Swimming Lessons on Saka Dawa

The self-centered ego is such a powerful - and limiting - thing. The world is so much smaller when we frame things in context of "I, me, my, mine". Those labels, and the resultant views ("I don't like her because she did ------ to ME", "He took MY ----- and didn't ask", etc), box us and other people into these preconceived roles where the echoes of attachment and desire bounce off of each other until we're in the middle of this monumental cacophony, and we can barely function for all of the "noise". It induces tremendous suffering - both in our lives, and in the lives of others.

Learning to let go of that context is so difficult. And yet, it is so simple. It's a bit like learning to swim. When we're learning to swim, we hold onto the edge of the pool, the bottom of the pool, someone else who can swim (our teachers), etc, like our lives depend upon it/them. Most of the time, they do. The edge/bottom is solid, as are our teachers - they allow us to hold, and explore a 'little' of the water. But we will never know the feeling of drifting with the flow of the water, of being surrounded and uplifted by its current or tide, and the freedom that comes from relaxing enough to just float on the surface and experience the peace of being "part" of the flow, without letting go. We can, by just holding on with a few fingers, even fool ourselves into thinking we've immersed ourselves in it. But, to gain the full experience, there comes a point where we must let go.

I'm not saying that letting go of the ego is as easy of letting go of the side of the pool and learning to swim. But, if you think back, there was, for many of us, a lot of fear involved in that letting go. There was a lot of practice before taking our first feeble swipes at treading water, then retreating back to the safety of the edge (or our teachers). But, it was pure elation when we finally did it. That fear, it seems to me, is very similar to self-grasping. It's a self-protective mechanism that virtually immobilizes us.

The trick is to learn how to navigate the waters (experiencing and operating without the self-centered ego) - to learn the flow and feel, to practice (and practice, and practice). But at some point, which for many of us (this writer included) may be eons and lifetimes away, we will have to let go.