April 16--Surrendering

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.  --Henry Miller

We surrender the supremacy of our ego, our self-centered demands for power, pleasure, prestige, prominence. We surrender the supremacy of our group, whether that group is defined by religion, race, politics, nationality, economic class, social status, or whatever. We even surrender the supremacy of our species, realizing that humans can’t survive and thrive unless the plankton and trees, the soil and bees, and the climate and seas thrive too. We gladly shed supremacy to make room for solidarity. That gain, we discover, is worth every cost.  --Brian McLaren

We cannot know love if we remain unable to surrender our attachment to power, if any feeling of vulnerability strikes terror in our hearts.  --bell hooks

    Vulnerability has been in my face as I recover from sciatica, and it does strike terror in my heart. It is age-related terror--the idea of being frail and dependent, being a burden, horrifies me. This makes self-love quite a challenge. 

    It is my ego that is screaming for healing--right now, damn it! Even though I would be challenged to put it into words, I also know that the love part of me is learning, much of it through writing. 

    I do believe joy and serenity will come of all this eventually.

        Leta

One of the many colorful murals
in Christchurch, New Zealand