, and profitless trifling, although a person should have a very high contemplation and communication with God.” “CASSIAN WROTE CONCERNING THE ABBOT PAPHNUTIUS THAT THE ROAD BY WHICH HE ARRIVED AT SUCH GREAT SANCTITY WAS THAT OF CONSTANTLY MORTIFYING HIMSELF; and that in this manner he extinguished in himself all vices, and perfected in himself all virtues.” THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO GET THERE. You have to 'Nuke' ALL THE MENTAL RESISTANCES, you have to 'purify this mind'. “FATHER BALTHASAR ALVAREZ PRACTICED CONTINUAL MORTIFICATION AND SELF-DENIAL, not only in great things BUT ALSO IN SMALL; and by this he arrived AT HIGH PERFECTION. The Blessed Angela di Foligno, in ecstasy, saw the Lord bestowing marks of love upon some of His servants, but upon one, more; upon another, less. Desiring to understand the cause of this difference, she advanced to inquire of Our Lord, who answered thus: “I invite all to Me, but all ARE NOT WILLING TO COME, BECAUSE THE WAY IS INTERLACED WITH THORNS. To all who come, I offer My bread to eat and My cup to drink. But My food IS NOT PLEASING TO SENSE, AND MY CUP IS FULL OF BITTERNESS, so that all do not desire TO SATIATE themselves with those labors which were My meat while I was in the world. But those who are most constant in bearing Me company, they certainly are My dearest and most favored ones.” Simple enough for a Mystic to understand BUT NOT FOR A RELIGIOUS PERSON; the reason Why these mystical-religious texts are not understood 'by them'. Let's go back to the text “Cultivating Virtue: Self-Mastery With the Saints by Anonymous”. The problem with the religious is these good sentiments (do-gooders) and actions only apply to morality meaning SOCIAL DECORUM. Since they have not been initiated and won't be (not their nature), they will apply solutions 'from where they are'; and where they are is not very far. Ending up creating worse results than before their actions. This is why religious people 'are always social dangers'; and the social Threat. “Then it was revealed to him that so great a grace had been given him by God in reward for the little mortification which he accepted in serving Mass.” Religious people being brought up in 'this BOURGEOIS ATMOSPHERE of social decorum' cannot understand that 'one must first destroy oneself' in order to enjoy 'the fruits of this destruction'. That is to say, to no longer suffer from this mind 'which dictates life'. THE RELIGIOUS ADD MORE MENTAL (mind) TO THE SOCIETY, to a western society already well taken in the mental, since the inception of Christianism. Doctrine coming from the East at least in its mentality and not understood by a 'Western population', not used to this kind of mentality. The religious, the bourgeois par excellence, apply an outside (exotericism: 'politics'), and 'what should' be applied is an Inside ('Esotericism'). Ending up applying a whole bunch of isms, collectivism ... ecologism the last seen of the isms, this destroying 'THE STRUCTURES OF SOCIETY' which are only based 'on the transformation of the individual'; its awakening. THE WESTERN COLLECTIVISM of the 20th century being therefore only this political application of internal precepts (esotericism), on (the external) politics. THIS IS WHY THERE IS A CONSTANT WESTERN CONFUSION BETWEEN THE PRIVATE AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE IN THE WEST, and these western maternalist states that always dictate “life to people”. It's unbearable but this is the monotheistic West. Because the ESOTERIC DOCTRINES have not been understood by the population, and are not understandable for the Westerners (different Mentality). St. Francis de Sales: “Our greatest fault is that we wish to serve God in our way, not in His way—according to our will, not according to His will.” That is, we act through the mind, which always dictates our lives: that mind that 'has not been domesticated yet'. And this is why the religious people SEES AN EXTERIOR, because he has not 'been transformed', and why he sees a God; an object. God not being definable, he defines it. And loses himself in a concept, 'in the conceptual mind'. God not being definable and therefore not being graspable by the mind, we end up in the west with that stupid doctrine of monotheism. In Monotheism; on the one hand there is you and on the other God; esoterically 'this is not possible'; there cannot be two things; because esotericism is inside and outside does not exist; outside 'are just projections'. St. Francis de Sales: “Our greatest fault is that we wish to serve God in our way, not in His way—according to our will, not according to His will. When He wishes us to be sick, WE WISH TO BE WELL when He desires us to serve HIM BY SUFFERINGS, we desire to serve Him BY WORKS; when He wishes us to exercise charity, we wish to exercise HUMILITY; when He seeks from us RESIGNATION, WE WISH FOR DEVOTION, a spirit of prayer, or some other virtue. And this is not because the things we desire may be more pleasing to Him, but because THEY ARE MORE TO OUR TASTE.” MEANING PLEASURES —THROUGH THE 'DOPAMINE MECHANISM'—. “This is certainly the greatest obstacle WE CAN RAISE TO OUR OWN PERFECTION, for it is beyond