Letting Go to the Nth Degree

“Ron, have you ever thought about just how much a caterpillar needs to let go to become a butterfly?”

“Where you going with this, Aisha?”

“Well, did you know that when the worm hunkers down in the chrysalis that it collapses into some kind of primordial goop?”

“Guess I never thought of it.”

“Yes, that caterpillar doesn’t just crawl in and hangout to be transformed. It has to let go of every scrap of its material being.”

“Oh, right … that’s a whole lot of letting go, Aisha!”

“I know, right!”

“Still, what’s the point you’re leading to?”

“Oh, I just think it’s funny that when we hear people talk about attachment and detachment, no one is really thinking about anything more than giving up meat on Fridays, or downsizing their car or their house, or a professional identity at retirement. I mean, those are something, but literally no one is thinking that they will have to yield their entire identity and form.”

“True enough, Aisha. So why would any of us do so? That’s a kind of letting go that would seem to be crazy for most.”

“Well, I guess there are only two reasons. Either because you are compelled by your nature, or you have seen that the way you are just won’t get it done for you.”

“Ah, abandoning oneself out of necessity or clarity.”

“Yep. And I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse.”

Seeing True in Reality and In Practice™

To paraphrase Ram Dass, in the end, the path we know cannot take us where we next need to go. Either we find ourselves with that clarity, or we realize we are suffering because we are holding on.

What if our own transformation or transcendence is going to ask us to let go of everything? What if the only question is always whether or not our desire to be transformed outweighs our desire to stay where we are comfortable?

Of course, if in fact we are each built to grow, develop and transcend, perhaps the only real question is how long we will cling as the pressure, the pain and the suffering increase.