7. No Clinging

From the world of the senses, Arjuna, comes heat and comes cold, and pleasure and pain. They come and they go: they are transient. Arise above them, strong soul. -- Chapter 2, verse 14, The Bhagavad Gita (Tr. Juan Mascaro)

In this transient existence, this embodying as a human, we live betwixt and between. It is a dualistic world. We compile a list of what we want. We have its shadow list of what we do not want.

We want gain. We do not want loss. We fantasize continuous progress, materially and spiritually. We believe we are on a yellow brick road leading to Nirvana or Heaven. Spiritual greed is no different than material greed.

Yet gain and loss are occurring every moment. We are arising into existence while simultaneously dying to existence. At any given time, about 1/4th of our cells are being born, 1/2 are middle-aged, and 1/4th are dying and vanishing. We are like a wave of an ocean -- looking as if it is the same wave as a moment ago, yet composed now of different water droplets.

We want pleasure. We want no pain. We drug and drink and seek relationships. We stuff ourselves with tasty foods. We don fine clothes. We get a car, a house. We watch TV. We surf facebook. We slurp up pleasure with our pleasure vacuum. And we "don't get no satisfaction." Every pleasurable seeking ends in pain.

We seek praise. We reject blame. And yet the two are the same. Inflation and deflation according to our view of others' view of us. We look at ourselves through others' eyes, not stopping to think that others are doing the same, hardly giving us a thought. We walk around in this mirage, this self-hypnosis of the image-ing of what others think about us.

We cling to gain and spurn loss. This is suffering.

We cling to pleasure and spurn pain. This is suffering.

We cling to praise and spurn blame. This is suffering.

Krishna says to Arjuna that it doesn't work to cling to what is transient. Emotions rise and disappear. Self-images are illusionary magic. Thoughts chatter away like birds on a roof top. Relationships continually transform.

"Arise above them, strong soul."

Surf's up! No clinging!

And how does one accomplish this mighty warrior feat? By swimming in the ocean of love. One becomes the surf itself.