I resonate with so much of this Emily. Thank you for sharing!
1 Like
Hi Skye! I love that you are being so honest and real about where you are coming from and I definitely relate to your feelings and also consider myself a recovering christian. I found Ram Dass 3 or 4 years ago and had the same trepidations about the words used here that felt so icky in my bones after leaving the church years earlier. Also not wanting to buy in to any belief structure that I didnât have full belief in, and didnât want to be âtrickedâ again by anyone. I was also coming into this community as an athiest. I now consider myself agnostic with deep interest in spiritual mysteries. Iâve learned that I donât have to buy into the beliefs of anyone here, thatâs not the point or wish of any of these teachings. It is more about experimentation, observing your own mind, and coming to your own conclusions, or even better, sitting with the unknowing and being okay with not ever knowing anything for sure, while also trusting in your own experiences and redefining the words for yourself. I personally like to think of âgodâ as âthe mysteryâ and âchristâ as a symbol of everpresent compassion and unconditional love. It took me a while to uncouple those words from my traumatic past but it eventually worked. Another thing that really helped me was practicing meditation and chanting alone in my room for years before I did it with a goup of people. That allowed me to experiment and experience the âmagicâ from those practices privately without the paranoia that I was just falling into a trap of group think or coercion of any kind. I now trust myself to be open to any teaching and can take what I like and leave what I donât. We are all our own gurus here. I hope this is helpful and/or encouaging in some way for you. Wishing you all the best!
2 Likes
This quote and also the meditation for giving it up to Kali helped me a lot today. It is a perfect reminder of why I need not hold on to anger but let it go. When I let go of this attachment of âhowâ things are supposed to be, it helps me to better understand âwhatâ they are. It also helps me to be more willing to give grace to others, especially myself.
1 Like
Wonderful, Annie! Sounds like you have found a beautiful place of integration and balance with all of this. 
Namaste Skye!
I hear and understand you, and some of the challenges that are coming up. My experiences with âChristianityâ have made it very hard for me to use certain verbiage and language to this day.
What helped me tremendously, is to separate the dogma of Christianity, with the Christâs Truth(s) that resounds in my Sacred Heart. Anytime I hear judgement, condemnation or separateness in the name of âGodâ, I dismiss it as a control mechanism added by man. During the councils of Trent, Nicaea and Constantinople, these elements were added to our Bible, and things like reincarnation were removed.
I have eventually come to a place where I believe to be Christ-like is a goal worth perusing, and falls in line with most, if not all other teachings and practices. The Gospels (including the omitted books) have become a great source of knowledge and understanding for me, and Christâs actual words reverberate like few othersâ.
Please DM if you would like to talk more, share experiences or have any questions. I relate to your words very much.
Sub Ek!
1 Like
Oh, this resonates with me! I, too, have been on the path of Thy Will be Done and continue on that path without complete renunciation for the past 30 years. I guess, for me it is a continual process. Choosing awareness of breath/body and acceptance of what is, not able yet to âlet goâ of any of those bags of memories even knowing that my children do not want them. Maybe joy of the breath and conscious connection will someday be enough, but for now, I really appreciate looking around my house at my collage collections of memorabilia of my life. I am laughing because none of that is my life. All of my life is my breath and connection or remembrance of the One. And I live in this very human body, because the One wants that. So perhaps renunciation is not for this being.
1 Like
Pemaâs words ring rich with so much emotion for me, the last sentence particularlyâŠthe learning how to open ourselves to vulnerability in such a way that encourages us to have a deep well of compassion for ourselves. thats some good work to involve ourselves in. :')
2 Likes
I notice I feel like there is something missing in my activities, my relationships, my experience, my life. This is why I am seeking. There had been divorce, separation and traumatic fragmentation of myself from the whole true nature of all existential being. This is why ârenunciation is the same thing as opening to the teachings of the present moment;â thusly, alignment with, attachment to and desire of impermanent forms are maintaining the separation from experiencing oneness, wholeness and truth.
May we practice shoring up the gap by renunciating what separates us from the Way.
Namaste/Gassho
1 Like
Hello beautiful people 
To let go of identity & /or attachments is been my lessons in this past 2 yearsâŠ
One my biggest identity or /& was leaving my career. I didnât realize I was Attached to the âidentityâ of being a hairstylist⊠Iâve done it for so long that I identify as this!
