Annihilation of Self in Religions

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A sufficiently developed religion^[1] tends to deliver something larger than life. To attain something that transcends life must cost something, and will require some sort of sacrifice, and in most cases that is the person's self.

This sacrifice of self, in the most extreme and esoteric of approaches— amounts to the annihilation of the self.

In Sufism, we find the concept of Fana, a layer-by-layer stripping of one's ego to nothingness— only to be restored in the pristine state of Baqā. Unity with God requires the complete annihilation of one's ego.

Christianity has a strong motif of sacrifice. One can argue that it is the strongest and most unique aspect of Christianity amongst its peers. Although, there are bloodshed-related symbolism is present, spiritual sacrifice is the perceived meaning and practice. A very moving interpretation of such sacrifice can be found in the novel Silence by Shūsaku Endō. Ferreira apostatized and sacrificed even his faith— to save Christians. This is a sacrifice that required a paradigm shift:

‘Don’t deceive yourself! ’ said Ferreira. ‘Don’t disguise your own weakness with those beautiful words. ’
‘My weakness? ’ The priest shook his head; yet he had no self-confidence. ‘What do you mean? It’s because I believe in the salvation of these people … ’
‘You make yourself more important than them. You are preoccupied with your own salvation. If you say that you will apostatize, those people will be taken out of the pit. They will be saved from suffering. And you refuse to do so. It’s because you dread to betray the Church. You dread to be the dregs of the Church, like me.’ Until now Ferreira’s words had burst out as a single breath of anger, but now his voice gradually weakened as he said: ‘Yet I was the same as you. On that cold, black night I, too, was as you are now. And yet is your way of acting love? A priest ought to live in imitation of Christ. If Christ were here … ’ For a moment Ferreira remained silent; then he suddenly broke out in a strong voice: ‘Certainly Christ would have apostatized for them. ’

Buddism considers the self to be transient, an aggregation of senses, with no essence. To end suffering one must understand this not only intellectually but act accordingly. Annihilation of self is the goal of Buddhism.

Understood correctly, these are all lofty ideas. An average person will find it daunting to take even the first steps of such a journey. That is why Sufism is a fringe in the world of Islam— often denounced and persecuted. The church demands sacrifices but never sacrifices anything themselves. Buddhism had lay Buddhists and monks and fell back to some kind of highly convoluted Hinduism with all those higher realms and Devas.

This is quite understandable. An organised religion is an institution. It requires active members. Therefore, such sophisticated ideas will always be fringes. For most, organised religion will provide baser satisfactions for mundane needs. For this reason, we will always find spirituality neglected by religions.

By sufficiently developed I mean a religion that has a body of theological/theosophical work that goes beyond guesswork and myths of primitive ones. ↩︎