Sunday, September 14, 2008

Nothing Can Stop You From Being Free

Many years ago, a young man set out on a journey to find a Sage to help him with his struggles with himself and his life. When he began this journey, he had only one thing in mind - an end to his pain.

He was told of an old man who lived far away in the mountains who had special powers - and the young man knew this old man could help him finally put an end to his demons and his struggles.

After journeying for what seemed to be years, the young man found the mountain range where the old man lived. He thought to himself, "My problems are nearly over!".

When he found the old man and asked him "Old man, I"m told you can help me rid myself of all my struggles and hardship - can you help me?"

The old man replied, "I'm sorry to disappoint you my young friend, but I cannot help you"

"But why? - I've come all this way - you have to help me!", the young man exclaimed.

"I cannot rid you of any of your problems, you can only do that for yourself" - the old man said.

"But you can't deny me the very thing i came all this way to find!", said the young man.

The old man took a deep breath and said: "I cannot deny you anything, you can only deny yourself".

"But, but.... I demand you help me -now! I've struggled for months to find you and I am not leaving until you help me" - the young man replied.

"My young friend, in time you will learn, the harder you struggle, the more will slip from your grasp. Learn to let go, step back from what you call "problems" and just observe the frantic attempts your false self makes at trying to save itself."

"The more you do this - the more you are certain of finally being free."

Th young man paused... took a deep breath and pondered the old man's wisdom. "help me with this old man... In order to be truly free, all I need to do is to step back and observe?"

"Yes, my young friend - take a deep breath and be intensely curious about your life situations - just like a child - whenever a problem arises, step back from the problem and just watch it, observe it, and let go of trying to solve it. "

"The rest will handle itself"

"But what about my worldly obligations? -bills, job, responsibilities you know - I can't just give them up?"

"Ahh, my young friend, you can let go of the conditioned minds feeble attempts at trying to fight against itself. When this inner struggle ceases, you have found the very freedom you've been seeking all theses years"

"I think I'm beginning to understand", said the young man.

"Indeed, I believe you are" said the old man.

"safe journey my young friend", I will see you again....

"Thank you old man - you've helped me beyond words"

"you are very welcome"



As a child, have you ever been to the beach or the playground and picked up sand? I remembered as a child, i loved the beaches. Very often, i'll use my hands to scoop up sand and bring it to my parents to show them. As a child holding on to the sand, i learned a very important lesson that was later transferred to how i viewed life.
If i allowed the sand to sit loosely in my hands, then by the time i reached my parents, they would still see the remnants of sand in my hands. However, when i clutch my fists in the attempt to hold on tightly to the sand, they easily slipped through my fingers. At first as a child, i was disturbed and upset. I wanted to keep the sand in my hand and therefore i had to hold it as tightly as possible. No? But subsequently, as i grew older, i realized that the lessons that i drew from the incident as a child, easily transferred to relationships.
The tighter i held on to a relationship because i was afraid of losing it, the higher the chance of losing it. Just like in the story of the boy who held the bird in his hands. If he held it too tightly, he crushed the bird and caused it's death.
By keeping my hands open and allowing the sand or in the case of the boy, the bird some space, we keep what we have.
Truth is, everyone needs their own space to grow and breathe.
I wish you understanding and wisdom so that you too can be free!

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