You’re Falling—Let Go: The Ultimate Truth Behind Iconic Neti Neti ✨
“This is what the Hindus call neti neti, saying of the Brahman, of the supreme reality: “It is not this, it is not this.”
But this intellectual operation of destroying concepts must go hand in hand with a, shall we call it, psychological operation which is ceasing to cling to any image whatsoever, or simply ceasing to cling. Now, why? Well, because there’s no need to. There’s no need to cling. Because when you were born you were kicked off a precipice. And it was a big explosion, and a lot of other things are falling down with you, including some pretty large lumps of rock. One of them’s called the Earth. And it won’t help you to cling to the rocks when you’re falling off the precipice. It may give you an illusion of safety. But everything is falling. It’s falling apart. That’s what the ancients said: “All is transient.” Panta rhei: “all flows,” in the words of Heraclitus. And you can cling to anything. It’s like grabbing a smoke with a nonexistent hand. That’s all that clinging will ever achieve. All it does is make people anxious.”
— Alan Watts, “DEMOCRACY IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN"
