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Definition of Trust
Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Is it just me or is the very definition of trust a paradox? It is a dependence that provides confidence and security…which is then relied upon. Thinking about trust made me realize how often our sense of security is shaken based on where we place it. Understanding how we trust and why, could lead us to a state in which we consciously “place” our security.
“Placing”
“Placing” security is the term I use for tying your sense of being o.k., well and otherwise safe in things, people, places and ideas. Often times we are attaching our security without awareness, to objects outside of ourselves that are by their very nature in a state of flux. This contradiction makes us very insecure…because we can see things change around us so we worry or fear that where we have “placed” our security is fragile…and truth be known; it is. So if we can’t gain our sense of security from others, and all things around us that seem solid…where can we get it?
Real security lies in an understanding of the nature of the world in which you live. When you learn to embrace the uncertainty of this world and stop trying to create the eternal where it is not…then you are free to see what you can rely upon.
Nothing Stays the Same
The world of forms and form structures follow the ebb and flow patterns of the tide. A form is born, lives out its existence as that form and then dissolves back into what it came from. It is a misunderstanding of this process, which drives us out of fear, to find something that stays. What we often don’t see is that everything stays…but nothing remains the same. It is the dance of creation to flow outward and inward…birth is death and death is birth. The source which is life is the same source that cuts the threads…there is no difference in the life force, which is energy…only the form it takes, changes.
Absolutism is Self-Destruction
The endless pursuit of absolutes…is born of the fear that we ourselves are fragile and impermanent. If there is an absolute structure that the mind grasps a hold of, it will ruthlessly defend this structure because it gives the mind a false sense of security. So then there is my way…and only my way. You are wrong and an enemy because you threaten my security…so I ask…can absolutes (mind structures that can be threatened) really make you secure?
Variation Allows for Continuance
(if it can’t adapt and change, it won’t survive)
There must be differences. Variety is the testing ground for new traits that survive an ever-changing environment. Relationships, businesses, life forms and all other structures must adhere to this natural law in order to survive. Yet, what is this human tendency to want to make everything the same…the same as what? The same as me…of course. Then I can make it a part of myself. I can acquire, I can become, bigger, better, stronger, more…ah, but that is it, right there. Why do I need to become more? Because of the fear that I am not enough…and I fear that I am not enough because I do not see my connectedness to all that is. All that is…in all of creation, pulses through me…yet I can not feel this because I have lost touch with the truths that are apparent in all of nature and the world around me. I have not unlocked my own power, and in doing so, seen that while I am unique I am also all that ever was, is and ever will be…I am an extension of the creative power of the universe. I am the silence and the noise, the earth and the heavens, the water flowing down stream and the ocean tide, the soft summer breeze and the howling winds of the storm, I am the cozy fire of the hearth and the flame that consumes all it touches. I am laughter, pain, joy and sadness, I am the mind the gets things done, the heart that feels all, the inner wisdom of the ages and the love of all time. Once you no longer fear your own power and you truly know yourself…you are then able to ‘place’ your trust in the ever-present eternal that flows through all of creation. There is nothing more secure…on which to rely.
