DETACHMENT VS. NOT GIVING A FUCK cont’d
Here you are, then; you’ve climbed high enough in your consciousness to see the whole situation without feeling you’re about to suffocate from emotional involvement, and now you’re ready to start pulling that first string. But before you do this, you may have to assess your own situation. Yes, you feel hurt; don’t try to tell yourself you don’t. Draw back far enough to see yourself in a state of hurt. Poor you—poor suffering creature! See yourself with empathy and forgiveness. But stay detached and know this creature is not you. It’s a temporary, fleeting image. Let it bring a smile.
And what about your tormentors? Yes, you must draw back from them, as well. Draw back or rise above—these metaphors are similar enough for all practical purposes. See that the people who appear to be against you are not all the same, and their motives are not all the same. Does it boil down to one person who wishes you ill? Are the others going along because of their own differing insecurities? Is there one who would secretly like to defend you? Is someone attacking you because that person feels attacked by you? Are you doing something that is hurting others? Is there something you can do to defuse the situation?
Don’t try too hard to come up with the answers; don’t overthink the matter. Just keep raising your consciousness until the picture becomes clearer and clearer. Detach. Detachment itself is the most likely source of answers. It’s what is meant by ‘Let go and let God.’
Of course you care. Of course you give a fuck. And that’s why you will disentangle yourself emotionally—detach—and figure out how to untangle the rest of the knot.
Will you untangle the knot? Almost certainly. When you have taken the first real step toward untangling a knot, as any knitter or sailor knows, there is no chance you won’t succeed. You can trust this. If you want to open a jar badly enough, you will by God succeed even if you have to take the jar to a neighbor with muscles. Where there’s a will, there is indeed a way—the will being an absolutely clear picture of the knot untangled, the jar opened.So, here are the steps:
Don’t give a fuck.
Take a step upward in perspective and see that you do give a fuck.
Take two more steps up and see that here’s a mess of people idiotically giving fucks right and left.
Climb even higher and see that this kind of tangle is a common human event. It got tangled, and it can get untangled.
See your own thread in it.
Forgive everyone involved. They know not what they do, and perhaps you also know not what you do.
And good luck to you! (But remember, it is never about luck.)