Sunday, June 26, 2005

Freedom from grasping

Stephen Levine makes a very interesting observation in this passage from A Gradual Awakening:

Ironically, when we experience the depth of dissatisfaction in the wanting mind there follows a great joy. Because when we see that no object of mind can in itself satisfy, then nothing that arises can draw us out and we begin to let go because there is nothing worth holding onto. The more we see how the mind wants, the more we see how wanting obscures the present. To realize that there is nothing to hold onto that can offer lasting satisfaction shows us there is nowhere to go and nothing to have and nothing to be - and that's freedom.

I think everyone has experienced the freedom of letting go at some point in his or her life. The problem is that when we're untrained we often only let go only by accident or through extreme desperation. Cultivating a trained mind enables us to let go because we choose to do so. That's the freedom Levine is talking about.

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