My experience with the “letting universe handle things” practice had often left me feeling peaceful yet listless… that’s not the right word… I found taping into the energy to change or start something new became more difficult.

I could feel great about myself and life when I was alone doing my own thing, calm, at peace… but interacting with the necessities of life (relationships, shelter, need to eat…) that calm quickly dissipated.
I wondered if like Gautama (or most spiritual masters), the only way to achieve this ‘letting go’ was to leave ones family and avoid life’s interactions.

As my nature/destiny/fate/doom was unlikely to avoid the necessity of dealing with the necessity of life I felt I was in a rock and a hard place. Worse as indicated above with each cycle as I found I could accept life as it is I found less and less energy for action.

It seemed to me the practice of “letting universe handle things” was more nuanced then I had been practicing it.

Today my understanding of letting the universe handle things is that it is not about being passive but about learning how to say YES to life as it is, LOVE life as it is, the good the bad and the ugly, while living out and pursuing your truth as you know it in the moment. Easier said than done.

Could I say YES to a person and or experience, while still living and pursuing my truth as I understand it in that moment even if that meant standing up against the situation, experience or person?

The question sounded paradoxical to me and I knew this wasn’t a ‘love the person hate the sin’ kind of thing as I knew that saying yes was saying yes to the ‘sin’ as well. (I define sin as missing the mark in becoming) How could I say yes when I was also saying no.

I came across a story of a Japanese Samurai whose master was murdered. His truth as he understood his duty required that he find the murderer and kill him. In the moment he is about to kill the man the murderer spits at him at which point angered the Samurai sheaths his sword and walks away.

Had the Samurai killed the man form a place of anger and hate would have been saying No to life as it is, No to who he was, No to the murderer as he was… and so walked away. Saying YES to life as it is and living out his truth in that moment that required that he walk away.

Killing the murder and not killing the murder because he was angry where both acts of LOVE.

LOVE it seemed to me means saying YES to LIFE as it IS with Life requiring that I live it.

It’s a work in progress but my gut says this is the right path for me as it helps me tap into the energy I need to live my truth. One can live ones truth without hate, vengeance, judgments, labels, pursuit of some this thing we call justice…..

Wow how far off track did I go.