The Game of Letting Go…Our Journey Back to Freewill
We usually think the main goal of the game of chess is to “win.” There is a winner and a looser. This has also become the illusion of the “game of life.” If we follow the present societal map that exists all around us on a daily basis, we are told that we must play to win if we wish to be successful. We have lived in a greed based patriarchal society for so long now, with this constant internal battle ingrained so deeply within us. We have forgotten that the true purpose of the game of life is our own Self realization as sovereign beings, which entails understanding our full spectrum of expression amidst a playing field of polarities.
I see in our world, at present, an incredible transition occurring, where the divine feminine energy is rising up and reminding us of deeper truths: that the path is more important than the destination, that how we move and live in each moment is more important than the outcome or reward, and that each move we take impacts others, the Earth and future generations. I see women, and men, standing up to speak out, embodying this deeper feminine call, becoming beacons of light for us all and the caretakers of our future. But this is just the beginning…
The chess scene in the “Let Go” music video takes place between two personified queens, light and dark, representing the feminine uprising on the playing field of the 3D world. Towards the beginning of the video, amidst a poignant collage about our conditioning by the oppressive patriarchal system, we watch the white queen show up to an apartment where the black queen is waiting at a chess board by the fireplace, symbolizing that our shadow side is always waiting for us to reveal deeper truths about ourselves.
As the game begins and the white queen moves her first pawn forward, we are introduced to a blindfolded personified pawn in a white dress, stumbling through the woods one step at a time. To me, the pawn character represents “human existence”…we are born into this world with only clues to who we truly are and how/why we are here. We wear the metaphorical blindfold as we feel our way through life, step by step, making mistakes and learning about all that it means to be human. We are constantly bombarded by the rules, regulations and directions of society, that try to take advantage of our blindness and keep us from truly “seeing” who we are.
The theme of the dark horse in different stages of evolution and freedom plays another significant roll in the Let Go video. As the black queen begins to move her playing pieces, we are introduced to the “dark night,” a masked rider who pulls at the reigns of control, without revealing his identity, symbolizing the forced captivity of our own inner wild side. As the game progresses, we see moments where this dark horse stares into the depths of our being…an apparition from the future, an emotional reflection point to remind us of the great possibility within ourselves. Finally, during the second chorus, this powerful, wild black beauty starts running free through a snow storm to the mantra of “Let Go…let go…let go.” As we drop our reigns and embrace our deep flowing, creative spirit, light and dark no longer imprison us…we begin to taste freedom.
The chess game progresses until a crucial point where the white queen must sacrifice her queen piece to save the white pawn, which is getting close to the other side of the board, and symbolically closer to Self-actualization. If she does not make this crucial sacrifice, she understands that her pawn will be taken by the black queen and all will be lost. As viewers, we know this move would never happen in a normal game of chess and start to realize that the purpose of the game they are playing is not winning…but something much deeper.
As the white pawn makes her final move to the other side of the board, we see the pawn character stop stumbling around the woods, and drop to her knees…time stops. In a moment of epiphany, looking inward, she becomes acutely aware that her eyes have been covered all along. She reaches up and shakily removes the blindfold, looking at the world for the first time…all of nature moving around her in perfect synchrony. As she takes in her surroundings, she realizes that choosing to “see” was in her hands all the while…Freewill was always hers, she just had to remember.
With Freewill out of the bag, and full spectrum existence exposed, the black queen must reveal herself. As she lifts her dark veil to show her face, we realize that the white and black queens are the same person. Such is real life…we must let go of our conditioning and learn to embrace, and find balance with, our shadow side rather than fearing it. Our darkness is not separate from us but part of our whole selves. We see this message realized as the white queen reaches out to touch the hand of the black queen, symbolically merging into one fully realized Being.