I was watching Schindler's list the other day and Ralph Fiennes plays the commandant in a slave camp. His hobby is to shoot people in the head for every whim he has.
When he is introduced in the movie the first thing he does is to hire attractive jewish maids to take care of his villa. Seconds later he is shown waking up besides a naked german girl. He gets his gun and walks down to the balcony checking with his scope and killing atleast 3 people.
He just points, focusses on idle people and shoots them. His notoriety travels, he is spoken ill off but in hushed tones . Once he is having a party and invited Oscar Schindler(Liam Neeson) and he is so drunk he keeps falling. He tells Neeson that "you are always in control, with control comes power" to which Neeson replies " that is not power, power is choice. When you know you can do something and get away with it and you still let it go" " you forgive without raining punishment, that is true power".
He tries to change himself, tries to let go... but he does not have the power over himself to LET GO of the urge to exercise punishment unto others. He shoots a kid for not cleaning his tub and then is hung for war crimes.
I read somewhere when the tightly packed petals of the rosebud let go, the rose blossoms.
I have found that confusion often clouds the subject of letting go. Many dedicated seekers of spiritual truth seem to stumble on this point. We all let go naturally to a certain extent. We let go and allow life force to flow. We release our hold and let the divine forces act in our lives. Good always comes from this.
We all resist it, too. We try to control everything. Like a fish trying to control the tide, we tress and strain in an attempt to use our muscles to keep life on track. We seem to think it is our job to keep the planets spinning. We try to CONTROL the MOTIVES of OTHER PEOPLE. We try to run life the way we think it should be run. Frustration and fatigue usually come from this.
Everyone knows that if you are holding something precious and you let go, it will drop and possibly break. Gravity has us well trained. You will often hear the cry, "Don't let go!" It is the motto of the physical world and it is a valuable dictum in its realm. If you are carrying a beautiful, handmade ceramic bowl that a dear friend crafted just for you and you "let go," gravity will step in before you can achieve enlightenment and carry you into sadness as you suffer the loss of your bowl.
So we can see why we don't think it's a very good idea to let go. It seems like it will give us broken bowls, missed appointments and a generally chaotic life if we let go.
Buddhist teachings expose the problem of grasping. Teachings of the Science of Mind in the essential stage of prayer marked by RELEASE. In fact, it seems most spiritual teachings not only mention, but emphasize the importance of letting go. Is it that they want us to break all our bowls?
Faith in Something Greater
The letting go lesson has nothing to do with bowls and phone numbers. It defies gravity and entropy. The message encoded in the words "let go" is one of trust. When we let go, we have faith that the planets will continue to spin in their orbits without our help.
By joyously letting go, we find that gravity has an invisible partner. And as reliable as gravity is when it comes to bringing things to the earth, its partner is as reliable in bringing good outcomes. It is a force, greater than us, acting whether we are aware of it or not. It acts when we hold on and when we let go. It acts when we are alert and when we are asleep. This force is always moving things in the direction of the greatest good. It is moving "heaven and earth" for the fulfillment of your heart's desire. It is answering your prayers without ceasing. It is, like gravity, tireless in its enthusiastic embrace of its role in the scheme of things.
When we let go of the bowl, gravity gets hold of it and takes it to the ground. When we let go of our dreams and desires, this other tremendous force comes in like a wind. It carries our dreams to fulfillment. It guides our hands, moves our thoughts, leads us to greater and greater fulfillment.
Letting go DOES NOT MEAN GIVING UP. The lesson is not one of learning to live a meager life, satisfied with crumbs. Letting go means, rather than trying to blow in your sails, let the wind carry you and see how far you go. It means rather than trying to manipulate others, enjoy them just as they are and be amazed at how their beauty shines through. It means rather than trying to control all outcomes, make it your work to open the pathways for the energy to flow and see how magnificently your dreams take form.
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