Are you Being Chased? Then Stop Running!

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Be Still and Know That I AM

There was a man

Who was so disturbed
By the sight of his own shadow
And so displeased with his own footsteps
That he determined to get rid of both.

The method he hit upon was to run away from them.

So, he got up and ran

But every time he put his foot down
There – was another step, so another footprint
While his shadow kept up with him

Without the slightest difficulty.

 He attributed his failure

To the fact that he was not running fast enough.
So he ran faster and faster, without stopping,
Until,
He finally dropped dead.

 He failed to realize that if he merely stepped into the shade

His shadow would vanish, and if he sat and stayed still,
There would be no more footsteps.

 The Chinese sage Chuang-tzu wrote the above. He lived 369-286 B.C. It seems to me human nature has not changed all that much. Above, he uses the word “shadow” of course both literally and metaphorically.

So many people are running from shadows. Shadows of their past, shadows of insecurity and inferiority – so many shadows – running, running, running to escape them all. But running is avoidance, and avoidance never works. People run ‘away from’ and often ‘to’ some other thing. The other thing becomes a substance or activity of dependence. All it represents is like changing shoes to run some more.

 Chuang Tzu also uses the word footprints above to describe someone who doesn’t like himself. Something about himself, he cannot change, but cannot accept, haunts him. So he tries to run from it. He tries to pretend that by running, he can change it. Or, at least by running, he thinks he does not have to accept this ‘footprint’ as part of himself. But of course, it is “his” footprint. He owns it. He cannot change it and he cannot run from it.

 So, the man dies after decades of trying to run from shadows of his life, and parts of himself he cannot accept.

Sound familiar?

If you are being honest it should sound familiar. Most people spend most of their lives this way. And once you start running from pain you set up a mindset of being chased by it as well. If you are lucky enough, the chase is more like a dog chasing a car. But for most people the chase is more of an adrenaline type of chase of running from a hungry lion. Eventually, like anyone running to escape a predator – you get exhausted. And the pain not only catches up to you, but of course it overtakes you. And in your exhausted condition from all that running, for all those years, you cannot do a thing about it. You cannot outrun it anymore. - You realize, you never really could. You can’t resist it, because the running has weakened your resolve, and the pain has caught up to you. All that running. Where did it take you? It’s like putting miles on a treadmill but going nowhere the whole time. Are you ready to just ask yourself if it’s worth it anymore?

 And as Chuang-Tzu points out – if you just step into the shade and stop running – the shadows would disappear. If you just ‘stopped’ and sat down, and turned your mind off for a while, the footprints that you despise about yourself would just stop impacting you. The answer lies in quiet. “Be Still and Know That I AM.” This statement is as much about your inner-self as it is about knowing God. In fact, in some theologies, these two are linked.

 But you need to stop and face what you are running from and avoiding. Actually better to turn and face the pain – its shadows and footprints – face them at the beginning when you are still strong. At least do so if you can. To turn and face them after the long chase, when you are so exhausted from running from them – just makes them seem more powerful than they actually are. “Be Still and Know That I AM.”

 Sit on your pain for a while. Free your mind from the chase for a while. Take the running shoes off. Invite the shadows and the footprints in to sit and rest as well. You don’t realize they are tired of the chase as well. Befriend them. They have much to tell you about yourself.

 They may not be looking so much to ‘catch and overtake’ you – but to ‘join’ with you – rejoin with you. Because they are parts of your whole.

 You have the power to end the chase. You do so by realizing if you keep running and avoiding there is no finish line. “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” – is a lie. The running and avoidance is exhausting you. It’s making you weaker (not stronger) in so many other areas of your life. Sit and be still instead, and listen. You do not even need to “do” anything. How much the opposite is that, to what you are told about the world we live in. Run, run, run – do, do, do. No. Sit and “BE” still. There is no chase.

 We live in a different time and era than Chuang-Tzu. But as I said at the beginning, human nature has not changed very much -At least not spiritually. This is why all the ancient texts are so useful. They are all about human nature and man’s struggle with spirituality and consciousness.

 But here’s the thing.

 I’ve read a lot about enlightenment, enlightened humans, paths to enlightenment and all the rest. The modern message seems to indicate that you need to surrender it all and go to an Ashram somewhere and ‘seek’ enlightenment – sometimes for years. But the modern reality is not “Eat, Pray, Love.”

For tortured souls of our time, there is another path to finding your own truth. And that is hitting rock bottom. Hitting rock bottom sounds devastating but it actually represents the end of the chase. And it’s better than dropping dead from the running and the exhaustion.

 Hitting rock bottom is a lot like worm-hole to enlightenment and personal awakening. It is a direct Star-Gate if you will – to finding and knowing yourself. But it requires that you stop avoiding yourself. It requires that you turn and face the shadows. It requires you take off the heavy shoes that are leaving such impactful footprints. It requires just facing yourself, right now.

 I came to my personal transformation from the wormhole of rock bottom. If you cannot stop the chase and running and avoidance – sometimes God stops it for you. Pay attention.

 The Universe is always whispering to you, ways you can just “BE Still and Know That I AM.”

Don’t confuse that gentle whisper with just another shadow you are trying to run from.

 Stop. Just for Today. Stop: Rest your feet. Stop:  Rest your head. Stop:  Rest Your Mind. And the “Rest” of it will surely follow. Find the energy of “allowing” “accepting” and then just sit a while and Be Still.

 Or, you can continue running and being chased by shadows of your life, and footprints of your own making. And like the man above, you will surely die, while still running, while still being chased by shadows.

 Some of you will get it – some of you will not – many of you really need to!

For more I suggest you read my book – Your Truth is Calling – Connecting theDots to Self-Awareness.