“Men need a kind of baptism or initiation to set them on a spiritual path. This can take the form of a major failure, an overriding desire, or often a great wounding-physical, emotional, or psychological. We need to fall, to fail, and to jump into the mystery of our own existence, or we literally stay on the surface of life. (Note that this is how Jesus seems to understand baptism in Mark 10:38 and Luke 12:50.) You stay in your small, false self until you are immersed (“baptized”) into a larger pool that demands a larger self. This falling into death and into love (often at the same time!) becomes the necessary journey from the false self to the true self. Without a great defeat, we will attempt to use our ego-self to read and understand what the ego can never understand. Only the true self-who you already are in God-can deal with big questions. Thus, initiation is meant to give you an initial glimpse and confirmation of your true self, or soul. Then the real spiritual journey begins. Have I experienced a great failure, wounding, or defeat? Have I allowed this to bring me closer to my authentic self?”
