Teaching 48: The Need for Renunciation
To be less caught in clinging and suffering, you need to develop some form of renunciation practice that interrupts this pattern and disengages from the ego’s drive to have what it wants. Renunciation is not about killing your ego…rather, it is about forming a new relationship with your ego such that it reflects your deeper values rather than its immediate wants. Practicing renunciation means that you consciously give up certain attitudes, views, behaviors, and goals because they lead you to clinging and suffering.
Chapter 11, Pg 126
For your reflection: Make a list of modest ways in which you might engage in renunciation. Choose one of these and try it out for a few days. Ask yourself if you accept that renunciation is a necessary part of spiritual growth.