Letting go

Letting go of the entanglements of a normal life

 

Letting go of the entanglements of a normal life

a. Dropping out of the morning commuter race

This is a simple game to play that will give you a quick victory. 

Everybody fights to gain 100 meters on everyone else during the morning commute.  You shift lanes, deny people access to the space ahead of you, curse the other drivers in your head, etc.  Commuting is a social structure that brings out the very worst in you on so many levels.

The game is this:  Drive 3-4 mph slower than the speed limit (still legal) in the right hand lane.  Everyone speeds around you; you’re barely a blip on their radar.  No competition, no anger.  You’re out of the race; a drop out. 

So now you can try dropping out of more substantial social structures that force you to do things you know are not right.

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Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us

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b. No negatives

This is NOT a philosophy.  We all have to be negative at times; yin & yang and all that.  It is just a simple, but very challenging, game.

I love “Valley Girl” talk.  A suburban teenager who is well nourished, educated, vaccinated, safe, and comfortable speaks with a tone of “knowing cynicism” more appropriate to a GI who just survived the decimation of his battalion.  Sort of like the tone of my writing right now.  We are enmeshed with cynicism, defensiveness and a hoarding instinct.  It’s a natural, complex set of survival instincts and socializations.  It’s almost impossible to break out of in a thoughtful way.  So let’s try a crazy way.

Here’s the game:  Your response to every situation during the day will be positive, understanding and encouraging.  You don’t necessarily have to say “yes” to everything, though that’s one way to play the game.  You do have to stop yourself, awkwardly, in every human interaction and try to figure out what the person wants, maybe asking questions to see how you can best serve their needs.  If you determine you can’t help them, try to help them find an alternative solution.  Or, if there is no request, just see how you can support them with a compliment or kind word.  And the tone of voice – very important.  Always an optimistic and kind tone of voice. 

Don’t put too much into this exercise or it will become too difficult.  Don’t seek to be a saint.  Just carry it out mechanically and you’ll get the breakthrough.  You’ll be less controlled by social expectations of how you should talk and think.

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Deuteronomy 7:16

You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

A lot of people are offended by these sorts of passages in the Old Testament.  But such horrors will happen to all of us; it’s not novel, it’s not unique to these passages.  For example, we’re all going to die.  It’s not going to be pretty.  You’re going to be bed ridden for a long time and then finally your lungs will slowly fill with fluid and you’ll be gasping for breath and then, after several days, you’ll die.  If you’re lucky you’ll die this way; it can be much worse.  Life is brief and cruel.  We have to find a way out and not let anything distract us, like Canaanites or social habits of modern times.  Drop all of the snares and entanglements that society puts in your path.  The example above was extreme because the Israelites needed it.  We don’t.  But the message is still there.  Jesus said “if your right hand offends, cut it off”.  Yes, it was hyperbole, but it’s the same message.  Get serious about getting rid of these snares.  They’re deadly

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