In our western culture, we pride our independence and self-sufficiency. While aspects of that have eroded with economic stratification, it is still a strong cultural meme.
While India today is being strongly influenced by western culture, it has traditionally been more heart-based. You can see this expressed in things like Bollywood movies – a grand spectacle of romance, drama, music and dance. Life as a grand celebration. Compare that to Iron Man or James Bond.
To shift deeper into being, there has to be a profound recognition we are not the doers. Our me-self is not “in control.” For some people, this shows up as a break-down of career or those parts of our life we are trying to control and manage. We have to learn to step deeper into being and trust the flow of nature, letting go of the places where we try to hold on.
“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” — Luke 12:27, New Testament
Not that sufficiency or self authority are wrong. In fact, these are major assets for the journey. But when we think we have control over the results of our actions, we become bound to them and the wheel of karma. When we let go of attachment to results and just act towards and do our best, then the results will flow in the way best for all. If we learn to trust nature and recognize we are supported when we act from our higher interests, life gets so much easier. In fact, we often have better results than we could have managed ourselves. But we can’t expect results to show up on our preferred schedule. As the old Rolling Stones song said, “you can’t always get what you want… you get what you need.”
“By virtue of unitedness and by means of that which remains to be united, I perform action to generate wholeness of life.”
This is why The Four Agreements teaches “don’t take anything personally”. Because none of it is personal. Life is always acting from loving wholeness. It’s not about a me, it’s about the we, the energy balance of the whole.
We are a blade of grass in a field of many more, a rising leaf looking to the sun. Our roots are intertwined as is our destiny. We are never apart.
Davidya