Growing into the worlds above us - realizing the higher realms of consciousness within us -- requires that we outgrow the worlds beneath us. This is the great model, the matrix of reality, as it is reflected from above to below. There are no exceptions to or exemptions from its rule or purpose. Any appearance to the contrary is just that, and whenever we break this rule -- by clinging to who and what we have been in the face of any moment trying to show us that we've outlived the old model -- we thwart its divine purpose, and then, much as weeds behind a broken plow, useless pain follows. This understanding has direct implications for those who aspire to know the immortal Self.
We are not meant to cling to the past -- to seek there, for its sense of contentment or conflict, a feeling of ourselves. We can exchange this level of mind that struggles to know its place in life for the peace that comes in our atonement with life.
We are not meant to keep emotional accounts with others, to fill ourselves with disparaging thoughts of where they failed to meet our demands. Nor are we created to carry around with us the cruel and careless remarks of others, and this includes our regrets for where we may have done the same. We can exchange this nature of resentment, which lives to revisit disappointments, with a new and higher understanding that can no more feel punished by the sleeping actions of others than does a mountain feel pain in the midst of a thunderstorm.
The realization of an immortal Self is inseparable from seeing that who and what we have been in the past -- our flattering self-images, treasured ideas, and most prized opinions -- no longer serve us. And how do we know when the time has come to drop the very things that once defined our lives? When we see that holding on to them causes suffering. The conscious sacrifice of this suffering nature is our agreement to let go of who and what we have been in order to make way for the birth of a new and timeless order of consciousness.
In one sense, the interior journey that leads to the immortal Self is demanding and difficult, even seemingly impossible at times; and yet, as paradoxical as it seems, there is nothing intrinsically hard about rising above ourselves and slipping into the stream of our own celestial possibilities. After all, how hard is it to let go of a favorite pair of shoes that no longer fit or a sweater worn so thin that it no longer stops even the slightest breeze? These things, beloved as they may have been, have outlived their purpose.
Much as a great hot air balloon rises into the open skies the moment its restraining tether is cut, so does the aspirant begin his or her ascent into the everlasting life in much the same way. One action: letting go. Two results: we leave one world -- one level of self -- behind us and, in the same moment, rise into a higher order of our own consciousness.