Letting Go (Part 3)
I want to thank zenshredding for his comment to the “Letting Go (Part 2)” post. He wrote:
Renunciation, for the most part is a very misunderstood subject. It’s wrapped up in philosophies and practices, ideas and understandings that at best distort and distract from any sort realization, instead leading most “seekers” to simply more confusion and frustration.
In its innocent sense, renunciation [detachment, letting go] is never about “things” be they material things [ houses, relationships, money or blogs etc ] OR spiritual things [happiness, peace purpose, enlightenment]. However valuable, however noble, however humble or infinite, it is not the list that needs to be renounced, but the “I” that created the list in the first place; that imagines itself to be.
This is what Nisargaddatta meant when he said “the taker is absent”; a subtle, but powerful suggestion that it is the “I” that does not in fact exist in reality [you exist, but you exist in ways the “you” cannot imagine or know]. You [we] are the taker(s); the one(s) who imagine(s) itself [our self] as real, so real you [we] spend our lives building up our personalities with wants, needs and desires; psychologies of software built on self engendered thinking and conditioning (carnal and Spiritual). We imagine [want, need and desire] ourselves to be so real we create vast stories and philosophies of how we came here, why we came here and where we will go, we create monuments and legacies, good and bad that help secure the stories we have so desperately pursued or failed at.
“People do not care to let everything go” because most human beings are un willing to investigate the facts that it is their very perceived existence that is at question [who you imagine yourself to be]. When you begin to investigate and question the validity of the “I”, there is no need to address even one item on the list of what you imagine you need to be detached to. How can an imagined You, be attached to anything?
It was never about giving up the money, sex, drugs or rock and roll; how can an “I” that does not exist in any conventional sense; be something, do something, have something or create something? It was all about uncovering your (our) real nature, by detaching from the real source of our troubles and suffering to begin with ~ the “I”, an “I” that imagined itself to be; with a history, a story, a past, a present, a future, a lesson to learn and a purpose for being.
Giving up is “the first” and only step, but it has nothing to do with the list [that will always goes on as long as there is an “I” there to perceive it], it’s the “choice” to risk annihilating the entire story of who you imagine yourself to be, to sanitize every concept you (or anyone else) ever conceived.
When we realize that it was never the object(s) within the story that needed to be renounced but instead the subject “I”, “me”, “mine”, “you”, “them”, “us” dichotomy; we can be in the story, but not of the story [ we can be in the world, but not of the world], then we will experience the bliss of the universe as it is, not as we [ the “I”, ] imagined it to be.
When “we” are no longer standing in, or anchored to, the reference point of an “I”, there will be nothing to fear, nothing to judge, nothing to grasp, nothing to influence, no status to gain, maintain or lose. It won’t matter what we know or do not know or how many years we’ve done (not done) this or that
Always;
enjoying ~ the fruits of your imagined attachments : )
I could not agree more with what he said. But to me realizing that we are not the “I” that we are not what we imagined to be is the “ultimate truth”. It is a huge step to go from not knowing to the “ultimate truth”. This is why I believe in partial truths.
The ultimate yoga practitioner in Ashtanga Yoga practices the fifth or sixth series. The ultimate kung-fu fighter is a grandmaster. The ultimate advertising photographer shoots campaigns that will run worldwide. But all that is hard to reach. It takes a lot of work, persistence and the right karma to achieve these things.
This blog and I think I mentioned this before is not about ultimate answers. Enlightenment is a beautiful goal but so hard to reach. I estimate that during one generation one or two people might reach this ultimate goal. One or two human beings out of billions of people. That means it is highly unlikely that either I or anybody who reads this blog will find ultimate freedom.
This blog is about having a good life. How do we achieve that and does it make sense to worry about enlightenment since it is so unlikely to achieve?
Letting go of attachments is not the ultimate answer but my experience is that doing so has helped me to be more peaceful and to enjoy my life more fully.
"Letting Go (Part 3)" Williamsburg/Brooklyn/Vandervoort Ave and Rewe Street 10-10-08 at 02:45 PM
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