What Life Does, Episode 269
The story that 'my life is about me' that has become central to our culture ignores that we are, without our say-so, always part of a life and a universe that is much bigger than us.
While it's understandable that we try to control and dominate life, before long we find out that life is having its way with us too. It may well be truer to say that 'I am about life'. So what would happen if instead of treating life as a problem to be overcome, we started to live as if the life we're part of has a deep intelligence of its own - an intelligence that is not oriented particularly towards my life or your life, but towards life's own flourishing.
When we look this way, we see that it is indeed our responsibility to take care of one another. But we also see that we are participants in life and we have choices about whether to try to maintain the fiction that we're in charge, whether to collapse and try to flee from life, or whether to take up our places fully in a partnership with life. Which of these we choose will make a profound difference to what we get to bring forward into the world, and who we get to be for each other.
This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
Here's our source for this week:
What Life Does
Life disappoints you so you stop living from illusions and see reality.
Life destroys everything superfluous, until only the important remains.
Life does not leave you in peace, so you stop blaming yourself and accept everything as it is.
Life takes what you have, until you stop complaining and learn gratitude.
Life sends you conflicting people to heal you, so that you stop projecting and start reflecting who you are inside.
Life lets you fall again and again, until you decide to learn the lesson.
Life takes you off the path and presents you with crossroads, until you stop wanting to control everything and learn to flow like a river.
Life puts your enemies on the road, until you stop “reacting”.
Life frightens you and startles you as many times as necessary, until you lose your fear and regain your faith.
Life takes away your true love, it does not grant or allow it, until you stop trying to buy it with trinkets.
Life distances you from people you love, until you understand that we are not this body, but the soul that powers it.
Life laughs at you many, many times, until you stop taking everything so seriously and can laugh at yourself.
Life breaks you into as many parts as necessary for the light to penetrate you.
Life confronts you with rebels, until you stop trying to control.
Life repeats the same message, even with shouting and slaps, until you finally hear it.
Life sends you thunder and storms, so you wake up.
Life humbles and defeats you again and again until you decide to let your small-self die.
Life denies you goods and greatness until you stop wanting goods and greatness and you begin to serve.
Life cuts your wings and prunes your roots, until you need no wings or roots, but disappear into the forms and your being flies.
Life denies you miracles, until you understand that everything is a miracle. Life shortens your time, so you hurry to learn to live.
Life ridicules you until you become nothing, until you become nobody, and so you become everything.
Life does not give you what you want, but what you need to evolve. Life hurts you and torments you, until you let go of your whims and tantrums and appreciate just breathing.
Life hides treasures from you until you go out to look for them.
Life denies you God, until you see God in everyone and everything.
Life shortens you, prunes you, takes you away, breaks you, disappoints you, cracks you, … until only love abides in you.
Bert Hellinger
Photo by Paolo Bendandi on Unsplash