Go for It, Or Let it Go?

Are you ever confused by seeming contradictory truth teachings? For example, there is the go-for-it school which exhorts effort and determination, imploring you to believe it, so that you might see it, that you might achieve it --- perish the thought of letting up on faith or effort. Then there is the seeming opposite approach with an equally persuasive mantra extolling passivity and acceptance; telling you to release the outcome, let it all go, and accept life with equanimity, however it shows up. So, which is the better way, or does one have to be schizophrenic to be spiritually adept?

I've struggled with this seeming dichotomy at times myself and I realized after some thought that each philosophy has its merits and most importantly its right time and place in a life. The notion of a personal will seems central to the question of how I approach a given situation. I am capable of free will in large part, even though I'm often subject to past programming that seems to commandeer my responses at times. Still, mostly I am at choice. I can be willful or willing. I can assert myself or be a witness to another. I can rail against and blame or have compassion and forgive. I can take the stage or wait in the wings. I can speak up or I can listen. I can go for it or allow it.

Any sense of dichotomy is self-imposed. It's not a question of one way over another as a way of life; not a philosophy for all seasons. It's being sensitive to each moment, going within to discern the wise way that this moment calls for. In this way, we can be fluid with what arises, open to give or take, action or patience, assertion, or passivity. A joyful life, in which well-being is possible in the face of changing circumstances calls for a supple will that shapes itself to situational demand.

We can seize opportunity, go after it, achieve what seems worthy and right in this world, and we can also find peace and retain well-being if an outcome falls short of expectation. We have the capacity to adapt our will to what is most appropriate in every moment. I would admit, however, that the passive, letting go attitude is perhaps the most difficult. But then, perhaps we must ask ourselves how dearly do we desire peace of mind? When peace becomes our overarching goal then the motivation and the means will see us through the difficulty. And quite paradoxically, we may find that letting go is a bit of a superpower, in which acceptance, rather than being seen as a weakness, actually steadies and strengthens us. Perhaps I could summarize this message best with the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

To change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference

Amen.

Rev. Larry