Respect Whatever Life Brings Us
“What we don’t know supports what we do know.” — Bill Moyers
One way we show respect for ourselves and others is by respecting whatever life brings us. What prevented that in the past was our preoccupation with everything that prevented us from having our own way. Now, we live lives on a different rhythm: one of letting go. It is that rhythm to which we must pay attention.
At times letting go feels like doing nothing, and doing nothing feels like standing still. But letting go is not the same as standing still. It is active, not passive. Letting go focuses our attention on life in the present, living it fully, moment by moment, and not in a fantasy future that seems to promise the outcome we crave.
It has been said that the light of God’s love is so bright that it seems as darkness to us. When we feel we’re living in darkness, we may be living in the all-encompassing light of God’s love.and compassion for our struggle. We can trust the daily evidence of that love and know we are safe.
Posted on May 13, 2011, in 12 Step Program, Addiction, Life, Personal Growth, Recovery, Self Discovery, Spirituality and tagged Addiction, Bill Moyers Journal, F.E.A.R., Fear, Letting go, Light of God's Love, Living in Darkness, Living in the present, Mental Health, Present moment, Recovery, Self-respect, Spirituality, Struggle. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Mark's Weblog 
Great post, Mark, and equally great comments, anamchara4 and Molly! Letting go is very hard because of our pride and having to go out of our comfort zone, but being able to let go is the start of the healing process.
Beautiful post indeed! It reminds me of something Lao Tzu once said: “The seed of mystery lies in muddy water. How can I perceive this mystery? Water becomes clear through stillness. How can I become still? By flowing with the stream”
Letting go is difficult and seems to go against the whims of the ego. It seems as if ego uses its control panel called “consciousness” to build an entire defense system to protect ourselves from “the dark forces lurking from beyond”. Ego is happy if we remain within its well-defined, yet very limited borders. But this happiness all too often seems to be just another mask upon piles and piles of other masks. Letting go is taking off these masks, regardless of any ego defense strategies. If one has genuine trust in the Great Mystery, then there’s nothing ego can do to stop one from crossing its borders. It will scream like never before, fearing its utter annihilitation, yet it fails to recognize that, by the Grace of God, one almost always receives a tremendous amount of growth pains instead. Gestures towards the Great Mystery are an opening up of oneself towards whatever lies beyond the horizon; I think in the long term they are almost always greatly beneficial for one’s personal growth, because they lay the foundations of a bridge towards our true Home (which we perhaps never really left, but only seemed to have forgotten).
The Great Mystery cannot be controlled, so ego turns it into a dark enemy, not recognizing that only in its deepest darkness the true doors can be found for genuine liberation, for genuine virtues like humility, respect, gratitude, empathy, tolerance and compassion. They are genuine because they are not cultivated anymore from a surface well, largely controlled (and distorted) by ego, but because they arise directly from the source of Life itself, which lies deeply embedded into a Great Unknown.
Darkness is the root of all light. Letting go leads to a lonesome darkness, yet it’s an inevitable darkness which nurtures the soul. The neon light from ego remains only a dim will-o’-the-whisp compared to the brilliant, empty light shining forth out of this nurturing darkness. However, (in my experience at least), it can be quite a painful darkness. Removing the age-old, ego-related dust from the windows of one’s soul might indeed not be a joyful task, but this is just a point of view. If the pulse of Life, of Hope, of Love, of Faith is felt again, throbbing at the center of one-Self in all its warmth, in all its humbling light, then everything becomes a joyful task. Ploughing the inner darkness, through all complexes, traumas and repressed memories, through haunting nightmares and cold nights of confronting solitude, all this then becomes a continuous act of joyful soul-making, of making the inner desert fertile again.
Pain is only painful for the ego, yet on a deeper level it might be an experience of healing, releasing old wounds in the process. Letting go leads to confrontation and suffering, which will lead to liberation and a deepening sense of perspective. Life becomes much more simple yet incredibly complex (ah, gotta love this paradox called Life..), attachments loosen and shadows become a dear fellow traveller on the road. As you say, then we can genuinely “trust the daily evidence of that love and know that we are safe”.
PS. I’m sorry about the length of this post.. but once I get started I often need help to stop 🙂
Beautiful post. Really well said. Often I think people do see letting go, or acceptance as passive, when it is not at all, it is totally engaging (as is meditation, which I do alot of). It is hard to let go and have faith in the unfolding, the unfurling, but in the end we’ll have to, won’t we?