If I loose my grip… will I take flight…?

“If I loose my grip… will I take flight…???” (Lyrics from Stange Waters by Bruce Cockburn)

We cling and cling and cling… but nothing that we try to grasp… can be grasped.

Can we hold the mist?

Can we possess the wind?

We know that these things cannot be held on to.

It seems silly to even think about trying.

Yet we spend our lives gathering up our things that immediately begin to turn to dust, rust, and decay.

Nothing we own will last. Nothing.

Here’s a harder one for me to grasp: no person in my life is permanent. They will all go away… eventually.

Yet we cling to people for security, happiness, strength, etc. And because they do provide these things at certain times in our lives, we hold on to them, never wanting to let go: depending on them for security, happiness, and strength, making them objects of worship, creating unhealthy dependencies. Security, happiness, and strength are inherently within each of us. Yet we seek them externally, in things, in people, in philsophies, and in religion.

Our whole culture is set up to remind us of how much we “need” these external things:

… whether it is reminding us of the happiness that comes from giving that “special someone” a piece of jewelry from that “special” jewelry company

… or daily reminding us how our very identity is so intricately tied to the quality of our things, like cars, clothes, homes, etc

… or reminding us of how we must think in a certain way to be happy, following after the opinions and notions, philosophies and religions, of others… those that “know” they are “right”.

Another difficult entanglement for me is my thinking, my values and beliefs, my philsophy and religion. We know that if we already know, we can no longer learn. I have finally learned to live my life by this mantra daily. So why do we hang so tightly to the certainty of our own thinking, our own opinions, our own interpretations, our own notions. Why do we think we have to know for sure? Is it because we really worship the god of certainty? Is it because we are afraid to face that which is boundless, responding with wonder, embracing the mystery?

 

These are all systems that bind us and blind us to freedom, brainwashing us into clinging to that which we do not need and cannot hold on to.

But do we even “See” the things that we are clinging to? For me it has been a lifelong process of just learning to See. Because if we begin to look for those things, we just may begin to See them. And if we See them, what will we do about them? How much might we need to sacrifice and let go of? How do we live simply; leaving a very light footprint on this earth, and leaving it more intact for our grandchildren?

How do we See that which weighs us down?

How do we let go of that which weighs us down?

… when the whole world is making this insessant “noise” that says “hang on”, “don’t let go”, “you need this or that”, “you are nobody if you don’t possess this or that”. Blaring neon lights and the constant drone of media and friends and family relentlessly remind us that what we have is not enough.

What defines us?

• The past?
• The future?
• The present?
• Our possessions?

Or these three questions:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What am I going to do about it?

The question is not what have I done or what will I do; but rather, what will I do each moment, right now, that will leave behind goodness and peace for those that follow me?

How do we let go???

It first begins by Seeing what it is that we are hanging on to.

As we learn to See, truly See, our eyes will open to the futility of the efforts of most of our lives; building on that which is temporal and submerging that which is eternal… trying and trying to be happy according to the laws of the world’s systems.

True happiness is unconditional and comes from the Source within.

True security is unconditional and comes from the Source within.

True strength is unconditional and comes from the Source within.

But without being still and listening to the silence, waiting on God, on that which is our Sacred Source, listening for that Still Small Voice, we will not See. Our eyes must be opened to See. Our ears must be opened to Hear. But to do that, we must turn off the glitz and the glamour, the din and the clamour.

… closing our eyes so that we can open the eyes of our heart.

… closing our ears so that we can open the ears of our heart.

Then what?

Will we take flight?

What does that mean?

It is then that a deep knowing of the meaning of these three questions for our lives will emerge:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What am I going to do about it?

Freedom from entanglements, lifting what is weighing us down; will we then soar???

“They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40)

Tagged: eagle, freedom, grasping, let go, meaning, soar

Posted in: Living with open hands