"YEAH...BUT..."

Once you start off on a spiritual journey, you will be assigned several companions. One of them is "Yeah, but..." Every time you attempt to step more fully into self-realization and spiritual intent, especially in the early stages, you can pretty well count on "Yeah, but..." to show up at your door.

As expected, "Yeah, but…" came by to see me today. I was attempting to hang out with another companion, "Why Worry? God's got you covered."


Now"Yeah, but..." always brings an entourage. You've heard of "Yes men." Well, "Yeah, but..." brings along a lot of ""Yeah, but... men"--Lobbyists, witnesses and experts to prove its case and justify its position. ("You won't have enough money." "Nobody cares for you." "People are undependable. "Get what you can while you can." "You can't trust men... or women." "Life on this planet is doomed unless we get with the program and we're too far gone in apathy and denial to do that." "God is irrelevant to your daily life" "Life sucks!" etc.)


Now, "Yeah, but…" usually doesn't tell me what action I actually need to take to address these annoying issues. That's not its job. Its job is just to incite worry, assuming that if it stokes up enough anxiety and reinforces it with adequate justifications, proofs and corroborations happily supplied by its "Yeah, but... men," I will forsake "Don't worry, God's got you covered." and "Get real." (One of "Yeah, but's favorite injunctions.)


You see, from "Yeah, but's…" point of view "Don't worry, God's got you covered." is not only preposterous, but actually illegal… according to its laws. Anyone guilty of promoting this point of view deserves punishment and annihilation, even better, crucifixion, if they still allowed it. At the very least, mounted on the rack of ridicule.


When I tried to explain to "Yeah, but..." that the reason I need not worry is that I am realizing that I'm enfolded in the embrace of an all loving, all supportive Presence that has my best interests at heart.


"Oh, that," "Yeah, but..." says disparagingly, insisting that IT has my best interests at heart, while attempting to persuade me that "Don't worry, God's got you covered." is stupid, useless, irresponsible, fucked up, or any other adjective that can describe the utter insanity of allowing this perspective into my mind and why I need to do something about it…before…(and here it resorts to some projected time in the future that "Yeah, but…" predicts, with great conviction and the exhaustive research supplied by its expert witnesses)... calamity occurs…if I don't change my ways, get busy worrying and take control.


Now part of why "Yeah, but…" is so convincing is that it can point to an almost infinite number of instances in which people who don't respond to it's highly trained and credible experts get their asses kicked and lose shit.


"Yeah, but..." can easily demonstrate through history that there is no "god" to cover my ass in troubling circumstances, let alone break my fall or pay my bills..


What "Yeah, but..." fails to mention, by cleverly hiding this reality, is that all this worry doesn't actually prevent life from kicking my ass or taking away my shit.


Nevertheless, I implore "Why worry? God's got you covered," "what do you have to say to that."


"Why worry, God's got you covered," humbly but authoritatively asks, "Do you do anything to beat your heart? Bring your self into existence? Breathe your lungs? Run your metabolism? Send messages throughout your nervous system? Continually feed and cleanse every cell in your body? Keep gravity operating? And does any amount of worry cause those things to happen?"

I turn to "Yeah, but…" who very deftly changes it's first name to "Well" and starts,
"Well, but…"'

"Oh, now you're "Well, but…" are you? "Well…but"…does it?"

"Well…no…"

"So if none of this angst makes the most essential processes of your life happen without you even being conscious of them, let alone worrying about them, then do you think agonizing will help our host solve any of the problems that confront him?

But "Yeah, but..." makes one more attempt to validate its position by bringing in its tag team partner, "No, but…" who trots out its list of very compelling "or else's." ("You better get real about all of this or..."You'll be homeless." "You won't have electricity." "You'll be rejected." "You can't pay your bills." You'll be downsized." "You'll be old, decrepit, alone, homeless and helpless, etc.)

"But doesn't all that worry just sap your energy and keep you from creatively engaging your problems?" "Don't worry. God's got you covered" retorts.
"Yeah, but..."


"So, isn't worry absolutely ridiculous and totally counterproductive…and that's why you, "Yeah, but…" are nothing but a worry wart and all your "or else's" are totally bogus?



"Well…yeah…


but…"

(Think on't...)
Errol Strider
(415) 459-4512
http://striderinnertainment.com/
estrider@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BUMPING INTO NOT ME

Image
Bumping into Not Me By Errol Strider (pretending to be me) Easing into this moment… as I attempt to wend my way around the obstacles of my life… those judgments I project before me... that cause me to stumble and fall and have to watch the ground in order not to bump into the sharp edged walls that I make of everyone by the way I shape them according to how they are not me. -- Errol Strider, Artistic Director The Laughing Heart (415) 459-4512 http://striderinnertainment.com/ http://www.insightoutwitherrol.blogspot.com/ http://www.utopiaradio.com/ estrider@gmail.com
Read more

IS GOD TWO-FACED? Part 2 "Let's Face It"

Image
Let's face it, it's nice to share a meal with someone you can relate to. When I want heartfelt comfort and soul nourishment…it really is immensely satisfying to know that I am in a relationship with a very intimate "Other"…and indeed, the more I surrender (snuggle up) to that Other-ness, the more I recognize that the other enjoys companionship just as much as I do. The meal just tastes better when we're sharing the same grass. But just to keep the scales balanced (I am a Libra), I love grazing in the open fields of un-endingness and non-distinction…it's relaxing, it's satisfying, there's no resistance and there's more than enough to go around. So let's face it...it's good to abide in "both/and".. which calls me to be a compassionate "other" when life needs "me-othering" and as permeating presence in the pastures of consciousness when distinction just gets in the way. So, thanks Jesus and thanks Buddha. Even tho
Read more

HOW TO BECOME THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Image
How do you become the Light of the World? Simple…Fuse. After all, what is light? It is the process of fusion. Two "particles" that are otherwise in resistance to each other (protons, egos, sexes, nationalities, religions, competitors, etc.…) who are forced to break through that resistance and converge. Some call it sex. Either way... it's about interpenetration at the most fundamental level. So when we join with another at that deep level, the energy that was used to keep us apart is released... as Light. So how does that process apply to human relationships? Well, we need to overcome our actually unnatural resistance to joining and allow the impulse to "co-inside" in love to dominate and take us over. We are enabled to do this becausse as we access that love and submit to its nature. This is the process of spiritual growth. It's very simple: Duality deludes us into thinking that if we maintain our separation, we maintain our existence, but the truth is
Read more