doubt that if we wish to be Saints according to our own will, WE SHALL NEVER BE SO AT ALL.” “TO BE TRULY A SAINT, it is necessary to be one according to the will of God.” “St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi knew this most important truth; and, with the guidance of so clear a light, she knew how to submit her will to that of God so perfectly that she was always contented with what came to her day by day, nor did she ever desire anything extraordinary. She was even accustomed to say that she would consider it a marked defect to ask of the Lord any grace for herself or others, with any greater importunity than simple prayers, and that it was her joy and glory to do His will, not that He should do hers. Even as to the sanctity and perfection of her own soul, she wished that it might be not according to her own desire, but to the will of God. And so, we find among her writings this resolution: To offer myself to God, and to seek all that perfection and only that perfection which He is pleased that I should have, and in the time and way that He shall wish, and not otherwise.” This, Precisely, is not understood 'BY THE RELIGIOUS' who act bourgeoisly and in the desire only to satisfy himself, ending up becoming totally neurotic and the Worst actors of society. “In conversation with an intimate friend, she once said: The good which does not come to me by this way of the Divine Will, DOES NOT SEEM TO ME GOOD. I would prefer having no gift at all except that of leaving my will and all my desires in God, to having any gift through desire and will. Yes, yes, in me sint, Deus, vota tua, et non vota mea—THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE. The grace which she asked most frequently and most earnestly of the Lord was this: that He would make her remain till death entirely subject and SUBMISSIVE to His Divine Will and pleasure; thus it is no wonder that she became SO HOLY.” SUBMISSIVE IS 'THE KEY HERE'. “Even among THE HEATHENS, there are to be found those who by the light of reason alone clearly understood this truth. Plutarch disapproved of the common prayer of the people: May God give you all that good which you desire. No, he says, we ought rather to say, May God grant that you shall desire what He desires. And what is more, Epictetus practiced it; for he said: “I am always content with whatever happens, it all happens by the disposal of God, and I am certain that what God wills is better than what I can ever will.”” St. Francis de Sales: “Two mistakes I find common among spiritual persons. One is that they ordinarily measure their devotion by the CONSOLATIONS AND SATISFACTIONS [PLEASURES] which they experience in the way of God, so that if these happen to be wanting, they think they have lost all devotion. No, this is no more than a sensible devotion. True and substantial devotion does not consist in these things, but in having a will resolute, active, ready, and CONSTANT NOT TO OFFEND God, AND TO PERFORM ALL THAT BELONGS TO HIS SERVICE. The other mistake is that if it ever happens to them to do anything WITH REPUGNANCE AND WEARINESS, THEY BELIEVE THEY HAVE NO MERIT IN IT.” Fools! These Eastern teachings have NEVER BEEN 'UNDERSTOOD BY THE WESTERN MASSES'. The Western mind cannot grasp the thought of the East. IT IS UTTERLY USELESS TO CONTINUE IN THIS, we have to find something ELSE MORE SUITABLE FOR THE WESTERN MASSES. St. Teresa: “We are not to regard great favors from God so much as virtues, but consider who serves the Lord with the GREATEST MORTIFICATION.” You have to Break this mind, TO BE ABLE TO FUNCTION NORMALLY IN SOCIETY. St. Francis de Sales: “Humility and charity are the two master-chords: one, the lowest; the other, the highest; all the others are dependent on them. Therefore it is necessary, above all, to maintain ourselves in these two virtues; for observe well that the preservation of the whole edifice depends on the FOUNDATION AND THE ROOF. The two feet upon which one walks to perfection are mortification and the love of God. The latter is the right, the former the left foot.” THIS LOVE OF GOD IS ONLY THE LOVE YOU HAVE FOR YOURSELF. God does not exist, it is a fragment of your imagination. As long as you think there is an outside, like being in other people's business, you are not on the Inside, so you don't know what love is. But love will not come until you have enlightenment, that is, until you have killed that mind, killed because you have desired it and you have killed the Beast, there the esoteric reference/imagery around “slaying the dragon”. KILLING THIS EGO IS A —VOLUNTARY ACT—. Revelation 20:1-3 “1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2, And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him.” “By the aid of these, St. Francis Assisi climbed TO THE LOFTIEST PERFECTION. He led a life so austere and rigid that at the point of death he felt that he must ask pardon of his body FOR HAVING TREATED IT SO ILL. We read in old chronicles of a young lady who was so severely afflicted that she seemed to be suffering THE PAINS OF HELL. After remaining for a long time in this state, she one day turned her whole heart to God in this prayer: “My sweetest Lord, only