let all of it go
abandon all illusions
starting with control
Lately I’ve been realizing that most of our human suffering in this life is predicated on the belief that we have control over outcomes and events.
When things don’t go our way, when expectations fail to materialize, when we feel out of control, we suffer.
Oddly, we chase this suffering. One of the big storylines of 2021 has been about The Great Resignation. People leaving traditional jobs to go out on their own, under the illusion that they will have more control over their livelihood and their destiny.
Write your own ticket.
They are buying into the myth of control.
The people who say “get a job” with the belief that a W2 grants more security are also buying into the myth of control, from a different angle.
The vaccinated and the unvaccinated both cling to myths of control. Those who refuse the vaccine believe their refusal gives them control over their bodies and their health. Those who embrace the vaccine believe that it gives them control over the virus.
You can look at any current news issue through this lens.
Indeed, news reporting and journalism itself has become less about reporting the news and more about seizing control.
Control the narrative.
That’s what any good PR professional or storyteller tries to do.
Maybe I’ve listened to too many Alan Watts talks over the past couple of years, or maybe this is the ripening of my own wisdom, but I increasingly see the futility of all of this.
The best scientists in the world continue to remain steps behind a virus that mutates out of control.
You can try to control narratives all you want, but meaning ultimately is the province of those who read or hear your message.
This idea that control is an illusion can be unsettling. Or it can be incredibly freeing.
It all depends on your perspective.
In theory that’s something you can control, although it’s quite possible that much of your perspective is inherited from others.
So even that may not be entirely in your control.
Something to think about.
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