As we move through the month of July with the theme being “To Be Free”, we want to look at the topic of “Kenosis”. Kenosis means to “empty oneself”. In order to experience freedom at our core level takes a continual air of detachment from outcomes. The egoic mind is programed to set agendas, be in control and dictate desired results. And of course, in many ways that is not a bad thing. If we’re going to get anything done in life, many times it takes setting goals and having a vision.
And yet, in order to be led by the all-knowing Spirit within us, there must be room for It to operate. To quote Cynthia Bourgeault from The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: “You can’t move a plank you’re standing on” was an adage from my days in the Gurdjieff work; as long as the egoic self is the only self you know, you will cling to it like a life raft. In fact, without the development of a strong inner observer, surmises the contemporary pundit Eckert Tolle, “all relationships are deeply flawed.”
To be free of the ego’s grip takes emptying oneself in order to be pliable and teachable. In this manner we may develop a friendship with the silent “inner observer” that always withholds judgments and criticisms. Detaching from specific outcomes allows freedom to reign at the very depths of our being. When we come from this stance, we simply “let” life be as it is.
Saint John of the Cross wrote: “The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it is a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.”
Say with me: “I am willing to be free by emptying myself of expectations and attachments so that my soul is available to take wings and fly.”
—Rev. Gay Beauregard, Alpine Church of Spiritual Living
