Sitting With Sensei

Student - I need some advice. I know that non attachment is very important on the spiritual path, but when I try to practice it, it feels like I'm becoming cold and uncaring. I'm a passionate person and I want to excel in everything I do. How can I be non attached to outcomes when devotion and success are the only things that matter to me?
Sensei - Ah, ok, this has become a conundrum for you because you think that your passionate desire to achieve is the antithesis of non - attachment. What you need to understand it that they actually complement and enhance each other. But there is a third factor that must come into play in order to resolve this, and that is "letting go".
Student - Well, I can't imagine how this could be true Sensei. The concept of non attachment and letting go conjures up images of those poor skinny Sadhus who sit gazing at their navels most of the day and only get up to beg for a few coins so they can get some.........
Sensei - Woah, woah! You're missing the point! Authentic spiritual non attachment has nothing to do with laziness, boredom or mediocrity! Passionate action and accomplishment are healthy and deeply spiritual but only if they are accompanied by non attachment. We just need to define non attachment properly. Let's call it non grasping, grabbing, clinging, hoarding, ok? When we free ourselves of those fear based behaviors, our true natural talents and passions flow freely. We must be able to give full consent to our actions and that requires healthy passion, not distorted, lustful, greedy passion. And by the way, those "poor skinny Sadhus" deserve respect, not pity. Yes, some of them are little more than homeless beggars, but others are serious yogis with great wisdom and decades of intense meditation under their belts. Theirs is a very difficult path of extreme detachment and renunciation.
Student - Wow, ok.......I was thinking that "letting go" meant letting life pass you by......being passive, not passionately active.
Sensei - Negative attachments are just bad habits. So a detached life is one that is free of bad habits. Non attachment also means being free of the craving for approval and accolades from others, and to not take personally the judgments, insults and abuse from others.
Student - That's not easy!
Sensei - No, it's not easy, but we cultivate a detached attitude and gradually get better at it. You're getting the hang of it now, so let's put it in an even bigger context. Think of your life as a story that has a beginning, middle and end. It's a play, ok? A theatrical production. You're playing a role in the play. You're an actor playing a role!
It's a drama and you play the role with passion. joy, sadness, humor, love, hate, the whole gamut. It's just a play, but you're a professional actor and you play that role with great talent, skill, devotion and feeling. You become the role, yet you know that you're not the role. You're an actor, an artist, a creator. You create the role and you become so good at it that you forget that you're the creator, not the role. You forget that you're the divine (creator), not just the ego (the role). The trick is to get fully established in the absolute knowledge that you are the One Infinite Creator acting as if you're an individual person.
Student - Ok Sensei, that's a beautiful analogy, but what does it have to do with non attachment?
Sensei - I knew you were going to ask that! Here's the punchline, but you won't get it if you can't appreciate the paradox. The creator is infinite and eternal. It has no beginning, middle, or end, but the roles that it plays all have a beginning, middle and end. That's the paradox, ok? The Creator has no attachment to results. It creates just for the hell of it. It's totally spontaneous, wild and free. It loves variety, constant transformation and evolution. Every moment is new and unique, anything and everything is allowed.......
Student - (student has a far off look on his face as he deeply contemplates what Sensei has spoken, then suddenly......) Oh!! Now I see! The creator you speak of is nature itself, not a deity! When you said wild and free....., yes, yes! Nature is an artist! When we just let go and allow nature to flow freely through us, we become wild and free like a river, like a Lion or Tiger! There is no resistance, no attachment!!
Sensei - Good! You finally broke the compulsion to understand through mere thought and concept. They can only take us so far. The heart is king and the mind should follow it, not lead it. The heart simply feels and knows. Just keep diving deeper into it's innermost essence where there is only immense peace. all embracing love and unbridled creativity.
Student - Thank you Sensei, I feel so much better now.......just let go! Fear not, be free! Yes, now I can feel the truth of this in my heart and it's......it's incredibly..... beautiful (student getting choked up with emotion).....and poignant! (student laughing and crying, overwhelmed by the ecstatic realization of transcendent truth).
Sensei - (pats student on the back as he hugs him) Now you feel the divine power of positive passion, the alchemy of emotion! You've shed the shackles of separation and merged into the ocean of love and mercy. Let's meditate! (student just smiles at Sensei as they slip into deep meditation.........no Student, no Sensei, no time........just eternal peace and infinite love.)