remember that I am a poor creature of Thine! for the rest, do with me what pleases Thee, now and through eternity! I abandon myself into Thy hands, and am ready to suffer these torments as long as it shall please Thee.” THIS ACT OF RESIGNATION.” THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT. YOU HAVE TO SURRENDER COMPLETELY. AND THE MADNESS STOPS AT THAT POINT; 'THE DUALITY STOPS THERE'. If you read psychiatric literature, you will 'see many profiles revolving around this suffering of liberation'. Not finding a way out of their suffering; and yet 'they are the way out; that is THEMSELVES TO STOP THAT SUFFERING. The dualism that has struck the West; the monotheism, in this dichotomy between an outside and an inside, which does not exist, making the 'Westerners' the most mentally crazy population in this world. All the isms of collectivism 'were born in the West', westerners have brought this monotheistic plague to the whole world, all the way to Asia. “St. Catherine of Genoa said: “I AM NO MORE MY OWN; whether I live or die, I AM MY SAVIOUR’S; I have no longer any possession or interest of my own.” THIS IS WHY “THE ESOTERIC FIGURE of the savior”, which was not understood by the Westerner, who saw “an external Savior”, an historical Jesus, WHEN IT WAS THEMSELVES “WHO HAD TO SAVE THEMSELVES”. This was not understood by the Westerner. This same figure “which is taken up dozens and dozens of times in the religions of the East before applying it in the very clumsy Christian formula.” “AS THE SPIRIT OF MORTIFICATION IS THAT OF THE CRUCIFIED”. You understand 'why the MULTI-MILLENNIAL figure of the crucifixion was chosen to illustrate the awakening process'. Abbot Moses: “Place thyself under the discipline of a stern and austere man, who will treat thee harshly and with rigor; and then strive to drink in all his reproofs and ill treatment as one would drink milk and honey; and I assure thee that in a little time thou wilt find thyself ON THE PINNACLE OF PERFECTION.” All this is no longer applicable in the West since the fall of Rome, the Westerner who has become a retarded Teenager refusing to become Mature, and insert himself into the Society of men. The West is screwed up. “St. Francis de Sales was often blamed by his friends, as they did not approve of his course in not sustaining his dignity and defending himself more vigorously AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF THE MALEVOLENT. He replied to them that mildness ought to be the characteristic of bishops; and so, although the world and self-love has established maxims of another kind, he did not wish to make use of them, BECAUSE THEY WERE CONTRARY TO THOSE OF JESUS CHRIST, IN CONFORMITY TO WHICH HE HAD ALWAYS GLORIED.” As long as you are going TO BE ON THE OUTSIDE, YOU ARE GOING TO BE ON THE OUTSIDE and You will always find problems with this world. Luke 14:11: “For everyone who [..] HUMBLES himself WILL BE EXALTED.” But Mortification is misunderstood; many people (religious) think that mortifying the body means acts of 'torture of the body'. No. This is how many religious people have attributed to themselves bodily abuse, such as flogging, WHICH ARE USELESS! THE GOAL IS TO LIMIT ONE'S PLEASURES AND TO RENOUNCE THEM; MORTIFICATION IS THAT. The goal is to avoid the 'DOPAMINE MECHANISM' in the brain' that consumes this body; more pleasures lead to more desires for pleasures, like an addict. The goal is to regularly cut out these daily pleasures, until —YOU NO LONGER NEED THEM—. Because you have understood that they 'enslave you', and you have understood the pleasures mechanism. Gradually this biology will become 'more resistant' to outside solicitations until totally 'cut the outside'; and awakening is about that; the control of your biology. St. Jerome: “The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken from the progress we make IN THE VIRTUE OF MORTIFICATION; for it should be held as certain that THE GREATER VIOLENCE we shall do ourselves in mortification, THE GREATER ADVANCE WE SHALL MAKE IN PERFECTION.” “When St. Francis Borgia heard it said that anyone was a saint, he used to answer, “He is, if he is mortified.” When a young monk once asked an aged saint why, among so many who aim at perfection, SO FEW ARE FOUND PERFECT, he replied, “BECAUSE IN ORDER TO BE PERFECT IT IS NECESSARY TO DIE wholly to one’s own inclinations, AND THERE ARE FEW WHO ARRIVE AT THIS.”” Hence the IMAGE OF DEATH and Resurrection, in 'all Esoteric traditions'. St. Francis de Sales: “IT SHOULD BE OUR PRINCIPAL BUSINESS TO CONQUER OURSELVES, and, from day to day, to go on increasing in strength and PERFECTION. Above all, however, it is necessary for us to strive TO CONQUER OUR LITTLE TEMPTATIONS, such as fits of anger, suspicions, jealousies, envy, deceitfulness, vanity, attachments, and evil thoughts. For in this way we shall acquire strength to subdue greater ones.” St. Vincent de Paul: “He who allows himself to be ruled or guided by the lower and animal part of his nature, DESERVES TO BE CALLED A BEAST RATHER THAN A MAN.” “Philip, Count of Nemours, after leading a very bad life, experienced on his deathbed wonderful contrition, so that he begged his confessor to h