Mindful Fast - Preparing to Win Big without Losing My Soul

There once was an evil dragon living on a high mountain. Every now and then, it would come down to burn the farms and destroy the villages. Every time a warrior went up the mountain to kill the dragon, they never returned. People assume the dragon killed the warriors.

One day, a young man decided to go up the hill to slay the dragon. He had just returned from the best martial arts school. Before he went, his brother told him not to persist if he found out he couldn’t win, “As long as you preserve your life, you have another chance to try.”

He replied, “No problem, I’m confident I will win. I will return with the dragon’s head, and we will eat the dragon’s meat.”

As always, the warrior went up the mountain and never returned. The brother felt upset and decided to go up the hill to avenge the death of his brother. When he saw the dragon, he discovered it looked familiar.

After a closer look, he realized the dragon was his brother. He escaped the mountain and told people what he saw. (End of the story.)

How would you interpret this allegory? It’s about the dragon slayers turned into the dragon. That means every hero that went up the hill to slay the dragon turned into the dragon they slew. They successfully destroy the evil, but they become the next evil.

The story tries to warn us that we could become who we hate. On a small scale, some people turned into bullies after beating the bully. On a large scale, the communists fought against injustice but became the next injustice.

Darth Veda was a Jedi Knight! Lucifer, the Satan, was an archangel. We have instances like this all over history.

Everyone wants to make a difference in this world. We all have justice to fight. We all have a dragon to slay. We all have a mountain to move. But do we have what it takes to win without losing our soul? Jesus said,

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Mt 16:26).

Jesus is not discouraging us from winning the world but warning us against losing our souls. If we become the dragon after slaying it, we gain nothing, and the world still has another dragon to fear, and we become their next enemy.

Do you know what could turn a hero into a villain? The answer is there’s another dragon inside us—our own ego. If you don’t tame the dragon within, you may win but lose your soul. Now, the question is, how do you prepare yourself to win big without losing your soul?

Jesus came to earth to slay the evil dragon to recuse humans. As fully human, does Jesus also need to tame his ego to ensure he wins without losing his soul? If the Son of God needs to immunize himself from dragonizing, shouldn’t we do the same even more?

So, today, we will look at how Jesus prepared himself to accomplish his mission decisively by spending forty days in the desert, fasting, fighting the temptations, revealing to us the secret to taming the ego.

Do you have a mountain to move? I do! What dragon are you trying to slay? From Jesus’ forty days in the desert, we can learn how to decisively conquer the world, realize our dreams, and fulfill our calling without losing our souls. Let’s begin!