In our series of sermons about “Earthy
lessons for a heavenly life on earth” we have come to lesson number
eight: Surrender and enjoy the ride. To learn this lesson, we
have to see the earth as a living, moving organism. It is easy to
see animals on earth as living beings. Some people can also see
plants as living. But most people don't see earth itself as a living
thing. At least that is not their conscious experience.
We usually see it as a strong, stable
platform permanently located in one place. We don't just see it; we
experience it that way, because when we wake up in the morning, and
look around, our house hasn't moved. The street in front of the house
is the same. All the buildings in the city are in the same place
every day.
All that is true, visually speaking.
But scientifically speaking, it is not true. In order to understand
the truth that everything is
actually moving when nothing is apparently moving,
you have to go to a deeper state of awareness about life. You have to
look and see life in a totally different way. When you do that life
changes, in a beautiful way. And it is not that hard. All you have to
do is to pay attention. Let me tell you how I do this.
When I drive to work in the morning, I
am driving east and
the sun is in my face. When that bright morning sun blinds my
eyes, I try to adjust the visor in my car. When I return home I am
driving west and
the bright evening sun now blinds my eyes. It feels like the sun
moved from east to west to annoy me at the beginning and end of my
daily commute. But I know the sun didn't move. The earth moved. It
is because of the the rotational movement on its axis. But it also
moved in the orbit. During the 8 hours I was at work, the earth
traveled almost half a million miles in its orbit.
So the earth has an axis speed and an
orbital speed. The axis speed is about 1000 miles an hour and the
orbital speed is 66K miles an hour. One spin around the axis is
called a Day and one spin around the orbit is called a year. So the
earth travels about 565 million miles a year.
As inhabitants on planet earth, we are
on a ride, a magical carpet ride orchestrated by the creator of the
universe. That is why life is often called a journey. We are riding
along.
The question is: Are you
enjoying the ride?
If surveys are any indication, many
people are not enjoying the ride. They don't appreciate their fellow
riders.
If you are in a bad relationship with
your spouse, or you have conflict in the family or discord at
workplace, you are not enjoying the ride.
Imagine going on a road trip with your
family and not saying a word to the family members for the entire
trip. Imagine everyone getting out the car and enjoying the sites on
the way and you refuse to get out of the car. Imagine checking into a
hotel in Grand Canyon National Park and in the morning everyone in
your group goes out to see the grand canyon, but you stay in the room
and sleep. That is how a lot of people treat their ride on planet
earth. It is a chore rather than a celebration.
The eighth lesson to learn from living
on a revolving earth is to
surrender and enjoy the ride. Let me explain that using the
analogy of a roller coaster ride. Life is often compared to a roller
coaster ride. I don't have to explain to you how it works. But for a
person living in a rural area in a developing country, it is not a
familiar thing. That was me 35 years ago.
In 1981, I was visiting Disney world.
And one of the main attractions there is the Space Mountain in Magic
Kingdom. I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be like one
of the smaller rides like the Ferris Wheel or the carousel. I had
never heard of roller coasters let alone ridden on one them. I stood
in line totally clueless about what was to come.
I was strapped inside the car, and it
began to move. As you might know, the space mountain ride takes place
totally in the dark. I was so terrified that I held tightly to the
hand bars holding for dear life. My glasses flew off my face, my
hands were shaking and my heart was pounding and I was turned upside
down physically and mentally. After a terrifying minute, I came out
at the bottom of the mountain, furious and disoriented. It was not my
idea of fun. I don't like roller coasters.
But for the people in front of me and
behind me, it was a totally enjoyable and exhilarating experience. So
I asked myself: What is wrong with this picture? How come everyone
else enjoyed the ride and I didn't? What happened that day was that I
had no idea what a roller coaster was about and how to ride it.
Is it possible
that most people don't enjoy life because they don't know what life
is ultimately about and how to live it meaningfully and joyfully?
We have traveled 250k miles into
outer space and touched the moon. But we have not traveled less than
12 inches into our inner consciousness and touched our soul?
We are the most
advanced generation ever to live on the planet with all modern
comforts and conveniences, but we are not the most joyful generation.
Back to my roller coaster ride. I got
scared and tried to control the ride by holding on tightly to the
hand bars and ended up angry, upset and miserable. My fellow riders
relaxed, let go of the tight grip and came out excited and
exhilarated, screaming in pleasure with their hands high up in the
air. The roller coaster has its own rhythm, its own twists and turns,
ups and downs, and it is going to go with its own pace, regardless of
how tightly you hold on to the bar.
