One more thing this pandemic and the resultant changes in our lives have achieved is to help us loosen our grip on many things we have held tightly. Many are shaken at the fragility of our existence and how quickly our lives can change. Many of our modern conveniences have been taken from us or have been significantly restricted. We cannot gather together or freely walk into a store. We are being forced to practice surrender in that we cannot just compulsively attain comfort and convenience – the things we believe make our lives so great.
Our freedoms are restricted and we pine for the time when the restrictions are lifted. Ironically, the restrictions on our comforts and conveniences actually free us up from our dependence on them, as with addiction. When the object of our addiction is taken away from us, we suffer for a time due to its absence, and then there is the exhilarating feeling of being freed from it. It doesn’t matter what it is – cigarettes, being able to pop into the grocery store or having those we love around us – there is a feeling of relief and freedom from it when we let it go.
It is like being a trapeze artist. When you let go of the one bar, there is the terrifying experience of free fall until you grab the next bar. What we must realize is that this practice of letting go is necessary to “level up” in terms of our consciousness. The less we possess, the less we hold, the more we “level up” by practicing surrender. This is not just a season of suffering to endure and wish away until things “go back to normal.” It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a collective shift in our consciousness.
This is what I will call “decentralization.” Once we realize our lives do not depend on any possessions, comforts and conveniences, or even any people, groups, organizations or causes with which we identify, we will be able to grasp something deeper – the invisible. What really matters is the Spirit of things, which cannot be contained in anything physical or visible. It is happening between, in and through everything. It is in everything, and yet cannot be confined by one thing. It is everything and no thing at the same time.
What we have realized during this waiting period is that even though we are physically distant, there is a lot in the space between. There are all these transmissions being made across the airwaves, which are the thing itself and a metaphor for all the things that are happening which are invisible and intangible. It is these things to which we must start paying attention and grasping – not the manifestations of, but the spirit in and of, which is invisible. You are not just a physical being but a spiritual being at the same time, and everything around you is the same. We will all be changed.