Letting Go of It All

This week I was watching an episode of the television program ‘In Treatment” in which a therapist talks to his clients and also has to deal with problems with his partner. What the program illustrated is how humans hang on to things, and how much suffering happens as a result.

How much do you cling to your:

• Possessions?
• Ideas?
• Emotional issues?
• You sense of importance?
• Beliefs?

The test of how much you are attached to these things is how much suffering you go through when any of these things go or change drastically. How do you feel when:

• Your favourite CD breaks?
• You fail that exam which you were sure that you had passed?
• You lose your faith in God?
• You lose your job?
• Your partner leaves you?

This morning I took my dog for a walk in a field. His favourite game is to chase his ball which is attached to a small rope. When he fetches it back to me I hold the rope and tug the ball. He tugs back, gripping the ball firmly in his mouth. If I just let go of the rope and allow him to have the ball, he then waits for a few seconds before dropping the ball at my feet, ready for me to throw for another round of this game. After a few minutes we leave the field and he then has no interest in the ball which a few minutes ago he held onto so tightly.

At one point during the walk I noticed that I felt a little flat or down. There seemed to be no reason, no cause for this, and neither was I bothered to explore the reason. I was aware that the feeling was like a small ripple on the surface of my mind. When I looked below the surface there was a vastness untouched by down feelings. Seeing this, the feeling left.

When you get caught up in your feelings and thoughts, it is easy to overlook just how unimportant they really are. All the people with their emotional issues displayed on the TV screen needed to do was stop and look below the surface of their mind, see the emptiness, the oneness that is there, and in so doing, just let go. But, of course, for some reason you like to cling to, hang on to it all.

In the non-duality perspective, seeing the oneness and non-separation is not the end of the story. There is still a journey to take. For me, that journey is more and more about being present to what is going on in my consciousness, and allowing things to come, and then to go. Often I catch myself clinging to the ball of my thoughts. I  then let everything just be. There is no wanting to change anything or wanting anything to go away. Just the act of witnessing my state of mind means that thoughts evaporate all by themselves with no efort by me.