Letting Go (Detachment)

Related: Developing a Wider Perspective, Letting Go of Sexual Thoughts

Strategies for Letting Go
Getting to the Root of Desire
Choose the Side That Has No Side

Why does it matter if we let ourselves by led by internal and external forces?
Why does it matter if we let ourselves be pulled in this direction or that direction?
In the end we all die.
So what is the significance of anything we do?
Why have ambitions, goals, objectives?
Why strive towards anything?
Need to answer these questions to help break free and detach.

If it becomes something you no longer need or want.
If it becomes something you no longer have desire for.
If it becomes something you no longer have interest in.

Then you no longer pursue it.

How do you break free?
How do you detach?

Dualism keeps us trapped.

You must not have an interest or fascination.
The interest and fascination must not be there.

Do you want to continue to acknowledge be slave to the humanistic aspect?

Or do you want to understand that there is something that is more?

By taking away, you can achieve something that is more.

You do not have to be split.

There does not have to be two halves.

You need to understand the part of you that you want to remove, so you can remove it.

Do you want to acknowledge the humanistic sensation, feelings, emotions?
Or realize that there is something more by going past it?

The cycles/fluctuations are not necessary.


What does letting go mean?

Letting go can mean different things to different people. For the context of these writings, letting go means releasing your attachments, so that they are no longer present within your mind, and no longer present a burden to you. You sever the chains, you cut off your primal urges, and release them, such that you are not in control of them, and they are no longer in control of you.

Letting Go Perspective 1

You're letting go of your control over your primal urges.
so,
You are not in control of your primal urges but they are in control of you.
Letting Go Perspective 2

You're letting go of the primal urges and letting them leave your presence.
so,
You are not in control of your primal urges and your primal urges are not in control of you.



Look at the following pictures. In one context, letting go means letting go of your control over your primal urges. And in this case, they take control of you because they are still attached to you. In another context, you let your primal urges leave - there are no strings attached. They are free to leave and you let them leave.

Primal urges is a catch-all term for all of your attachments - fear, anger, desire, attachment to worldly things, attachment to materialistic things, and so on.


The Crow

I transcend beyond human.
I transcend beyond this body.
I transcend beyond myself.

The crow is free
The crow is unattached
The crow is not bound to the physical world
The crow has no limits
The crow lets anything be possible
The crow has broken free

Evolution
Evolve beyond
Transcend
Rise above

Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction. The harder you push on something, the harder it will push back. If you do not resist, then there is nothing resisting you. If you do not push, there is nothing pushing you. This of course is thinking in respect to thoughts, feelings, and emotions. If you try to push a feeling or emotion away, it is going to push back against you with equal force. If you relax, do not resist, then you let it go.


Influence of Triggers Upon the Mind

I don’t think about coffee when I am doing things. Even when I am doing nothing I don’t think about coffee. But when I see a photo on the internet of a hot cup of coffee, I think about the coffee. But just that photo leads to other things. I might think of words like, “roasted, aroma, richness, dark, tasty”. My mouth starts watering, salivating. Other senses start kicking in. The longer I look at the picture, the more I want some coffee. Before the photo, I do not think coffee, coffee is not in my mind. When I see the photo, and continue to look at the photo, I want coffee. Want coffee, don’t want coffee, yes/no, trigger. Switch. On/off. The photo of the coffee is the trigger, it triggers the switch, from not thinking about coffee, to thinking about coffee – from not wanting coffee (because I am not thinking about it) to wanting coffee (because I am now thinking about it). External stimuli trigger internal events. This must not be so. This is part of what you are working towards. External stimuli must NOT trigger internal events. Furthermore, internal stimuli must NOT trigger internal events. Therefore, NO stimuli must trigger internal events. You can not master your mind without this being so. If you allow yourself to be influenced and thus controlled, by external and internal triggers, YOU are not in control of yourself, the triggers are. You must not be phased by anything – influenced or swayed by anything. Your mind must be rigid, it must be still, it must be calm. Your mind and all its thoughts must be in agreement – in perfect alignment. The photo of the cup of coffee is the perfect example of how a trigger can create a cascading effect of feelings, emotions, and desires within yourself. An attractive female, a beautiful landscape, a delicious dessert, these things will tend to trigger emotions, feelings, and desires within you. This must not be so.


Difficulty of Detaching from Certain Things

Difficulty of detachment, 0 is minimum difficulty 100 is maximum difficulty.


There are a number of things to let go of:
- Feelings / emotions
- Sadness
- Regret
- Fear
- Work / Job / Money
- Sexual thoughts / desires / lust
- Attachment to family / friends
- Hunger / thirst
- Pain

Must let go of desire for past or future

The longing to experience something you already experienced
This must pass

The longing to experience something from your past
This must pass

The longing to experience something you have not yet experienced
This must pass

Be content with the present state
At all times

Think about with respect to different things,
Like sexual thoughts


Physical and Mental Pain

Without your interpretation, there is neither pleasure nor pain.
I'm thankful for pain, so that i may know pleasure.


What is True Freedom

What is freedom?
By catering to sexual thoughts and ultimately striving towards ejaculation you are liberating yourself and thus freeing yourself from the burden of sexual thoughts. yet you create the burden. negative kamma and positive kamma. you create them both. negative kamma is the burden or pain and positive kamma is the freeing yourself from the burden - or pleasure. so either way by choosing to be caught in this realm you are always fluctuating between these extremes. by creating the burden, and choosing to accept that you will create the burden for yourself, you are choosing to be caught in this never ending cycle. Choose the side that has no side.

