Let go or stick with it?

„"Don't be such a baby!" I used to hear that so often. I was supposed to get rid of the pain from whatever it was—a perceived injustice, or something I experienced as harmful.
„The motto was actually "DON'T FEEL!", and it also meant: it's embarrassing if you listen to your feelings, you're not worth being taken seriously.

Feeling liberated
It took a great deal of strength, and sometimes still does, to free myself from the consequences of that old phrase and to take my everyday feelings seriously. To allow myself to name injustice and demand accountability.
My feelings are important!
The fact that I was valuable "on the side" in the depths of my soul was something I thankfully learned from the Jesus stories of my childhood, and it left no damage, at least in the spiritual realm.

Let go of the pain?
When I feel suffering or injustice today, am angry or sad, don't want to simply accept something and want to do something, then I often hear sentences like:
„"You have to let go of that!" or "Don't cling to it!" "Don't burden yourself with these negative energies! Don't get involved! You're on a spiritual path!" "Aren't you above all that?"“
‚'Just let go' sounds Buddhist – wise.
So I'm tempted to feel guilty when I investigate wrongdoing, or when I'm truly saddened and moved by the drought here and the forest fires in Southern Europe. Am I not taking good care of myself? I'm supposed to surround myself with positive thoughts!
It's back through the back door, the unspoken commandment "DON'T FEEL!" It's currently disguised as spirituality, and the effect is even worse, because "Just let go" not only conveys that feelings like grief or pain could harm me or are immature, but also that my involvement is superfluous and harmful to me.
Yet it is deeply human and a wonderful unifying force to allow oneself to be moved, to stand by others, to grieve together.
„Just let it go!“ is isolating and creates a lack of solidarity.
As if an injustice weren't worth naming, as if the suffering of the victims shouldn't be felt! "Just let it go!" really means: "Don't feel it, don't listen closely, don't look closely, it will harm you."„
And indirectly, this protects the perpetrators!

The fury of love
Feeling things doesn't hurt me! That's what people say, but it's not true.
Yes, of course I am more than my bad feelings! But if I suppress them, I become shallow and lonely.
In many indigenous traditions, grief and pain are an inner sacred space that is protected, supported, and nurtured by the community until the transformative power within it manifests. Something new can then be born.
Jesus was deeply moved by the pain and suffering of the people; it inspired him to act and heal.
We will not be broken by the demands of the world.

And so I want to remain vulnerable! I want to feel the power of anger and defiance inherent in life, creating unimagined possibilities for change and healing, again and again.
It fosters community.
It makes us feel that we humans belong together and are all equally valuable.
I want to fight against injustice wherever I encounter it, using the wild power of life.
Every pain is worth seeing.
Every person deserves to be seen.

I'm letting go of the seemingly spiritual phrase: 'Just let go!' and will remain – spiritually grounded – human.

It is the eyes of love that linger.