There is a thrill and a power in simply
surrendering to the ride and fully feeling the ups and downs of it,
letting the curves take you rather than trying to control them. When
you try to control the ride, resisting what is happening at very
turn, your whole body tightens up and you become anxious and
terrified. When you go with the flow, accepting what you cannot
control, exhilaration and joy follows. I can go for the ride enjoying
its rhythms or let myself be dragged, kicking and screaming through
life.
As inhabitants of this spinning planet
we can, either let go of our perceived controls and enjoy the ride
(life), or hold tight, grind our teeth and try to control life.
Getting off the ride is not an option unless you choose suicide.
Sharon Janis, author of Spirituality
for Dummies explains how surrender helped her to be happy and
content: “I wanted to be in tune with the universe. Clearly, the
all-pervasive intelligence that guides the atoms and galaxies to move
with such perfection could choose the best path for my life. My best
course of action was to get out of the way of its flow and to be
happy with whatever unfolded. Unknowingly, I had tapped into the
secret of surrender as a path to happiness.”
If you really want to enjoy a peaceful
life, you need to let go of your need to control the events of your
life. You think you can control life events, but the fact of the
matter is that you can't. Let me tell you a story.
I have a face book friend who is a
staunch member of the NRA and we have heated discussions about guns.
He owns several guns and I don't own any. And I have no plans to ever
own one. He can't understand that. He tells me that he owns the guns
not to hurt anybody but only to protect his family.
That is a jargon you hear from a lot a
gun owners.
I told him that trying to protect the
family by owing a gun is like a guy trying to protect his horses by
guarding just the gate, while there is no fencing around the barn.
Let me explain:
My family consists of my wife Judy, and
two sons Johnny and Tommy. On weekdays, Judy goes to work at 730 in
the morning. She drives 7 miles to her office, driving thru 37
intersections one way and that is 74 intersections a day. Who is
protecting her from a possible collision that could happen in any one
of those intersections? Who is protecting her from the hundreds of
cars that drive in front of her, behind her and beside her? At work,
who is protecting her from a possible office shooting that could
happen? When she is having lunch with her friends at the nearby Chili
restaurant, who is there to protect her from a possible suspect? When
she is crossing the street from the restaurant to the office who is
protecting her from a possible drunk driver?
You get the idea.
My son Johnny goes to a work program
ten miles away and he is being driven by a guy from Jamaica, I don't
know anything about. There are 10 other kids in this van that
doesn't look that road worthy. He is exposed to the same possible
dangers on the road and the workplace like my wife.
Then my son Tommy is 300 miles away in
college in Evansville. I have no idea or control about where he
drives each day. Once he drove to Tallahassee to visit his friends
and ran out of gas...was stranded somewhere in the middle of the
night. There is no way to control where he goes, who he is with and
what influences and interactions and challenges he faces on a daily
basis.
So the life of my loved ones are
exposed to so many so called dangers and vulnerabilities. It is
impossible to protect them from all possible eventualities of life on
a daily basis. It is a miracle that we are safe and secure each day
and it has been that way for all these years. I have no illusions
about controlling the events of life to ensure the safety of my
family.
Because, I am constantly aware of the
fact that we always live on
the edge of uncertainty and fragility.
Yes, as my fried suggested, I can buy a
gun and keep it under my pillow. If and when some one breaks into my
house, which has not happened in 28 years—I could shoot that person
and protect my family. May be. I could be confused and disoriented
and shoot the wrong person. Let us say it works out as planned. But I
have that perceived control only at night. What about during the day
when my family is exposed to the world which is in fact much more
dangerous than the home?
I think we should give up this
perceived notion of control and surrender to God and enjoy the ride.
Holy mother earth which flawlessly, rides along its orbit for
billions of years is urging us to do just that.
The bible is full of examples of
individuals who let go of the controls and surrendered their lives to
God. We have Abraham who left the familiarity of his village and
traveled to a foreign land totally trusting in god. We have Moses who
surrendered to the plan of god delivered his people.
Look at Mary, the mother of Jesus the
greatest example of surrender in the New Testament. When she was
chosen to be the mother of the messiah, this 16 year old girl knew
that it was not in her capacity to control that event. She was a 16
year old illiterate village girl. She was confused and frightened by
the announcement from the angel that she was going to be the mother
of the Messiah. Despite her doubts and fears, she said: Behold the
handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.”
Look at Jesus surrendering to his
father on the Cross: At the most terrible time in his life, bleeding
on the cross and dying, he said; “Father into thy hands I commend
my spirit.”
When we look the faces of the of the
people on a roller coaster, there are those with horrified faces
fiercely gripping the hand bar and those laughing out loud with
their hands in the air, enjoying the ride with excitement.
This powerful image reminds us that
very often, the only control we have is choosing how we are going to
responds to the ride.
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