Wednesday 24 March 2010

Discovering Freedom by Letting Go

According to psychologists, one of the reasons people suffer from stress is because they feel out of control. If, in your workplace, you are not given much control and things happen to you, you are probably going to suffer from stress. So, psychologists are working to help people to see that they are in control of their own little world, and can make decisions that affect them and those around them.

However, if you are courageous enough to look closely, are you in control? Do you know what you're going to think next? If you don't, surely it is fairly obvious that it is thoughts that lead to decisions being made. And it is decisions that lead to action being taken. So, the fact that thoughts just seem to pop up and decisions are taken means that you are not in control.

Although you may feel uneasy about your seemingly lack of control, if you stay with this notion, the outcome is interesting. You have never made any choices in the past either - so all the feelings of guilt, pride, blame all go out of the window - you weren't responsible for those actions. This doesn't mean you can go round harming people or worse - your conditioning will prevent you, as well as the thought of the consequences of those actions.

So, letting go of control leads to freedom. Now you see that thoughts are leading to decisions and actions, and you are doing nothing about the whole thing. The whole of 'your life' is just happening. Surely there is a great freedom in that. Seeing how little you control is a bit like children who move the steering wheel on one of those computer game machines, without putting the money in. The car is moving around the race track whether the child moves the steering wheel or not.

Letting go is not easy. But if you look carefully at all that's being said, you cannot help but let go. The human brain is so complex, the thoughts have created the sense of an individual in each human. Then this individual asserts control, responsibility, choice, action.

All is happening perfectly just as it is. The universe is simply 'unversiing'. You are simply now at the natural stage of questioning your own sense of ego or individual existence, as am I. This is not something that happens once and bang. This is an ongoing unfolding process that takes place, moment by moment. For me, each day there is a sense of individuality. Underneath that, there is a sense of beingness, aliveness or awareness.

See the whole thing as a game. Don't take things too seriously. Young children who are lucky enough to be brought up securely just play and play - it's natural when the individual is not taken seriously for playing to happen. May you be well.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Shamash!

    I totally agree with your idea of awareness in the present moment and think it would do the world much good to get going and spend more time in the present. Moment for moment. Mindfulness practice. I'll definitely add you to the list of links in my own blog: www.zen-venture.com , have a look, I just started it, but I'm looking forward to your comments! Feel free to add me to your own links too, it's always good to spread the word on mindfulness :)...

    best wishes,

    Vincent

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