Next on the list of dropping limitations is dropping attachment. Whatever it is, let it go. This way, we can enter into life fully; back to no shape, form or meaning, back to no mind. Without attachment, we live in tune with things as they are, not as we imagine them to be. When we no longer place an impossible demand on things, everything becomes satisfying, harmonious and peaceful.
If we are open to and detached from outcome, we stop evaluating all that happens according to our master plan. This plan is limiting because life is a journey and there is no particular destination. For so-called better or worse, there is always something to learn. If we keep positive and non-judgmental, we don’t limit ourselves by our perceptions. From mind’s vantage point alone, we actually cannot tell what constitutes success or failure in a particular situation.
The Buddha sat under a boddhi tree until he became enlightened. The Buddhist practice of self-compassion takes a radical stance: the thinking mind and its convolutions is a disease, which is cured by letting it and the suffering it creates, go.
The American-Indians agree with this view: The world goes up and down and people go up and down with their world. We have no business following them in their ups and downs. The art of sorcery is to be outside everything, so we don’t lose our power.
Here’s the crux then: non-attachment is power. There is tremendous power in non-grasping; no mind. In a confrontation, for instance, our opponent has nothing to grip if our mind is empty. There are no buttons to press. There is great power also in being able to simply walk away, not needing the other to do or not to do something.
The things of worth in this life are only grasped by letting go
Emotional turbulence is the greatest obstacle to the spontaneous fulfilment of desires. We have to let go of what we want to have, so it can come to us. To create successfully in the web of maya, we first have to exit it and become one with Self – the creating force behind it.
Once outside the web, we change effortlessly all we wrestled with and found immovable while caught in it. Only when it does not really matter to us, can we have and change it all.
Now that I least desire them, I have them all without desire – St John of the Cross
Life’s irony is that as soon as worldly goods and successes are of no concern to us, the way is open for them to flow to us. This is because we cannot have what we want, but we may experience whatever we have. Ultimately, the only way to obtain anything in the physical universe is to let go of it – Neale Donald Walsh
As the biblical analogy of the ‘Pearl of great price’ shows us: Only when we let go of our dearest possession, will it be given back to us along with something even better.
To be free in the world, we have to be free of the world
If we no longer push, control and expect the life we are attached to, the life that’s trying to emerge, will surface. There, we will be at our happiest. No longer tangled in emotions, we can enjoy fully. From there, it will take a lot to get us back into the desire and fear cycle again.
Dropping attachment, we stop controlling and getting angry. The need to control comes from fear. If we have nothing to fear, we have nothing over which to be angry. We are not angry when we don’t get what we want, because our wanting merely a preference, not a necessity. Dropping attachment, we stop clinging:
Dear self
You can only lose what you cling to.
Buddha.
We’re a strange species: our ego creates our world and then it worries about it. When we have learnt unattachment, we don’t hold on to anything; people, material belongings, the status quo, structure, beliefs, the past or any idea of how life should be. We don’t get sucked into worry about stuff.
We learn this by degrees. Start with the less important stuff: Practise stepping back and letting go rather than tightening the reins when things aren’t ‘behaving’. If you feel you could use some help to stay on track in this, book a free introductory chat with me at www.freetoflylifecoaching.com.
Ultimately, non-attachment is freedom. The more unfettered we are, the more latitude we have to create and re-create our life.
Most of our troubles come from our desire for and attachment to transient things that we mistake as enduring such as relationships, wealth and possessions. I have learnt to walk away, unattached to my creation. I know I am the creator and can create again. I have found that the best way to navigate my life is with a light touch and flexibility.
To me, Karma is a store of unspent energies, unfulfilled desires and fears not understood. The store is constantly replenished by new desires and fears, perpetuating the re-incarnation process.
From certain states of being springs a life so rich, so full, so magnificent and so rewarding that further worldly goods and successes will be of no concern to us
– Author unknown