The second rung on Climacus’ Divine Ladder of Ascent, is Detachment. This is closely allied to his first rung which, as I have shared, is Renunciation. While truly detachment involves letting go of our need for self-gratification, it is also more than this. It involves detaching ourselves from our ego, our pride. For it is pride that fills us with anger when we are wronged. It is pride that makes us think, I don’t deserve to be treated like this! How dare they speak to me that way!

Detachment from pride is the imitation of Christ, because if anyone did not deserve to be derided, mocked, jeered, beaten and put to death, it is Christ. Who are we to think we deserve better than He? Yet our pride makes us think we deserve respect, dignity, and comfort. And if we think as the world thinks, we may be right. Wicked people do wicked things and get everything they want, while good people suffer. Where is the justice in that? But as Christians who have renounced the ways and, indeed, the justice of the world, we are to compare ourselves not to others but to Christ alone. He is our true model. It is He who we are called to imitate, not our fellowmen.

This is why so many saints of the Church faced martyrdom with joy, for in that martyrdom they knew they were following Christ crucified and did not give a thought to What did I do to deserve this?

If we are persecuted and hated for no good reason, even if it is not for our faith, it is a blessing in disguise. For in that moment, we have been given an opportunity to imitate Christ to the full, to truly be His disciples.

Perhaps the most effective way to begin developing this important attitude of detachment is to first discover to what we are truly attached. There is nothing in this world that is more worthy of attachment than God Himself.