Letting Go Of That Which No Longer Serves

“Letting go of that which no longer serves” is a phrase I came across in the study of Chinese medicine. That system is holistic so it refers to letting go of mental and emotional toxins as well as physical.

We all know that holding on to disagreeable or negative thoughts and emotions fires-up the nervous system, causing stress and ‘dis-ease’ that can negatively impact our lives. So to let go of what doesn’t serve is both a matter of worldly practicality as well as opening us to a heightened awareness of the spaciousness of our being.

The ‘great play’ of humanity (the battle between the forces of dark and light) has been going on for aeons of time. And it is easy to feel weighted down, carrying the burdens of human suffering, both personally and collectively.

We could say that our challenge is to make time to not know what it all means. In other words, to decline to engage the mind and simply be aware, allowing our attention to drop back to the light of Being — again and again.

Then even with an aging body and uncertain future there is a contentment, a peace, a lightness of spirit and one can be carried on the currents of love.

Holding Water With A Fork

Trying to grasp the truth of life with the mind is like trying to hold water with a fork. But we can be conscious of the ineffable truth of life (in the present moment) by turning our attention to and abiding in and as our own silent center - they are one and the same. 

The Ego

The ego can be likened to the eddies that occur in a river as it flows toward the ocean. Moving water creates turbulence, like the circular patterns of thought and emotions create a vortex of identity.

When we look, we can notice that the ego is not constant. It gets bigger sometimes and smaller sometimes. And there are moments when the ego is not there at all, like in moments of deep meditation or being fully present in nature or when our attention is fully absorbed in any activity. In those moments, there are no thoughts of “me and my story”, just absorption in one’s experience — just being.

One could say then, that the ego is more of a tendency, almost like a behavior. In this sense it’s more like a verb than a noun — ego-ing. Oops! Pardon me, I was ego-ing again!

When the ego is believed to be some entity, whether superior or inferior, thoughts and behaviors get constellated around that core belief and difficulty soon follows.

But the vortexes of water are never separate from the river. Which is to say, our true nature is like the river of life, eddies form and disperse and the water flows to the ocean of infinity.

Still Water

In Greek mythology, the allegory of Narcissus has different versions. The one that most are familiar with has to do with some ego fixation.
But there is another version of the story that is more like the metaphor of still water that is used in Zen and Taoism.
That is; a beautiful youth who rejects the alluring nymph Echo, (who had the habit of chatter and could only repeat what others have said) and turned to the still pool of water. In the clear reflection, saw his-Self (his true nature) and fell in love with what he discovers and was transformed into a flower. 

When we stop giving attention to echoes in the mind, it’s like we stop throwing rocks into a pond, allowing the ripples settle down. In the still water we can see our reflection clearly and when we see ourselves as we truly are, we fall in love.