{"id":4178,"date":"2015-06-08T21:56:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T01:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/?p=4178"},"modified":"2015-06-08T21:56:47","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T01:56:47","slug":"perfection-cant-be-possessed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2015\/06\/perfection-cant-be-possessed.html","title":{"rendered":"Perfection Can\u2019t Be Possessed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like a flower that emerges from rocky soil only on a fully moonlit night, truth appears\u2014and its fragrance enriches whomever waits nearby. Then suddenly, just as it appears on no appointed schedule, it disappears again; only silence marks the empty spot from which it sprang.<\/p>\n<p>Some try to dig it out but manage to extract only bits and pieces of petals, stem, and occasional root. But none can pull from the ground intact what is one with its nurturing soil, nor can any harm this precious flower they pursue, because it cannot be possessed; it is deathless.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the harm in their pursuit, if any, is the almost impossible discovery that the beauty they so long to possess does not live apart from them; rather, <em>it lives for them<\/em>\u2014even in those moments when they tear it apart, trying in vain to possess what it gives freely to those who die for the sight of it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.yourimmortalself.com\/special\/beliefnet\">www.YourImmortalSelf.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like a flower that emerges from rocky soil only on a fully moonlit night, truth appears\u2014and its fragrance enriches whomever waits nearby. Then suddenly, just as it appears on no appointed schedule, it disappears again; only silence marks the empty spot from which it sprang. Some try to dig it out but manage to extract&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,39],"tags":[266,603,2203,355,1103],"class_list":["post-4178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enlightenment-self-realization","category-meaning-of-life-lifes-purpose","tag-fulfillment","tag-higher-possibilities","tag-immortal-self","tag-perfection","tag-spiritual-possibilities"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Perfection Can\u2019t Be Possessed - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2015\/06\/perfection-cant-be-possessed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Perfection Can\u2019t Be Possessed - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like a flower that emerges from rocky soil only on a fully moonlit night, truth appears\u2014and its fragrance enriches whomever waits nearby. 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. For more information about Life of Learning Foundation, Guy Finley, and their life-changing messages, visit guyfinley.org. \"Guy Finley is...one of the leading experts at the forefront of human potential.\" -Nightingale Conant \"Guy Finley has helped millions live fuller, more peaceable lives.\" -Barnes and Noble","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.guyfinley.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","https:\/\/x.com\/guy_finley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/author\/gfinley"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4178"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4181,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions\/4181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}