View Related
best-selling self-realization author
There is no sensitivity in any (familiar sense of) “self” born of being identified with what it imagines it “knows.” The flower of higher self-awareness grows only from out of the ground of unknowing.
What could be more natural than letting go? Think about it. If half of our life is spent meeting moments that are natural end¬ings, then what are we to do with these things in our lives that can no longer serve us in a meaningful way? The answer? We must let them go! To do anything else would be unnatural, even unhealthy for us.
Imagine a tree that has become so identified with its own green leaves that when the first chill of fall touches its limbs, this tree decides it wants to hold onto what it already has. “After all,” the tree reasons, “what if spring doesn’t bring me something at least as good as what I have now? Why should I let go?” Of course, come the winter snows, this tree that held on so dearly to its summer leaves, cracks and breaks beneath the weight of a stressful load it was never intended to carry. The moral of this little story is simple: We are not created to walk around with the weight of the world – all our experiences, mem¬ories, and past – on our shoulders.
Letting go is the out-breath of the universe. It is part of a natu¬ral cycle connected to a greater whole, where the ending of anything already has a new beginning built into it. And just as we must expel a breath before we draw in the new air that revitalizes our physical system, so too we must learn to let go of whatever compromises the natural wholeness of our Original Self if we wish to realize its native spiritual contentment.
What are we actually talking about when we speak of letting go? After all, no one wants to let go of something that has proven itself to be satisfying! Whatever it is that we wish to let go of must be some¬thing from which we wish to be free. This may be unpleasant or trou¬bling relationships, a problem-filled past or fearful future, any form of addiction, recent painful events – or any of those disturbing thoughts and feelings about these same troubling things that we no longer want in our lives.
The truth is that troubles like these come with being human. We all know how it feels to want to let go. The problem is that wanting to let go, and actually being able to, is still light years apart for most of us. But it need not remain this way. The gulf can be sealed perma¬nently once we understand that all that separates us from our inten¬tion to let go are those mistaken ideas we carry around about the nature of what’s actually weighing us down. This is why we need new and higher self-knowledge.
For instance, nothing in itself – no event, no relationship, no regret-filled thought or feeling – has any real weight of its own with which to pull us down. The nature of what really weighs on us is some¬thing altogether different. This can help to explain a deep mystery: Why is it that regardless of everything we do in our exterior life to rid ourselves of this or that problem, person, or contrary condition, we have yet to genuinely shake ourselves free? The answer begins with this next insight.
The real act of letting go is first an interior action, followed, if need¬ful, by a wiser exterior action. After all, what is it that binds us if not where we are blind to some unconscious need to either maintain or keep forming these painful attachments? To see the truth of these find¬ings is to realize why there can be no substitute for self-illumination. After all, no one frees themselves by laying down with one hand what they unknowingly cling to with the other! This explains why the aim of all true spiritual teachings has always had a dual purpose: 1) to reveal to us that no condition in our life exists apart from the con¬sciousness responsible for its continuing creation, and 2) to bring the light of this higher self-knowledge into the unexamined darkness of our consciousness so that we no longer make the mistake of clinging to anything that compromises our integrity.
Excerpted from Let Go and Live in the Now (pages 153-155)
For over 40 years Guy Finley has helped individuals around the world find inner freedom and a deeper, more satisfying way to live. His in-depth and down-to-earth teachings cut straight to the heart of today’s most important personal and social issues –stress, fear, relationships, addiction, meditation, and peace. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and spiritual leaders of all denominations.
Guy is the author of 45 books and video/audio programs including his international bestseller “The Secret of Letting Go” which has been translated into 30 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide.
He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery located in Southern Oregon, with over 40,000 online newsletter subscribers.
https://www.guyfinley.org
Through Life of Learning, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 30 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. Guy is a faculty member at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York and 1440 Multiversity in Scotts Valley, California. He is a regular expert contributor to Beliefnet, Insight Timer, Simple Habit, and many other popular spiritual sites.
Finley holds regular classes at Life of Learning including two free talks each week that are live-streamed
https://www.guyfinley.org/lettinggo These classes are open to all. For more information about Guy Finley and Life of Learning Foundation visit www.guyfinley.org
Post Article:
Submit Your Own Article