Iâm learning through detachment I needed to break away so I can find myselfâŠ
Now Iâm working on letting go little by little my daily habits, attachments, triggers & distortions of thoughts that are no longer serving me.
I having a consistent meditation ritual has helped me immensely.
Thank you
Adriana 
3 Likes
Career is such a powerful identity. At the same time such a powerful tool to practice with
1 Like
One of the many things I love most about Ram Dass is his joy and the laughter he brings to us. I use the present tense with purpose, because he is still present if I quiet myself and listen.
3 Likes
Hmm. I have to say that I resonate significantly with opening and not attaching or, as Pema would say, getting hooked. I am attached, in a negative way, to the quote in the lesson about Thy will, not mine. Maybe itâs time to let this go. I can now see that, for me, this has always sparked the reaction that this is an excuse not to act, but now Iâm working with opening to the interdependence of all, including my and Thine. Letting go of my attachment to self and opening to the divine spark in all of us is like sparking an all encompassing fire of love.
1 Like
You go through life without recognizing when you have taken steps in the past to renunciate. I have done it many times but there lies the struggle. It is a struggle because I have to acknowledge why I am renunciating and the importance it plays to my inner peace. I am glad to be reminded of this vital life action. Peace.
1 Like
So many great thoughts. I love reading everybodyâs take on this and seeing the threads of commonality.
I have in the past (and still do) sometimes love the sound of running off to a mountain-top cave. Believing that there would be deep
peace to be found in such a place.
(Forgive me, Iâm a mother to two young children - so the dream is a comfort.)
Ram Dassâ teachings have been instrumental to me being able to create my cave whenever I need it. No matter what is occurring. And although the dream still sounds lovely, just as does a trip to Tibet does to me, I know it isnât necessary. I know now that standing in marketplace and being free is so unbelievably liberating!
I have heard that before: about offering it all up to Kali, but I havenât ever tried it.
This is something I shall try to do over the coming hours.
BTW: I am cramming the first days of the course that I missed. Duty called me away with poorly kids at the start, and then Iâve also just celebrated turning 40!
But I am committed to the course and will be in sync soon enough.
For what itâs worth, I am also really enjoying the simplicity of the course materials this time around. Before there was always so much to listen to. Each piece so profound. All good, but I am finding this way so much easier to digest.
And how great is this community feature!?!
Really, really love it, and am so grateful to be here.
Thank you all.
3 Likes
Iâm struck by this at the end of todayâs quote: ârenunciation is seeing clearly how we hold back, how we pull away, how we shut down, how we close off, and then learning how to open.â
Every day, all day Iâm playing in the spiritual field. Once my perspective shifted 10 or so years ago, at what I thought was the lowest point of my life, I was able to begin to grow into the reality that everything is spiritual, all of it. Itâs all grist for the mill, right? Then the bottom I had hit became the top, and the previously imagined high the low, and I entered the realm of the spirit. Now I gain as much spiritual value from seeing how and when I pull away, shut down, close off as I do from my more stereotypically âspiritualâ moments. The thing is that now I notice/witness, whereas before I was simply snared.
Iâm a little behind on these days of valuable teachings, but thatâs instructive too.
4 Likes
I really liked framing the word renunciation this way, instead of âhidingâ from the world. For many of us, itâs just not an option. But to think about it in this way, it feels more achievable. Iâve had so may times where I would think âif only I didnât have to deal this this or that, I would be happyâ. But I guess the trick is to not be attached and reactive to those things.
1 Like
Emily how long did it take you to feel this way, or was it right from the start of your recovery? 
1 Like
Anna, hi! I donât have an exact time frameâŠit was not sudden. There was a grief process. I kept listening to positive messages and somewhere along the way, it clicked. I hope that answers your question. Iâd be willing to talk more if youâd like!
1 Like
Right on! Some years ago I lost a career Iâd done for many years and found a new one which was totally different. When I lost that first career, I suddenly realized just how attached to being that role I was. While at first losing my career couldâve seemed like a nightmare, I found leaving it benefited me in a number of ways. One of the biggest was breaking free of the identification I had with a role and a title. Iâm glad youâve had that same insight.
1 Like