Day 084b: Letting it all flow onward … (July 07, 2019)
Whether walking a pilgrimage or living through the everyday, carrying symbolic trinkets & baubles can prove to be powerfully Meaning-full – for one, allowing the traveler to always have a gift on hand that is ready to be given to another who might be in need of such a kindness, and for another, to allow us the opportunity to let these same symbols go. In this particular moment, it was time to let this wooden cross* return to the One from whence it had come – and a smoothly flowing river below the bridge over which I was walking seemed as good a place as any to let it depart to find its next recipient …
“The is a grand difference between theism and nontheism, a difference that has nothing to do with whether one does or does not believe in God. At its roots, theism is a deep-seated conviction that there is some huge celestial hand that can be held; that if we simply do or say or pray all the right things, some far grander someone ‘up above’ will appreciate us and reward us and take care of us. Nontheism, in contrast, is a far more noble initiative. It is the brave-yet-humble choice to relax fully with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment; to embrace all nearby without yearning for anything to protect ourselves from the same … And so it is that the wise all say that The Way resides not in the sky overhead, but rather within the human heart.”~ inspired by Pema Chodron & Gautama Buddha
*I don’t remember exactly who gave me this cross, though I do know what it symbolized for me – the same as all other crosses, actually; namely, the vertical union of the Father (the essence of the Cosmos itself; what some call God or the Source “above”) and the Son (my truest & highest Self) and the Holy Spirit (the moral center that resides within all sentient beings – certainly within all herd mammals) combined with horizontal union of the left arm (the hand of humble receiving) via its right counterpart (the hand of courageous generosity). I had held on to this potent symbol for quite some time, waiting for the best opportunity to pass it on to another (along with the aforementioned explanation, of course), and yet it somehow seemed just as right to let it flow onward of its own accord this morning. And so I released it lovingly and let it fall into into the stream’s cool waters below.
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