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By Dr Ian Ellis-Jones ... Mindfulness Training
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IT’S DAMN HARD TO LET THINGS COME AND GO

Thursday, February 27, 2014 16:23

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The Master’s power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.

Those lines of wisdom come from chapter 55 of the TaoTe Ching. I have often read those lines at various services I have conducted, and lectures I have given, over the years. It is such good advice, who could gainsay it? Yet it’s so damn hard to let things come and go!

I find it hard to let go of so many things. Take books, for example. I have literally thousands of them, on a variety of subjects including religion, philosophy, psychology, science, cosmology, history, the performing arts, etc, etc. I am trying, ever so hard, to get rid of a lot of them at the moment, for I desperately need to de-clutter with a view to downsizing my home in a few years’ time or perhaps sooner. Then there are about as many CDs, DVDs, and the like—even vinyl records and a few 78 RPMs as well. No, I am not a hoarder in a strict clinical sense. I am too orderly for that, but I am a hoarder nevertheless.

I am also a hoarder of negative emotions, including anger and resentment. Those things are even more dangerous. I spend much of my life trying to help others with their problems of mind and soul, yet I often have so much trouble with my own such problems. (This is a rare confession from me.) Now, recently a spiritual fellowship with which I have had a fairly close association for about 14 years—I was a foundation member of this group, I drafted their constitution and rules, and I have spoken there on a regular basis in both recent years as well as in the group’s early years—treated me quite shabbily (and this from a fellowship and denomination that purports to be dedicated to the notion of acting compassionately and fairly, not to mention rationally). I won’t mention the name of the group, but if you have nothing better to do with your time you may wish to do this quick word search puzzle. Sorry, no prizes, etc.

Part of the problem is that I felt personally rejected—and in a sense I was. And denied procedural fairness, etc, etc. Additionally, I expected a positive outcome, and it did not happen. My response was, well, less than gracious, and I felt more than just disappointment. Instead of accepting that even the best of people will act unreasonably and unfairly from time to time, and that life itself is rarely fair—no, I do not believe in the idea that ‘perfect justice rules the world,’ cosmically or otherwise—and that I should ‘let all things come and go effortlessly, without desire,’ I erupted in anger and self-righteous outrage. I ‘excelled’ myself, so to speak.

The spiritual teacher Vernon Howard (pictured right) often wrote and spoke of the need to let people think and behave toward us as they wish (while taking sensible precautions to prevent then doing harm or injury to us). He would say, ‘Expect nothing of no one, plead for nothing, accept whatever comes, for no one has anything of any lasting value to give you’ Such sound advice. All of the world’s great teachers and masters have said more-or-less the same thing.

And as for that group of people who, I still feel, acted wrongly and unfairly toward me. Well, I intend to follow this pearl of wisdom from Jesus:

‘Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.’ (Lk 9:4-5)

I will also release all the persons concerned to their ‘highest good,’ whatever that may be for them, even though I plan to have nothing more to do with them. (Well, why set yourself up for more hurt?) But releasing them all to their highest good—that’s the really hard part, but it must be done … if only for my own best interests.

Source: http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2014/02/its-damn-hard-to-let-things-come-and-go.html

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