Purging the Old, Physical and Nonphysical

This week I have spent hours gathering things in order to get rid of them. With the help of a handyman, I got rid of useless items stacked in our shed and in the basement of our tenants next door. With the help of a friend who does professional organizing, I got rid of things that were laying around uselessly and found new places for things that I wanted to keep. I had so much fun, it was just as satisfying as if I'd gone to get a massage.

I wondered how getting rid of junk could be satisfying, and then I decided that it's about living in balance. I have spent some time in the past year making some rooms a little nicer in our house, mainly accumulating. And now, it is time for the reverse -- the letting go of old things.

This natural balance is also true for the world of spiritual, or inner, work. As you accumulate knowledge and transformative spiritual experiences, the old must be transformed or let go. There is no way to be on a path of spiritual growth without having to give something up. In some traditions, the "giving up" is built in to support or formalize the spiritual path: you give up sexual partnership, you give up drinking, you give up material wealth, etc. But aside from these vows, there is still a giving up.

Primarily, those of us on a spiritual path must give up old belief systems, as well as old habits and structures that arise out of those belief systems. If you don't do conscious work on letting go of these old systems, it can create a lot of havoc -- there is not enough room for the light of spiritual knowledge as well as the snags of old ways of seeing and old ways of doing things. You might feel heavy, like there's a big old' junk pile in the system somewhere.

So just in case you want some house-cleaning help, here is a dumpster, below, for any beliefs that you care to put into it. Don't wait! Don't stop and get coffee first. Sometimes transforming old beliefs can happen through the simple practice of taking the belief (such as "I am not enough") and continually putting it in the garbage. And then letting the new, freer space open up -- "I am enough because God is enough."

It feels good to get rid of the old, and bring our systems back into their naturally balanced state. And hey, if the dumpster doesn't work, and you need a personal organizer to help, pick up the phone and ask a friend to help you identify and get rid of your old beliefs! The best friend will be honest and help you carry your garbage to the dumpster. And if that doesn't work, hire a professional!