Elephant and Flea

Let Go

Learning to let go is something we need to do often during our lifetime. Sometimes we let go by choice and other times we are forced into letting things go. You could say mindfulness practice belongs to both categories: by choosing to practice mindfulness we are forced to let go of the past. Mindfulness is a practice that gives complete attention to the here and now, without entertaining thoughts about the past and the future. Mindfulness is an invaluable tool for helping us to let go of the past, be it our stories about ourselves or others.

To me, let-go means you are not fighting for anything in life, but giving everything to life to take care of. We say let-go seems to be natural. It only “seems” because your whole conditioning is against it. You have been brought up for millions of years to fight. Fighting, you can either be defeated, which will create a wound, which will create revenge; or you can be victorious, which will again create another kind of wound. That is the ego. In either case you are a loser. Defeated you lose, victorious you lose. In either case you are going farther away from yourself.

Let-go has not been taught to people because it will go against the whole structure of the society, which is based on competition and fighting, where everybody is your enemy. Even your friend is your enemy, even your wife is your enemy, even your children are your enemies, because everybody is trying to snatch as much from you as possible. You are trying to do the same thing. The world of misery is created because everybody is snatching things from everybody else. It is not a peaceful, silent, loving existence; we are still barbarous and animalistic.

Let-go is a totally different approach. Its first step is dropping the ego, remembering that you are not separate from existence. With whom are you fighting? You are not separate from people. With whom are you fighting? With yourself – and that’s the root cause of misery. With whomsoever you are fighting, you are fighting with yourself because there is nobody else.

Let-go is a deep understanding of the phenomenon that we are part of one existence. We cannot afford to have separate egos; we are one with all. And all is vast, immense. Your understanding will help you to go with the whole wherever it is going. You don’t have a goal separate from the whole, and the whole has no goal. It is not going anywhere. It is simply being here.

The understanding of let-go helps you to simply be here, without any goals, without any idea of achievement, without any conflict, struggle, fight; knowing that it is fighting with yourself, which is simply foolish.

Let-go is a deep understanding. It is not an act that you have to do. Every act is part of the world of fight. That which you have to do is going to be a fight. Let-go is simply an understanding. Then a silent relaxation, flowing with the river, unconcerned where it is going, unworried that you can get lost: no anxiety, no anguish, because you are not separate from the totality, so whatever is going to happen is going to be good.

With this understanding you will find there is no mixing: understanding cannot mix with ignorance; insight into existence cannot mix with blindness; consciousness cannot mix with unconsciousness. Let-go cannot mix with different kinds of struggles – that is an impossibility.

Just let it sink within your heart, and you will find a new dimension opening up, in which each moment is a joy, in which each moment is an eternity unto itself.