Crucifixion...

The real meaning of crucifixion is to crucify the false self, that the true self
may rise. As long as the false self is not crucified, the true self is not
realized.

Bowl of Saki, January 9, by Hazrat Inayat Khan




Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Those who rejoice in the joy of another, though at their own expense, have
taken the first step towards true life. If we are pleased by giving another a
good coat, which we would have liked to wear ourselves, if we enjoy that, we are
on the first step. If we enjoy a beautiful thing so much that we would like to
have it, and then give that joy to another, enjoying it through his experience,
we are dead. That is our death. Yet, we live more than he. Our life is much
vaster, deeper, greater.

Seemingly it is a renunciation, an annihilation, but in truth it is a mastery.
The real meaning of crucifixion is to crucify this false self, and so resurrect
the true self. As long as the false self is not crucified, the true self is
still not realized. By Sufis it is called Fana, annihilation.

There is a poem by the great Persian poet Iraqi in which he tells, 'When I went
to the gate of the divine Beloved and knocked at the door, a voice came and said
- Who art thou?' When he had told, 'I am so and so', the answer came, 'There is
no place for anyone else in this abode. Go back to whence thou hast come'. He
turned back and then, after a long time, after having gone through the process
of the cross and of crucifixion, he again went there - with the spirit of
selflessness. He knocked at the door; the word came, 'Who art thou?', and he
said, 'Thyself alone, for no one else exists save Thee'. And God said, 'Enter
into this abode for now it belongs to thee'. It is such selflessness, to the
extent that the thought of self is not there, it is being dead to the self,
which is the recognition of God.