The Illusion of Safety
I recently listened to Srila Prabhupada speak about the illusion of independence. He spoke about how we keep creating more and more material structures—homes, insurances, savings accounts, backup plans—all in the pursuit of some ultimate safety. But the truth is, no matter how many walls we build around ourselves, we never quite arrive at that safety. There's always a new worry, a new threat, a new hole to plug. We think we’re building freedom, but often we’re just building more refined prisons. That hit something in me. Because I can feel that, not just intellectually, but physically—in the anxiety that arises when I don’t know what comes next. In the ache to “get my life in order,” to make a plan, to know where I’ll live or what I’ll do. And yet, no plan ever quiets that fear for long. The real safety I long for isn’t in the plan—it’s in letting go of needing one. That doesn’t mean being reckless. It doesn’t mean passivity. It means seeing through the illusion that if...
