EGO’S TRIAD  #4

DESIROUS ATTACHMENT & NON-ATTACHMENT

You cannot control results, only your actions. 

You cannot decide outcomes, only your choices. So, it is best that you practice non-attachment to any concern related to outcome.

There is nothing wrong with desire, it is attachment to object of our desire which has karmic implications. We can have stuff but stuff should not have us.

“Give up owning things and being somebody. Quit existing.” Rumi

Attachment vs. Non-Attachment

Attachments will embrace those who cling to ego. Attachments to things are often extensions of one's persona. We should be attached to our spiritual life rather than any inanimate object.

Steve Jobs once was quoted as saying that their mission at Apple was not to give folks what they needed but what they wanted. With Apple's amazing technology, especially when he was alive, Jobs created a kind of cult. Its 'members' held onto every promise of 'want' and he delivered. He changed the world, however, not always for the good. He fulfilled the attachments of so many people all over the world.

“Wants, needs and necessities have different characteristics. It is the want that is our enemy, not the need and necessity.” Sri Swami Rama

Non-attachment and realizing the nature of impermanence of all things is key in helping us to subordinate ego to the Higher Self. Everything around us is in the process of being broken. Attachments will also hamper our crossing of the veil between the worlds during the dying process. It can cause one to remain earth bound.

Keep to the source of living waters. Do not think to store in cisterns for they will break, and crumble and the water will be lost...

One Buddhist practice involves developing a painstaking, sand painting. Over a significant period of time a stunning art piece manifests only to be destroyed to emphasize the importance of impermanence. We cannot take anything with us at the end of days, and except for our karma we go naked and alone.

One day the people came to the master and asked: “How can you be so happy in a world of such impermanence where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness and death.” The master held up a glass and said. Someone gave me this glass and I really like this glass. It holds my water admirably and glistens in the sunlight. One day the wind may blow it off the shelf or my elbow may knock it off the table. I know this glass is already broken so I enjoy it incredibly.” Achaan Chah Stab

“A net is spread out for the living (the net of temptations to the ego that resides in a sensory body) and everything is given on loan...(impermanence).” Rev Akiva

Many of the challenges we face arise out of our sentient existence and the temptations of being in a sensory body. When we leave for the "Elsewhere" we lose the sensory body. We are born again and again (the continual wheel of samsara) because of the mishandling of our sentient bodies and our desirous attachments. We are here to enjoy things fully, but responsibly, recognizing they cannot last.

Detachment is not the same as non-attachment. Detachment is resignation - resigning to one's fate or something else. Resignation is a giving up as opposed to surrender which is a giving in to something bigger and more important than one’s little self. Surrender in spiritual terms is not waving the white flag when one is losing the battle. Surrender is going with the flow, letting go, connecting with one's higher consciousness. It is connecting with the 'Field', the Creator and one's guides. Its about hope, trust, belief and not hopelessness, defeat, denial, desperation. Above all its about trust in a Greater Power.

 

Concerning detachment, one of its paths leads to a lifeless world without enthusiasm or hope, a place of indifference where one could become ensnared in hidden traps of dejection and despair, where one no longer cares to love nor dares to trust. 

In a commodity filled world governed by big money we may not be in control of our lives. Our desirous attachments are manipulated to make us want things There is always a more sexy car, more compelling fashion, a more powerful and faster computer or smart phone to tempt us. These objects, though often seductive, also get more complicated, more difficult to repair and more expensive. We are going back to planned obsolescence as well as 'fast fashion' in clothing. Some folks do not even wear the new articles out but quickly buy the more compelling latest design. Often its more expensive to fix commodities like washing machines or dish washers than to replace them. Cars are increasingly costly. Moreover, instead of having a simple key or headlight, engineers substitute an electronic device or a complicated LED headlight - both exorbitant when they need to be replaced - and they are both bound to break or be lost.

“More possessions - more worry. More generosity - more peace. There is nothing wrong with possessions, only to being possessed by them.” Hillel