What do you mean "Let Go of Self"?
In spiritual circles it is often said to "let go of self".
I actually do not think YOU can let go of YOURSELF - I think instead that you should rejoice and enjoy being who your are! The question of course is, as the catapiller said to Alice: WHO ARE YOU?
The real you is a constellation of divine qualities continuously expressing themselves through some amount of conditioning - mental concepts, expectations, emotional habits, life roles, etc. We don't have to try and become our real self, rather as my teacher Amin used to say: "we just have to get out of the road of ourself trying to happen".
This is a key aspect of awakening ourselves and the process of "getting out of the road of ourself" is the letting go referred to in spiritual circles. Actually much of it is an inherent process (albeit slow) of ones evolutionary growth while living on the planet, but there are so many meditation and spiritual practices that facilitate this, that allow us to consciously participat in the process of both 'getting out of the road' and awakening.
I will share a couple of simple personal things I am doing (besides my basic meditation practice) to more fully participate in this process...
1. I am trying to give more in whatever way that presents itself. Like buying a paper, for a buck, called "Street Sense", from a homeless person in DC; sometimes it is saying a cheerful good morning to someone; often it is radiating light as I walk with the masses of people in Subway; sometimes it is by the what I 'tip' at a coffee shop or restaurant; other times by praying for others or doing an individual Service Circle for the world.
2. I am trying to practice physical relaxation everyday before I fall off to sleep or get out of bed in the morning, trying to relax my body and completely let go of all tension as much as possible. This is much more important than we give credit.
3. I am trying to be present while I am the Prayer Saum and the Prayer for Peace everyday.
http://www.sufiorder.org/prayers.html
4. I am reciting often: Suban Allah, Alhumdulillah, La Illaha Illala, Allah Ho Akbar.
This phrase gets me 'out of the road' of my individual self and in to that One Perfection that is beyond "myself".
Literally it means:
Glory be to God;
Praise be to God;
There is no God but God;
There is no Power but God.
Mystically, this invokes the following states:
There is no me only the Glory of Allah the One Reality;
My heart, lost in Glory becomes a continual expression of the praise of that One Reality;
For there is no Reality but the One Reality of God and Nothing exists but that One Reality;
There is no power in me, nor in the universe but the power of Allah.
I actually do not think YOU can let go of YOURSELF - I think instead that you should rejoice and enjoy being who your are! The question of course is, as the catapiller said to Alice: WHO ARE YOU?
The real you is a constellation of divine qualities continuously expressing themselves through some amount of conditioning - mental concepts, expectations, emotional habits, life roles, etc. We don't have to try and become our real self, rather as my teacher Amin used to say: "we just have to get out of the road of ourself trying to happen".
This is a key aspect of awakening ourselves and the process of "getting out of the road of ourself" is the letting go referred to in spiritual circles. Actually much of it is an inherent process (albeit slow) of ones evolutionary growth while living on the planet, but there are so many meditation and spiritual practices that facilitate this, that allow us to consciously participat in the process of both 'getting out of the road' and awakening.
I will share a couple of simple personal things I am doing (besides my basic meditation practice) to more fully participate in this process...
1. I am trying to give more in whatever way that presents itself. Like buying a paper, for a buck, called "Street Sense", from a homeless person in DC; sometimes it is saying a cheerful good morning to someone; often it is radiating light as I walk with the masses of people in Subway; sometimes it is by the what I 'tip' at a coffee shop or restaurant; other times by praying for others or doing an individual Service Circle for the world.
2. I am trying to practice physical relaxation everyday before I fall off to sleep or get out of bed in the morning, trying to relax my body and completely let go of all tension as much as possible. This is much more important than we give credit.
3. I am trying to be present while I am the Prayer Saum and the Prayer for Peace everyday.
http://www.sufiorder.org/prayers.html
4. I am reciting often: Suban Allah, Alhumdulillah, La Illaha Illala, Allah Ho Akbar.
This phrase gets me 'out of the road' of my individual self and in to that One Perfection that is beyond "myself".
Literally it means:
Glory be to God;
Praise be to God;
There is no God but God;
There is no Power but God.
Mystically, this invokes the following states:
There is no me only the Glory of Allah the One Reality;
My heart, lost in Glory becomes a continual expression of the praise of that One Reality;
For there is no Reality but the One Reality of God and Nothing exists but that One Reality;
There is no power in me, nor in the universe but the power of Allah.