Control can be defined in many ways. If you are free from control of other individuals, are you free? If you are free from control of your thoughts, are you free? If you are free from control of fear and pain and anger, are you free? If you let sexual hormones get the best of you by giving in to sexual desires, are you free? What is ultimate release, and freedom? What is ultimate detachment? If one one can sit in peace, while in self-immolation, is that true detachment, freedom, and release? There are many layers to self, and the more you strip away, the closer you get to true self.

The more you want, the less free you are. The more you want, the easier it is for you to be controlled. If you are put in jail, you want to get out. Your freedom is restricted because you want to do something you are restrained from doing. But if you do not care if you cannot get out - if you are content with being in jail, then are you not free in that respect? If you have no attachments – are you not free? Having wants binds you to those wants. Having desires binds you to those desires. A want is a chain. When a want is created, so too is a chain connecting you to the object that you want.

When you see a beautiful female that you would love to touch and hold, and you imagine what her personality might be like as you imagine embracing her, you are creating a connection from you to her. She is the object. You want her. You are creating a chain connecting you to her. This chain limits you. It puts restraint on you. It limits your freedom. You create all these attachments to your world. In this way you are chained to your world. You are chained, and your freedom is restricted. If you release and let go, you become free.

What does it mean to be free? Most people put the barrier just outside their physical self and the outside world, where other people, objects, things, outside events, and etc can limit their freedom through physical action. Most people do not realize, understand, or care to realize or acknowledge, that there exists a barrier in your mind. By creating wants, you construct a barrier within your mind, where you limit yourself. Other people can restrict your independence or mobility, but if you are not attached, then you are free.

When you go to the place of your true essence, then you are truly free.

Freedom and Liberation

What does freedom and/or liberation mean? Does it mean free from the control of government? Upholding of freedoms as declared on the constitution? Your parents not controlling everything you do? Freedom to travel? Freedom to smoke weed? Being able to do things that society would usually frown upon? Being able to enjoy the great outdoors? Not being locked up in jail or held in captivity?

Or can freedom mean something else? What about freedom from desire? Freedom from temptation? Freedom from anger? Freedom from stress? Freedom from feeling pressure to do certain things? Freedom from feeling the need to act a certain way? Freedom from physical and mental pain? Freedom from hunger? Freedom from psychological traumas from your past?

Usually people think of freedom in relation to the first set of examples. But there is another type of freedom, that when achieved, makes all the superficial freedoms obsolete. This freedom is found within your own mind. When you find internal freedom, then you can be physically restrained but still be free. Usually the freedom that people think about is associated with some form of physical movement.


Strategies

Part of letting go has to do with digging deep within yourself to uncover your true self. Your true self is embedded deep within layers of yourself.


Freedom and Control

it's two-faced when you're one thing in front of people, and another behind closed doors
you are betraying others and you are betraying yourself

you must be steadfast in your ways
this means being consistent and having integrity

this means not deviating from who you portray yourself.

You are actually acting out as three people:
- the person you conform to, or feel that you should be when around other people
- the person you are when by yourself or behind closed doors
- then, the person you believe to be your true self.

the person you are in front of others is at a distance from your true self
the person you are behind closed doors is farther from who you are in front of others and even farther from your true self

it's about finding balance

the more you get to your true self, the more balance you find
the farther from your true self, and the person you are behind closed doors, the more imbalance you find.

why are you more "proper" in front of others than when by yourself?

the more you give in, the more you lose control, the more out of balance

release to control

the harder you struggle, the easier it is to lose control
the more you give in, the more you lose control

but to truly release and let go, is control

by releasing the control,

if you release all the chains that are holding and thus controlling you,
you become free,

by becoming free, does that mean that you are in control of yourself?
or does it just mean that you are not being controlled?

to not be controlled, does that imply having control?

to be free, does that mean that you have control over yourself?

what do freedom and control have to do with each other?


Fluctuations of Thought

part of letting go is understanding that we have fluctuations in thought, and that our thought at any given time is influenced by certain factors, and that at a different point in time, we can have an opposing viewpoint, because we are influenced by different factors.

understanding that we are dynamic in our thought and that it is subject to change over time.

how then do we define ourselves? well we must acknowledge that who we are is who we are in the present, and that who we are in the present may be different than who we were in the past, and who we might be in the future.

we must also understand that most humans evolve in this way.

we must also understand that we are a dynamic program and how we act and behave is dependent on our input parameters, but our input parameters can drastically affect who we are today versus yesterday.

how does this understanding help in letting go?

because we are shaped by hands, but we choose to let those hands shape us, by accepting them

what does it mean to be shaped, versus shaping ourselves?

how do we know if we are shaping ourselves, or we are being shaped by an outside influence?

well we need to determine the boundary that defines self.

there are many layers that make up self, or identity.

by stripping away layers you get closer to the true self.

eventually it is found that the true self is unattached and free.

by stripping away layers you get closer to the conundrum where nothing becomes the same as everything.

it's much easier to give in and to accept all the layers, all the controlling factors that come with the acceptance of those layers, and to let ourselves be controlled and shaped by those factors.

but liberation is found by stripping the layers.