Doesn't this make perfect sense? If we need to be rescued from something, then whatever is rescuing us can't be part of what it rescues us from. Said in a different way, you don't jump on a tiger's back to escape a lion. A terrified rabbit running from a fox only thinks he finds safety when a coyote offers him shelter. This shows us that any desperate attempt to escape a trouble usually leads us right back into more trouble.
So it should be clear to us at this point that Real Rescue from our problems can only come to us from above the level of our problem. And yet, we have also discovered that in order for any solutions to be real, it must be found somewhere within us since that is the real location of our problems. The question then becomes: How can we reconcile these two seemingly separate and distant notions: rescue from above and solution from within?
The answer may surprise you. Above and within mean the exact same thing when it comes to attracting Higher Help.
We can call this new and Higher location of Real Rescue the True Self or Higher Nature. If you prefer, call it God, Truth or Reality. The name doesn't matter, because it isn't what we call this force for self-rescue that gives it authority over our painful conditions. Its power is its elevated position, which is above and outside of the false self's sphere of influence.
This beneficent and Real Intelligence becomes your intelligence when you refrain from attempting to rescue yourself long enough for it to show you that what you need is more understanding, not more battle plans. Temporarily abandoning yourself in this special way, where you consciously watch and so suspend the influences and activities of the false self by refusing to go along with its directives, allows Authentic Understanding to flow into the vacancy and give you real direction.
Everyone knows that a good general carefully chooses where he will engage the enemy. In this way he always has the advantage of the upper ground. The same principle holds true in our work when it comes to learning to let go of who we are not.
In our battle with the false self, we defeat it not by running away or through struggle with it, but by standing still long enough to see that we have mistakenly attributed power to it.
It is unnatural for any human being to be dominated by anything. Your only true responsibility is to understand this higher fact. And your corrected understanding places you in the right relationship with all gloomy thoughts and defeated feelings; which is that you simply have nothing to do with them. We are not saying to act or pretend as though dark feelings don't exist.
This is very important to understand because pretending as though a rampaging elephant isn't there or that it's a cute bunny may feel good temporarily but it leaves you in danger. Seeing the elephant and recognizing it for what it is allows Intelligence to take you where you need to be -- which is out of the jungle.
No grief or disturbance of any kind is yours. These huge inner-shadows with all their howlings may be present, but where is it written that they belong to you? When we walk through a zoo, we don't identify with the shrieks and whines of the animals, so why do we fall into the self-confining cage of trying to make what is dark into what is light? Ever tried yelling at a bunch of chattering chimps or squawking birds to quiet them down? Insisting that they settle down just disturbs them all the more.
Inwardly, the same law holds true. When we seek some power to make a fear go away, all we have done is empowered the fear. There is no power that can make light out of darkness. Remember this lesson the next time you feel compelled to help yourself out of a dark inner thought or feeling. One day it will be your greatest pleasure to realize that this false nature has no real power to pain you outside of what you give to it through your wrong reactions.
Go silent! This silence and inner-light will do for you what you have not been able to do for yourself. It will turn the dark inner-skies into pleasant blue ones. Go silent. Let the threatening clouds of thoughts and feelings go by. Behind them is the sun.
Guy Finley
www.guyfinley.com
Labels: authentic self, detachment, Higher Self, letting go, overcoming fears, spirituality
