The Daily Scroll: A Mentorship Recap – June 2nd, 2020

Kay:

Well, hello Questers! And, welcome back for episode 107! Today’s June 2nd, and we have a great quote for you today, coming from one of Shila’s old favorite teachers…

Shi:

Today’s quote comes from Alan Watts, who says, “To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim, you don’t grab hold of the water, because, if you do, you will sink and drown. Instead you relax and float.”

Kay:

Now, when I first read this quote, I had the initial gut reaction of like, “What the heck does he even mean to have faith is to trust yourself with the water?”

Shi:

Well, that’s how philosophers talk!

Kay:

It just seems so OUT there! But then, the second sentence actually made me laugh. “When you swim, you don’t grab hold of the water because if you do, you’ll sink and drown.” I actually thought of somebody attempting to hold the water, and being afraid, and kind of falling forward, instead of just relaxing and floating along.

Shi:

Well, I love this message of faith. But first, if you have never heard of Alan Watts – he’s kind of obscure – but I stumbled upon some of his lectures on YouTube. He’s from the UK, and he was a philosopher from like the thirties to the seventies, as well as an author and a speaker. And, he helped to popularize parts of Eastern culture and Buddhism and Taoism here in the West. But, he’s got some really cool YouTube lectures, if you ever want to listen in, and you’re into that kind of stuff! They put a lot of it to chillstep and dubstep. So, it’s kind of fun to hear like the beats behind the inner self. Sometimes, when I’m going to sleep, or in the bathtub or something, I like to listen to Alan Watts. But, speaking of bathtubs…you know, I love that the message here is about faith. And really, when we talk about faith, we’re talking about this element of faith that is the belief portion. Sometimes, we hear faith and we think of conviction to a religious thing or something. But, Alan’s really talking about this absolute belief in something! When you’re in water, and you know how water operates, you BELIEVE that it’s going to behave the way you expect it to. And so, you swim rather than trying to grab onto the water. And, it would be ABSURD to try to grab onto the water! And, that’s what makes this quote so deep for us, because you can see how absurd it would be. And yet, how often, when we’re wavering in our faith, do we try to grab the very thing that will drown us?

Kay:

Yep. SO often, do we try to look around us and say, “Well, what can I hold on to instead of just allowing things to come and go through my life?” And this is really difficult for many of us. I mean, this is the concept of surrender, if you will, and allowing things to flow, and trusting that life, and the flow of life, has your best interest in mind. Even IF you have to do a waterfall, and go through some rocky rivers, and maybe do a little whirlpool, and roundabout with the lake a bit!

Shi:

Right! Because, we understand that that’s how water operates. And, I love that you brought that element forward. Because, it really is about that in so many different dimensions. And, just thinking into what it means to try to hold onto the things, as well as bringing in that element of surrender. You know, Kay and I are huge fans of Michael Singer, who wrote The Untethered Soul, and a book called The Surrender Experiment – where he tells his story of like 50 years of just insane life experiences (including running a billion dollar company and meditating in the woods)! But, he decided he was going to use his life as an experiment to surrendering what was brought before him. And, the path that it took him down was just incredible. And, at times, really hard as well. I’m sure Singer, as Watts, as us, as so many of you, have felt like you’re drowning sometimes.

Kay:

And, what’s interesting about that feeling of drowning is that many of us try to thrash our way out of the drowning, without realizing that the thrashing actually makes you sink deeper. And so, we often thrash and grab at the things around us, instead of going with the flow, and understanding that there’s a lesson there, and that there’s some message within that mess that’s meant for us! And so, going with the flow in life doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing your flow. I mean, Michael Singer quit his corporate career in the beginning because he went with HIS flow to go meditate in the woods, and then came about this billion dollar company. Which is such a great story, and really a beautiful example of this quote in action! And, just to remind you, Alan Watts says, “To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim, you don’t grab hold of the water because if you do, you will sink and drown. Instead, you relax and float.”

Shi:

I mean, he gives us the gold right there at the end: relax and float. Every spiritual teacher tells us we have to relax…AKA surrender…AKA have faith and float! You’re going to go through those rocks and things, but we’ve got to relax and float. SO – your quest for today is: The next time you engage in a water related activity – like the bath – or shower – or maybe you’re going to the lake today – or even just sipping some of your water throughout the day…Take a moment to connect with the water. Water is calming in its many forms, and is a basic element for life. Feel its power, and know that you also possess that power to flow and nourish. So, connect with water today while you’re out and about. Happy questing!

Kay:

Have a good one!

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