Letting Go & Getting Up
“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.” — Simone Weil
Isn’t it fun, interesting, sad, intriguing, and on and on, about all the stuff we get to see, do, have, play with, experience in this crazy world … and eventually have to let go of? Eventually? Really? Aahh, we really have to let go of all that stuff, and all those people? But why? Why? I need it. I want it … no, no. I think I’m gonna cry. Ah yes, another sad song on the radio, about that stuff, and all those people, I just keep losing.
Life is sad. Life is happy. Life is nothing. Life is everything. Life is lots of things in between. Always. But we all know that, right? Yet doesn’t this simulation of life we all live in seem but a shadow of what it really seems it could be? Can that really be true? I think so, but you may not get to know unless …
All types of things and people come in and out of lives continually. And we have a tendency to want to keep everything we can, based on what we think we want or need. And over time we become attached to many of these items, as well as the people. We get used to them and feel they provide some type of comfort, happiness, and security. But do we really need them? We may want them, but what is behind the wanting of them?
In my life so far I have lived in seventeen different cities in eight different states, while going to thirteen different primary, secondary and college level schools, having lost count of all the jobs I have had (more than 50 for sure). Also, I am the oldest of seven children, who all had multiple children of their own, and some who now have children of their own. I have had friends in all the places I have lived, and then some. In addition, I have been married three times, and have had several other lady friends. So, I have had to let go of lots of people, place, and thing attachments over the years. I don’t really know how different that is from most of you out there. I think it has become more prevalent in our modern mobile society. My point being, that I have learned how to deal with letting go of attachments fairly well over the years. Basically, because it was pretty much required at an early age, in order to cope with my ever-changing environment. It now seems that as an adult, it is second nature to me. At one level, in the physical world, that may not always be to my advantage in progressing continuity wise the way I could have. However, in my spiritual life, it’s very possible that this situation has worked to my advantage. Let me explain how and why.
No matter all that we see and do in our lives, all the relationships we have and experience, and all that is related to our lives, we in all reality come into this world and leave this world … alone. We have no control of that. In fact, there is a lot we don’t have control of in our life. But we do have control of how we react to things, people, and situations in our life. And that is where the key is … how we deal with all that we will eventually have to let go of sometime in our life. The following is what I feel I have learned about all this:
For me, how high you live in your being provides the key in dealing with your personal life and in fact all life around you. Meaning, altitude is an important key in life. The attachments we have are emotionally based, but rationalized mentally. It is possible to live your reality above both the emotional and mental levels of life, in the more spiritual parts of creation. It usually is not easy, but when possible is richly rewarding.
When I sit down to meditate, some of the most important things I attempt to do is to get above my emotions and my mind. And when possible, the world feels so much better. And more real, and alive! But when I can’t get above them, I need to find out why and what to do about it. Because if I don’t that leaves me stuck in neutral and not feeling that great. And that oftentimes means going over what exactly is going on in and around my life.
Sometimes that means some kind of attachments are involved. Maybe there is someone who I am hanging on to, or vice versa. Or maybe there is a concept, idea, or opinion that I just can’t let go of, and it can’t exist in the spiritual realms I am trying to travel to. As a side note to this, and a support to this, I have learned something very important, about … opinions
We all have them, about all types of things, and we love to spread them out there so everyone can see how smart we are. They involve our mind and our emotions. However … Opinions do not fly. Opinions ground you. Opinions are not real. They may certainly be real to you in that moment, emotionally and mentally, but if you can achieve more altitude above that reality they fall off like yesterday’s bad memories. And are the fabric of illusion in this world.
And the irony about all that is this. Passion, mental acumen, and honest emotions are highly praised in the physical world. Which is fine for those ‘earthly’ moments. But being dispassionate, objective, and above our mind and our emotions while on a spiritual path, open up doors that are barely imagined by mind or felt by emotion. In fact, when experiencing spiritual reality above mind and emotion, you realize how limiting that physical reality is.
Life is a school (a cliche I know), and to learn your most spiritually complex lessons properly, attachments just aren’t allowed. And one of the more intriguing experiences is, that it seems until you let go of those attachments you don’t get to see what’s next in your lesson plan until you actually do let go. In all confidence I can tell you from lots of experience letting go, that there are amazing horizons beyond those attachments that are much better than the world of those attachments.
Can you imagine if a bird tried to fly by flapping its wings while holding on tightly to a tree branch. How high could it get? Not very. Possibly nowhere. And think of all the scenic places that bird misses just sitting on that tree, hanging on. Don’t be a tree clinger. Let go of your attachments, your emotions, your mind, and learn to spiritually fly. It really is all about altitude. Plus, it’s lots of fun!
“There is no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval.” — George Santayana
TMC