Floating Free

A female hummingbird buzzes by en route to her feeder as I write my blog. Today's beautiful 60 degree morning transposed itself into another hot, humid day. Late afternoon sunshine speckles the ground with bits of brightness. A flash of light reveals clusters of swirling insects.

The geese turned their backs to me during my TCC practice this afternoon, heads swiveled backward to tuck beaks under wings, and an eye slitted open several times to check my progress. As I moved I heard snatches of birdsong and gazed at butterflies riding a sweep of air through long shafts of light.

Practice was nondescript--simple quiet and peacefulness--as I gazed into the forest and felt gratitude for this beautiful shady woods I call home.

While purging files this afternoon I rediscovered a favorite story: Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach (1977). Bach writes about a village of creatures that lived along the bottom of a river where they resisted the current by clinging to the rocks since that was what they had learned from birth.

One creature lets go, trusting the current to take it where it will. At first this creature is tumbled and smashed against the rocks but it continues on and eventually floats along freely. Further downstream other creatures see this floating stranger and cry out, A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!

The one carried by the current replies: I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.

This river Bach writes about can be literal or figurative. It may be a flowing body of water, or the Tao, or Chi. T'ai Chi Chih practice teaches us to glide along the river of life by asking us to trust the process as we relax, release, and float rather than hold fast, clutch, and cling. TCC offers us a daily opportunity to let go even though some days we may find ourselves caught in tumultuous waves, other days we might bounce over rough rapids, and on others we may well swirl around and around in eddies.

Still, with practice we grow accustomed to releasing and letting go, relaxing and being, trusting and accepting. Our fears and judgments are replaced with love and compassion. Our need to control abates as we are guided by an inner knowing, a sense that there is wisdom greater than ours alone.

All we need remember are these wonderful, wise words by Richard Bach: The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.