For the Old Testament places man under the dominion of the Law, which Law, however, does not lead to redemption. The New Testament, on the other hand, declares that the Law is insufficient and, indeed, absolves man from obedience to it. In its place it preaches the kingdom of grace, which one can enter through faith, charity and total denial of self: this, it says, is the road to redemption from evil and from the world: for — every Protestant and Rationalist misrepresentation notwithstanding — the true soul of the New Testament is undoubtedly the spirit of asceticism. This spirit of asceticism is precisely denial of the will to live …
Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms
This is exactly the meaning of the familiar, commonplace urging toward ‘brokenness’ — the complete destruction and abandonment of self-motive and self-regard.
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