Lightly Dear…

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard. 
Lightly child, lightly.
Learn to do everything lightly. 
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. 
Just lightly let things happen
and lightly cope with them. 

I was so preposterously serious in those days,
such a humorless little prig. 
Lightly, lightly –
it’s the best advice ever given me. 
When it comes to dying even.
Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic. 
No rhetoric, no tremolos, 
no self conscious persona putting
on its celebrated imitation
of Christ or Little Nell. 
And of course, no theology,
no metaphysics. 
Just the fact of dying and the
fact of the clear light. 

So throw away your baggage and go forward. 
There are quicksands all about you,
sucking at your feet, 
trying to suck you down into fear
and self-pity and despair. 
That’s why you must walk so lightly. 
Lightly my darling, 
on tiptoes and no luggage, 
not even a sponge bag, 
completely unencumbered.”

Aldous Huxley
Brave New World