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The Theory of Letting Go

  • Author: B-7413
  • Editor: B-7413
  • Newspaper: The Umpire volume 6
  • Page Number:
  • Date: 1 17 1917
  • Tags:
  • advice
  • editorial

The Theory of Letting Go It was a well-known author and writer who said: ''If you have lost youth and happiness, let it go. If your friends have proven false and ungrateful, let them go." But if we take note of the people of today, we find in practice the very antithesis of "letting go;" they are trying to get -to hold onto things with all firmness. It matters little where we look, the view is pretty much the same, whether we turn to the business man, who seeks greater business extensions, the ministers who are constantly reaching out for more converts, and even the mothers are trying to get everything possible for the comfort and inordinate wants of their children. Everywhere the getting spirit seems dominant. The question naturally arises as to what it all means, this constant and eternal craze of "getting"? The solution would seem to be that most of us are seeking for "everything outside ourselves." And as the story is told --constantly seeking, and never satisfied," holding on tightly that we may be self-deceived with the idea that we have got something worth while. If sick, we look outside for health, and continue all along the line looking for prosperity, happiness, amusement, spiritual consolation, and finally God's ministering grace. All this is to be drawn to us the "to have and to hold" attitude of mind. Supposing we turn back to the theory of ''letting go.'' What do we find? Isn't it pretty certain that when we have a thing-feel sure of a thing -we ease up, or in other words, we let go. Surely no effort is required to hold that which is in our own possession. As an illustration, we do not try to hold on to our youth, to friends, happiness, life, love, etc., if they are already ours; feeling sure of them we ease up the tension, or "let go." If that means anything, it means an opening up-a receptive condition of mind, and that is the state we must all arrive at, if we intend to get anything out of life. If you are poor, and your work seems hard, you can "let go," and spiritual wealth will flow to you; and the same may be said of the rich man, if he sees the folly of continually piling up his hoard and desires a change, he ''lets go," and by so doing, opens the way for the spiritual inflow. ''Does this not clearly show that real opulence is spiritual?" If we try this doctrine of "letting go," come what may, it is simply following out the old saying, "Resist not evil;" in other words, "a gospel of nonresistance," or avoidance of the antagonistic spirit of fighting back: some call it revenge. This theory is not new, nor are the thoughts strictly original, but they are forceful and logical. At any rate, suppose you give it a tryout and watch the results.