Natural Freedom

Ok, so I fully recognize that this is almost purely a semantics issue, but semantics do matter - language gives shape to our thoughts. Switching up these two phrases really helped me, so I figured I would share the insight I had:

The advice to "let it go" is given often around here, and for good reason. Attachment is big.

However, to me, the phrase "let it go" can be misinterpreted to imply that whatever it is that is bothering you will somehow disappear if you release your attachment to it. I think this can (mistakenly) allow people to see this "letting go" as akin to taking some magic pill - you just "let it go" and whatever is bothering you will disappear in a puff of smoke never to cause you pain ever again.

Obviously this is not what is meant when the advice to let go is given, but I can tell you from personal experience that I turned it into the "technique" of letting go in order to be able to get the outcome that I wanted (the outcome I was attached to), and I feel as though others have done the same.

I think a useful alternative might be "let it be".

Its not about getting rid of thoughts, beliefs, and patterns that don't serve you. Its about accepting them and letting them be what they are. As Grinus once wrote:

"I stopped fighting my inner demons. We're on the same side now."

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"The society gives you a map; I give you only freedom. The society gives you character, I give you only consciousness. The society teaches you to live a conformist life ... I give you an invitation to go on an adventure." - Osho

You answered your own question. You let the demons be, and by doing that, you let the attatchment to any outcome go. It isn't semantics as much as it is realizing what exactly can be let go/released and what is best observed and then put back into place.

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Take it easy, man. But take it.

Of course I answered my own question - I didn't have a question.

I was just sharing an insight that was very helpful to me - that the mind can easily translate "letting things go" into "when will those things go away". That parts of yourself that you don't like don't "go away" as "letting them go" might suggest. Rather they still with you, but just no longer are a problem.

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"The society gives you a map; I give you only freedom. The society gives you character, I give you only consciousness. The society teaches you to live a conformist life ... I give you an invitation to go on an adventure." - Osho

Exactly. Though I feel as though I have reached the next 'level up' in my mental/physical development, the same things still bother me as before. The difference is:

1) They don't bother me as much, or for as long. They enter my mind and pass within much shorter time periods than before.

2) I don't let emotions that bother me (social anxiety, jealousy, etc.) dictate my actions. I act almost solely on logic nowadays because I know my logic is strong and I know that most of the emotions I feel about a situation are far from the reality of the situation.

Emotions are always conditional, Logic is permanent until a new paradigm is formed.

Great that you saw that. In fact it tends to need to be grasped from experience.. even if you read your exact post you wrote above a long time ago, it'd still probably be as big a shift when you 'see' it first hand.

I love this video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbDCdTYTguc

Taking your hands off of something, it will do what it will do, YOU letting go does not inherently mean that the energy will do anything.

Another analogy could be removing a cage around a bird. All you can do is remove the cage -- it could stick around, it could fly away, it could fly away and come back, it could even seem to attack you. There is an element of trust that comes with time to know that the energy does what it needs to do and is infinitely more intelligent than your mental concept about what you think it should do. What throws people off a lot is when they think they let go, or actually do let go, and it doesn't do something that feels good / happy to them and they think they did it wrong and then immediately stop it again.

Another analogy from a different video (same guy) is, if you have a bunch of stuff in your system and the body needs to get rid of it, it's going to be an unpleasant experience and you're not going to like it but it is NOT negative, it's the opposite, it's doing what it needs to do to get you back to a healthier state.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTXz8xMaJi4

Also, if you've been trying to push things away, pretend not to care -- and then you shift to releasing your grip on the situation and let it be, that's WAY more than semantics!!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTXz8xMaJi4

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