MEDITATION: ""On Doing Nothing by Myself"

Jesus once said that he could do nothing "by himself" -- a statement that seems to go contrary to everything I was taught growing up. I was always told that I could do just about anything by myself. I was told I could "think for myself" (a favorite saying of my elders), and in doing so I would figure out ways to solve problems by myself. This kind of self-reliance, or what might even be called a certain type of "self-ishness", was a cardinal virtue in my community and family. Jesus, two-thousand years ago, apparently had a completely different idea. He felt that he could do absolutely nothing by himself. To him, the so-called "self" -- the entity that was supposedly material, separate, and self-starting -- had no power at all. For him, power was not self-ish, but completely un-selfish. Ir resides not in any separate self, but in the everlasting Self of the cosmos. This is one of the most important truths for me to remember. I need to remind myself, constantly, to relax and "let go", because my "self" never has to do a thing. Indeed, it can't. Only the infinite universe, the one Mind, the Father (as Jesus called it) does anything. Jesus knew that, and so do I.