Human Development

Intentional self-negation

Description:
This is experienced as saying no to one's own will; when one sees that one is required is to give up one's own peace, security and spiritual well-being for the sake of a larger task. It may be compared to Jean Valjean in "The Tale of Two Cities" when he reflects that it is a "far, far better thing" to negate than to affirm his own will.
Context:
In the ICA New Religious Mode in the arena of knowing one's disengagement (the life of Poverty) the fourth formal aspect is the experience of spiritual denial or sacrificial offering. At the second phenomenological level, this occurs when a person takes charge of desires which formerly controlled his life.<
Broader:
Spiritual denial