Giving Up What No Longer Works, Episode 25
On Sunday, 25th March 2018, Lizzie and Justin talked about 'Giving up what no longer works', focussing on the topic of sacrifice and generosity. What, we wondered, makes the difference between an act of generosity (or a life of generosity) that diminishes and burns us up, and a life in which we are nourished as we go? And what might be our part, our responsibility, in having life be that way when it's possible, so that giver, receiver and gift are all an expression of life?
Giving Up What No Longer Works
from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo
Burning your way to centre
is the loneliest fire of all.
You’ll know you have arrived
when nothing else will burn.
At first this sounds rather somber, but from Moses to Buddha to Jesus, the deepest among us have all shown that living is a process of constantly paring down until we carry only what is essential.
It is the same in the human journey as in the natural world. As the centre grows stronger, what once was protective turns into a covering, like a tree bark or snake skin, that is now in the way, and, sooner or later, we as spirits growing in bodies are faced with burning old skins, like rags on sticks, to light our way as we move deeper and deeper into the inner world, where the forces of God make us one.
When faced with the need to keep going inward, we are confronted with a very difficult kind of life choice: like carving up your grandmother’s table for firewood to keep your loved ones warm, or leaving a job that has been safe and fulfilling in order to feel vital again, or burning an old familiar sense of self because it’s gotten so thick you can’t feel the rain.
In truth, always needing to stay immediate by removing what is no longer real is the working inner definition of sacrifice - giving up with reverence and compassion what no longer works in order to stay close to what is sacred.