The Fellowship Herald Spring 2026 - Magazine - Page 36
It’s the Means,
Not the End
After self-mastery, you gift your life to
the world, writes BARRY CULLIGAN.
It is the doorway
through which
every other
blessing is
obtained
Self-mastery is the key that opens the door to the
Paradise adventure. It is, without question, life’s first
great challenge. Failure in this challenge precludes
success in any other. Its attainment is so pivotal to
destiny realisation that it remains a subject of perennial
interest to sincere spiritual aspirants of every persuasion.
Practically every religion exalts self-mastery as one of
the first duties of its adherents. It is the doorway through
which every other blessing is obtained and,
consequently, the various traditions offer many
techniques through which it might be achieved. On the
list we see such things as: abstinence, fasting, sacrifice,
flagellation, yoga, meditation, prayer, lectio divina, and
charity, to name but a few.
All traditions more or less recognize that we begin in
imperfection. However, true religions don’t just offer
mere escape from the inevitable burdens and sorrows of
imperfection, they endeavor to reveal something so
glorious that all one’s sorrows and misfortunes are
eclipsed in one great gasp of wonder—the realization of
a majesty whose sheer beauty causes us to crumble to
our knees and give praise and thanks that we were
blessed with the capacity to know such glory! In its
presence, our sorrows melt away. In the consciousness of
unity with the divine our brokenness is healed and our all
misfortunes are counted as blessings—every one
becoming a hallowed stepping stone on the pathway to
the realization of the majesty of the Limitless One.
From there, the faithful beckon us onward, illuminating
the glory of the Better Way, the way established by the
Fount of All Glory, the way by which we are enabled to
move from the less perfect to the more perfect, from
36
