It all continues to haunt me, this job of “letting go.” I am still finding that deeply entrenched attitudes, old habits, and my all-too-precious “have to haves” still hold power over me. I give them that power. But, I am still able to smile at my clinging ways—watching “self pass by,” as Cayce instructs. And that’s evidence of growth.
Though, I shudder at the thought of what comes next. It is biblical, part of Cayce’s story of every human being, and there are shades of it in every religion. You know what it is before I go any further: “June, you have to find a way to turn it ALL over to God, just as we are all supposed to do; just as leaders of different religions have demonstrated, and as Jesus did on the cross.
Even Jesus lost his connection to God briefly. “My God, where are you in my final moments of growing close to you? I have put my whole life in your hands, and here I am on the cross, hurting and alone. Where are you? This is not the way I have understood the final offering up of all that I am, have been, and hope to be, putting my whole being in your hands and trusting the process.” Thank God, Jesus found his connection with God before he gave up, otherwise I don’t know where I would now find myself.
When I try to wrap my mind around the final letting go process I get filled with anxiety. (That just proves how unready I am!) I think about my ties to the earth and how much I love the beauties of God’s creation:
Give up rainbows? Where will our ideal of hope go?
Give up waterfalls and rain? The ideal of God’s abundant Spirit is always ready to give us exactly what we need. His/Her Spirit always has more than we need with plenty of overflow!
Give up the sun’s risings and settings and the moon’s ascent every night? How else will we know that God is still God and that He/She will remind us of who we are and what our next opportunity is at any given moment?
Give up the seasons? They surprise and delight us, showing us over and over again that changes are good when we seriously look at ourselves and agree that it is necessary. Time and again they show us that change is good when we seriously look at ourselves and agree that it is necessary. If we don’t want to change, not much of any substance is going to happen to us during this lifetime. And Edgar tells us that it will be even harder to deal with if we put it off until next lifetime. The seasons also have a lot to say about the end of life. Death seems to be the end, but the seasons promise us something more. In nature, there is no death. You need only look at a seed. While it may appear dead, it is soon growing, ready to produce something good.
Give up the people I love? I heard a woman speak about her near-death experience. She had been adopted as a baby and had never met her birth parents. Yet they were all there in her near-death experience and told her they had been with her every day of her life, praying for her and loving her. They told her they hadn’t wanted to give her up for adoption, but that circumstances made it necessary.
Give up music? God’s own vibrations bring to us the gift of music, the movement of dance, the sound of the humming bird, the cry of a newborn, and the poignancy of a soul serving God with all his/her heart.
Give up my life on earth with its failures and fascinating forward movements? I know it will be hard, but I must be open to receiving something new. My faith says that it will be far better than anything I can even imagine.
The Cayce readings remind me how to let go:
By the pouring out, the forgetting, the laying aside of those things that easily beset and FILLING same with pure, fresh water that is of the eternal life, that is of the eternal goodness as may be found in Him who IS the light, the way, the truth, the vine, the bread of life and the water of life. These things are those influences that purify.
-- Edgar Cayce reading 1620-1
I could write volumes because my love of the world God created is so strong. And perhaps I will. I have only begun on this journey of “letting go.” But, thank God, I’ve made a start. That’s something!
The biggest and best secret of all is that we can do it with the help of God--whatever name we call Him.
Excerpt from June Bro's "The Art of Living" column from the Jan-Mar 2017 issue of Venture Inward magazine available to A.R.E. members at Edgarcayce.org/members.
