PHILOSOPHY & UNDERSTANDING

Attachment, Detachment, Enlightenment

Attachments Are Important to Have, Here’s Why…

Attachments are Good

Without attachments wouldn’t we be saints, angels, or disembodied high vibrational spirits?

I used to believe I could let go of my attachments forever. I thought enlightenment would happen in a flash. Like turning on a light switch. This could happen. But it takes prep work and practice for me to continually let go of attachments. Attachments deemed bad, good, or in the rainbow of possibilities between the poles of opposites; and are part of the way we grow in our current life. I see that is true in my life.

Q: Do attachments stop after enlightenment?

A: Simple answer: no.

Attachments are part of the costume of personality.

There is a core of light that runs along our spine from the root to the crown chakra. I have felt it and seen it. That core is the essence of enlightenment. I am already enlightened, save for the illusions to which I am attached. And there are so many…

My personality covers the light within me. I have observed this in others through my work to serve their highest good.

The personality is a costume of illusions worn over the light.

Attachments are the glues that hold the illusions in place. The people who have buried their fears by turning them into anger and rage use up the light sometimes. They may not have enough light to pass to a higher vibrational Light (like heaven). Why? Because of lifetimes of fear turned to anger or rage. My father was one such man. I gave him an infusion of light to make the jump. The infusion happened four days before the death of his physical body.

One of my biggest attachments as a human being is that I am my body. Most people are attached and identified with their bodies. From my head-brain I can see that I am not my body, but that is an idea. Other than out of body/consciousness travel I view life from my body. My attachment to my body leads to a fear of death, and unfinished business, et cetera. I’m working on letting all of it go at least in the moment.

Attachment’s Opposite — Detachment (the only choice?)

Where does the idea of detachment originate? There are the polarization of opposites (it’s either this way or that way). What is the third force that frees me from this prison of opposites? The dictionary would have us believe that detachment is an antonym of attachment. Okay, literally it is, but from an imprisoned perspective.

Why is “attachment-detachment” false? I look to the wider purpose of attachment. I used to think of attachment in absolute terms. As mentioned above I thought I could let go of attachments once and for all. Or all at once and be free of them forever. I would be free from attachments and detachments. I would be free to feel emotions, free to think outside the box (what box?), and create based on nothing. No preconditions.

Releasing all attachments forever (in linear time) is impossible. Attachments are analogous to breathing in and out. We need oxygen as much as we need attachments. Enlightened people have attachments. I’ve seen them.*

Attachments, such as my sense of “I”, will continue to exist as long as I am embodied. If I were enlightened and defined with an identity I would have attachments. When I release attachments in the moment they return and slap me in the face in the next moment.

I suspect that when my body dies my identity may exist in the afterlife for some time. Will my identify exist up until the time I am reborn into another life? It’s quite possible that as a young child with rudimentary language skills, I might remember my previous life. Attachments to the new life have yet to be cemented into a clear definition of the “me” and the “not me”.

Even if I let go of my attachments and become detached my emotions might cease to exist. Emotions fuel attachments. The goal — according to the Buddha is the realization that I am already enlightened. I am forced to face my illusions and the attachments that go with illusions. The origin of all emotions begins with love. We may be able to release all emotions except love.

When Detachment Aids in Balance

As an empath suffering of the world impacts me. At times I feel overwhelmed. Detachment is a buffer to the overwhelm. And it becomes necessary to prevent burn-out. Detachment acts as a protection. The danger is too much detachment can cause separation and a loss of connection. I work to achieve a balance between attachment and detachment — and as an empath feel the suffering of others.

Love

Love is the primary emotion that binds humans together. There are many emotions akin to love separated by our minds to express varieties of love. Love includes joy, ecstasy, bliss, contentment, satisfaction, and liking. These emotions are some of the positive derivations of love. When fear happens Love is blocked and negative emotions spread like wildfire. Fear can protect us from immediate danger. In civilization, fear becomes more complex due to its connection to stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses. Love is the one emotion of enlightenment that supersedes attachments. Primary Love is unconditional and is given without attachment.

When unconditional love has flowed through me it feels immense compared to my self/ego. It feels to come from my Higher Self connected to a Higher Power/God. It flows through me and embraces my self/ego and all that is.

Enlightenment As a Continuum

In spiritual awakenings I have experienced the Love that connects me with everyone. Everywhere, everything, throughout time or the absence of time connects with love. My associative thought patterns have changed from a polarized frame to ideas and experience along a continuum.

If we are enlightened, discovering our attachments and illusions, as the Buddha informs, more of our light shines forth. How do I know this? Friends have told me that I have been glowing with light around me. Sometimes in bed at night, under the covers I see light coming out of my open mouth. The light illuminates the darkness. Weird, I know, but there it is. It happens often.

I have had many awakenings in my life, some expansive, some realizations. With each awakening more of the shadow reveals itself. Illusions become visible, and the networks they create. More light is available for my inner self and for services to others in need.

I don’t claim to feel enlightened or transcendentally enlightened, like Ram Dass’s guru in the documentary listed below:

Ram Dass introduced this documentary at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2001. I wept when I saw his Guru — Maharaj Ji photo on the screen. I felt this man’s presence via Ram Dass fill up the theatre. A still photo of Maharaj Ji fills me with love. Love transcends all. I saw how his Love could hold my faults, my attachments, feelings of separateness, and disconnection in unconditional love.

This is how enlightenment reveals itself to me. It opens like a flower revealing the beauty of the love and light within.

*I lived with a Cambodian Buddhist monk, the Dharmawara Mathahera or called by his friends and students — Bhante. He is on the continuum of enlightenment. He was attached to a variety of foods. I saw light coming from him from time to time. When his body died I believed he was gone. He appeared to me in a dreamtime dream and asked why I hadn’t visited with him. I said, “You died.” He laughed. I saw the error of my ways. I visit him from time to time in the world of pure spirit. If you’re interested in more of these stories see my book on my profile page or this link.

Thank you for joining me in the search for unconditional Love while being attached. For is it not Love that holds all attachments, detachments; comforts us when we’re hurt, heals us when ill, and relieves our suffering with the light of enlightenment when we let it?

Blessings, Passion,Love, and Grace on your journey.

May whatever or whomever your looking for — find you.

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Thanks to the editors of Know Thyself Heal Thyself: Diana C. | Spyder | jules — Miz Mindful