"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." -- Jesus, Luke 9:23
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." -- Tyler Durden, Fight Club
I've always found a ringing truth in Tyler's philosophy about hitting bottom.
Remember, this is only a literary metaphor and not intended to be theology, so don't take it too far: after all, Tyler is asking The Narrator to follow him, not Christ. 'In Tyler We Trust'. Tyler is a "Christ-figure" in the literary sense, and taken in that context, does his job well: he guides the hero through the death of the self and into the new life beyond, asks him to abandon himself, the world, and all his possessions, status, and everything he knows, and shows him the way to truth. And as the hero faces ever more shocking levels of filth, shame, and degradation, Tyler is right there standing beside him--a resounding metaphor to my own experience of Jesus; for as the work of His Spirit continues to reveal the appalling depths of my own sin, I always find Christ standing there waiting, as if to say "Yes, I already knew that about you. Ready to move on now?"
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE AND MILD BLASPHEMY
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