The Strategy of Abandonment

"The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our propriety, to lose our sempiternal memory and to do something without knowing how or why; in short to draw a new circle. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm . The way of life is wonderful; it is by abandonment."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abandonment, as Emerson suggests, is a way of life. Abandonment means that one surrenders. Surrendering the continual struggle of liking and disliking, of inhibitions, or inadequacies, and assuming a position of freedom. It refers to being beyond oneself. So often we identify only with our physical body, and unconsciously take that as the sum of our existence.

A natural longing for surrender germinates within our most profound depths. We seek that which allows us to go beyond ourselves. Unfortunately many times non-life affirming vices give us that abandonment we seek. Creation, from sexual ecstasy, to intellectual epiphanies dwells in the circle of abandonment. By letting go of our own rigidity and being liberated novel forms intelligence arises.

The default being that we are is bliss. Eastern literature explicates this realization through the many wise sages throughout time. The difficulty in modern times is translating the essence of being into meaningful day to day postmodernity. Succinctly we experience ecstasy by the mere fact of existing. We don't experience our fundamental ecstasy because we are to busy running around chasing artificial forms of it; and worse distracting and preventing ourselves from experiencing this ultimate pleasure through the never-ending noise in our lives.

To forsake our existence is the greatest betrayal. By saying to yourself the mere words surrender, abandonment, freedom, or liberation it can allow us to breathe naturally. This gives us life, happiness, the basic ability to enjoy anything to the highest degree. To indulge in ecstasies through the continual openness of ourselves; to propel ourselves into any challenge, any environment and be greater than we have ever been - this is life, this beckons the angels and celestial beings forward to our cause; through courageous action we become faith, and abandon to union beyond ourselves.

Angel Armendariz