You solicited thoughts, here goes:
'Letting go' is a bit like that ‘no-self’, non-thing that twists so many up. They wax all mystical about the loss or absence of something that never existed, then start sticking attributes onto it, like a game of pin-the-tail on the vacuum. conceptualising the absence of something that was never there…like multiplying nothing by two and believing the product is different to zero. …If ‘self’ doesn’t exist, ie. equals nothing, then ‘no-self’ (which is an absence of nothing) must be something…leading us to the i.n.s.a.n.e. conclusion that ‘no-self’ has more substance than ‘self’.
...When does ‘movement’ become ‘clinging’? When (i) there’s an object to the movement and (ii) you cannot stop it….and then you cannot stop that you cannot stop…and cannot get away from the entangling thoughts around entangling thoughts that seek to bind tightly around empty space from which has been projected this thought-universe, with subjects and objects against which they can reference a self and to which they might cling, or be repulsed (...which seems another kind of clinging).
Letting go is not something you do, it’s something you stop doing; holding on. Clinging is the behaviour, letting go has no corresponding behaviour, but is merely an absence of the clench part of the cling. One doesn’t “let go” as such, one just stops clinging…a subtle difference, but it means that there’s only one choice: power the cling, or stop.
I notice that when I notice clinging thoughts that it always seems to weaken...So, my clings:
company and comfort: while they’re here, why not enjoy? when it looks like moving on, don’t try and stop it.
chemicals: cortisol, endorphins, food (fat, salt, sugar), alcohol. they jerk me around
enlightenment: i’ve not used the word for a long time and the empty seeking stopped when I learned that jettisoning is the requirement, not further accretion. But the habit has left an aftertaste...
ping: what I call my insights (your books led to heaps of that, Jed). Be with it til it fades or leads to new insights. The memory of the ping isn’t the ping.
writing books: i’ve been clinging to the need to write something meaningful…this is morphing into a burning desire to write something true…which seems to involve kissing a whole lotta frogs in search of a princess…well, at least I have hope that she exists!
Am I clinging to life? No, my death is the only certainty I have. Take me anytime. When is not important, although I’d prefer to see it coming and welcome it head-on. I’ve always loved Musashi’s take: focus all your energy on the assault (your task, aka, living) and nothing on your shields (trying to stay alive). Very useful in martial training. "Nobody has ever died before their time” is a great reminder.
The universe has no ‘plan-b’, so why should I waste energy trying to think one up? Not sure where that came from, seems pertinent here...