Letting go of the world

It seems that after a decade of practice, I have now almost completely let go of the world, at least when it comes to finding value in its social forms, concepts, alarums and excursions.

My response to the accelerating, descending spiral of the human and natural world has been a turn from the collective to the personal: to my inner journey, my love for my wife and our dog, the relationships I have with a few close colleagues at work, and my quirky, fascinating Facebook sangha. What such a personal world lacks in breadth, it makes up for by being as deep as I care or dare to go.

I no longer want any part of what "the world" has become. Enough. I turn away.

But one cannot turn away from something without simultaneously turning toward something else.

What I am turning toward has been given lots of names. The Higher Self, love, the Divine, moksha, jnana, equanimity, compassion, the connection that is the quantum unit of the Sacred. Or something else, something felt rather than named. I try not to label it, I'm just trying to spend more time living here. With so little time left, it's a wise idea to live where one feels at home. If one wants to die at home, after all, one should be there when the Shades come to call.