Contemplative wisdom teacher Cynthia Bourgeault discusses how “dying before we die” brings new life from our awareness of mortality:
The one who would save his life or her life will lose it and the one who’s willing to lose it, will save it (see Matthew 16:25)… The whole tradition we’ve had of “dying before you die” [through a contemplative disposition of detachment] sounds like martyrdom from the outside, but what you really discover is, it’s the gateway to freedom.
Jesus within our own Christian path not only tried to point toward what this new life is, but he also took us there and left us with the promise that he carries this, that he takes it on. Any one of us who summons the great courage within us to gird up our loins and die before we die are not left unaccompanied. It’s on the other edge of that that we’re really set free to courage, to compassion, and to generosity—this is where the Paschal Mystery begins to come in.
The fruits of the Spirit… are alchemical products that grow on the other side of the human being not afraid to die. We can find and collectively draw on those wonderful gifts. But it requires the personal willingness (as the old monks in the desert said), to “sit in your cell and ponder the hour of your death” until you’ve really worked through your system what this promise means: “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” [Romans 14:8]. . . .