We Have to Let Good Do More

Finding faith is just as the title suggests. We have to let Good (or God) do more. We just have to. Much of faithlessness is walking around feeling like we just can’t. We don’t have the patience. We’ve been traumatized before, so how could things possibly turn out better now? White-knuckling it has worked for us so far, why stop now? White-knuckling is a phrase borrowed from the recovery community, and it’s just about hanging on and forcing as much of our lives to go well as we possibly can. A lot can get done through white knuckling. A lot can be endured. But that is a very different vibe than just letting go and enjoying the ride. 

I have gotten a lot done in my life and accomplished many things. I’ve achieved a lot of goals and traveled all over the world. I’ve talked my way into many opportunities and been successful in a few industries, and I was miserable and full of fear and struggled to enjoy pretty much all of it.  

I’ve read a lot of self-help books, been to therapy, and studied culture trying to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it, but it wasn’t until I started allowing myself to experiment with having faith that I started to understand myself, see a path forward, and actually feel better.

Cynics would probably argue that is because faith is a nebulous, ill-defined, cerebral exercise individual to my experience. If I tried hard enough, they might argue, I could convince myself that cows are deities or that we are actually alien spirits trapped in earthly bodies, which some cultures and subcultures in the world actually do believe (Hinduism and Scientology, respectively). I can’t bring myself to go that far, but I don’t judge others that do. The whole point of this writing is connecting people to faith in whatever shape that takes, because I firmly believe that faith in it’s simplest form has the potential to do everyone a lot of Good.

I must admit that I think many religions have it backward when it comes to reaching people. There are a lot of rules and books and churches and trappings of faith that get in the way of letting people believe in Good, in better, in their ability to have faith. In my experience, faith in God (or Good) comes first, then if you need a framework for believing in it further, then by all means. 

One interesting benefit to having a basic faith is we start to understand what all the saints and gurus and sages are getting at. I couldn’t discern myself from my own ego until I started to have faith. Now, that selfish little gremlin within is plain as day. I haven’t separated myself from it completely, but I can tell when it’s rubbing it’s little hands together, trying to get me to do more or want better or seek validation from others.

Discussions about ego before felt very philosophical, very meta, very confusing, because the simple, spiritual self within that is content with the highest Good for all and seeks only to follow God’s path was totally meshed with a psychological goblin created by culture and external information. There was no discernment between spiritual self and ego-driven golem; they were one and the same. 

Somewhere along this journey, I started to see how all my pushing and trying and achieving and continuing to be miserable with the results regardless of the outcome was an exercise in ego expression, and the quiet, still, calm, loving being I actually am was buried beneath it, waiting to be heard and heeded. Only faith created separation between the two.

Only the quiet of meditation and prayer and the pain of having selfish prayers answered and then having the outcome be heartbreak and destruction made me separate myself from ego. I haven’t prayed for ego-driven desires in weeks. I have been focused on praying for the highest Good, on expressing my God-given talents, on appreciating what and who turns up in my life, and accepting everything as it comes. 

It’s so restful. It’s so peaceful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a little unnerving, to just wait and see and allow and not do. But, as I progress in faith, I am starting to see that we have to let God (or Good) do more. That’s part of the deal. We express our God-given talents and interests, we go through doors that are open, and we accept the ones that have closed. 

Life, it turns out, doesn’t have to be that hard. Who knew?