Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  – John 12:24

Jesus is teaching the death of the false self so the true Self can live.

The “grain of wheat” is the ego-self — the small, defensive identity that clings, fears, protects, and isolates.
If it refuses to “fall into the earth,” it stays alone, cut off from God and from its own deeper life.

But if that small self “dies,” if it yields, surrenders, softens —
the true life, the eternal life, the God-rooted Self, breaks open and flourishes.

This is why He says:

“He who loves his life loses it…”
Meaning:
If we cling to the ego-identity, we lose the deeper life within us.

“…and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Meaning:
If we stop identifying with the ego’s demands, illusions, and fears,
we awaken into the Life that never dies.

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The mystics agree
•    Tagore says the lamp goes out because the dawn has come.
•    Rumi says die before you die.
•    Buddha says the “I-maker” is the source of suffering.
•    Krishna says the eternal Self is untouched by the death of the body.

They’re all circling the same revelation:
The small self must fall away for the larger Self to shine.