Letting Go

In the book Illusions - Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach, there is a story about letting go. It concerns a river with the creatures who live in it clinging to rocks and twigs to avoid being swept away by the current. This is all they do, just cling to their spots as a way of life. One of the creatures lets go and has the current take it wherever it will. The other creatures laugh and call him a fool, saying the current he worships so much will dash him to pieces by bashing him against the rocks.

Well, at first he is tumbled into rocks, yet as he refuses to cling again, he is lifted up above the bottom and eventually is hurt and bruised no more. The creatures downstream see him pass by and cry "Look, a creature like us and yet he flies! See the messiah come to save us."

The creature who had let go replied "I am no more a messiah than you are! The current delights to lift us free if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure."

The truths in this little story are profoundly to the point. There are no people better than other people - no people worse than other people. There are no chosen ones of the land. As Virginia Satir says "Everybody's poop smells." And there is a dimension of reality which comes along and catches us up in its current.

Wise folks call this opportunity, others call it a problem or setback. Try this experiment in truth: hold your hand palm up, put a quarter in it and close your hand. Realize that you can neither give or receive as long as you keep a grip on that coin. You are in the same spot as King Midas.

As long as you grip that coin, you cannot put it in the bank to earn interest, spend it on yourself, nor give it as a gift to someone who is in need of it. You are stuck with it. Whether it be a quarter, an attitude, worn out relationship or anything else, as long as you cling to it, you are stuck with it and stuck to it. Neither can you do anything else with that hand. Imagine hanging onto something with each hand.

This shapes up into being a victim. Most people let go when the pain of hanging on finally exceeds the pain of letting go. The wiser ones let go when they finally notice the problem. It is also true that wisdom comes from having been banged around a time or two on the rocks of life. The only course in emotional wisdom is held at the University of Hard Knocks.

Letting go voluntarily can seem an exercise in madness at the time. Yet, doing so has a magical effect. Life responds to your trust by making and keeping a promise to you. The promise is that one day your trust will return to you as the wishes of your heart fulfilled. As you continue to practice letting go, you will come to sense a pattern to it all.

This pattern represents the life-contract between you and spirit.
We must have faith and patience as to when our heart-wishes actually do manifest on our path. Spirit is all-wise and knows exactly what we need and when we need it. I am not advocating you adopt a passive role toward your life. Quite the opposite. Voluntarily letting go is as active as you can get. Letting go of something also takes time.

Remember, nothing happens instantly in healing and growing. It took a while to cling onto whatever-it-is, and it'll take a while to let go. The wonderful thing about letting go though, is that it is an easy and natural process which heals you back into life easily and naturally. Nothing is written in stone...
and if someone insists it is, then take your hammer and chisel along with you...

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