Spiritual paradox

Let go and let God or set goals and go get them? That is the question. The world of self help literature is full of both sets of advice and a seeming paradox has formed. Both sets of advice seem solid so either something is wrong or simply fitting them together takes a little working out. let's talk about this a little.

The Law of Entropy

The universe has certain tendencies. One of them is neatly expressed by the laws of entropy which states that everything is moving... falling, in fact, towards a state of chaos. Things disintegrate! If you don't intervene and apply your will, the world will collapse around you. I refer directly to your immediate world - your house, your finances, your health, your relationships and daily decisions. If you dont take care of, for example, your house, it will be dusty and in need of repair within a couple of weeks. Leave it for longer and the thing will fall down. This is entropy. We are fortunate indeed, in that there is an opposing force to entropy. That force is consciousness. You simply must intervene in your surrounding universe in order to apply the solution to entropy:. Apply consciousness to your surroundings and you can effect them and save them from chaos and from entropy.

Letting go of outcomes

This is highly problematic for many people as it has been interpreted as just rolling over and being passive. No wise philosophical system would avocate simple pasivity as the law of entropy clearly shows us the results of doing so. This means that we need another understanding of what it means to let go.

Picture, if you will, a bowling alley. You have practised long and hard and you know what you want - a strike. You have seen yourself in your minds eye on many an occasion, blasting those pins and felt the elation flood you. You know that the time has come and you pop your fingers into the holes provided in that heavy ball. You walk up and stride forward and cast the ball forward. Up until now you have been one hundred percent into what you are doing. You have been living in the now and totally absorbed in the correct application of what you are doing. So now you have two options: Perhaps you choose to let go, not only of the ball but of your needs and desires. You have done your part and now you have to trust in the universe, in your abilities, in your training, in the correct weight distribution in the ball and the surface of the alley. You can trust that God is running the show. The ball follows its course and either you get your strike or you don't. That's one option. The other option is that when you release the ball, to enter into a deep state of stress. You are hoping to get the strike, you are cought up in the strike, your stomach becomes a knot and you scream "come on" at the top of your lungs. I have seen bowling balls veer to the left and the bolwler scream "Noooooo to the riiiiight".

When you have done your part, let go and let God take care of it. The ego is obsessed with the illusion of being in control. The ego has a very limited control even though this is a fact that the ego cant stand. Make your effort and then let go.

When you let go and stop screaming at the ball, you can go into a relaxed state that permits you to notice the next moment when you can in fact apply your influence once again. At that time, rather than leaving it to entropy (which leads to ruin) you would go into action again until you can act no more and there, once again, you have to let go and trust.

Metaphysically, when you refuse to let go of something, you are creating a strange energy indeed. It is the spiritual equivalent to planting tomato seeds and constantly digging them up to see how they are doing.

Plant and water your seeds, but don't dig them up.