Attachment is Habitual Thinking

Beautiful and insightful article... yet not all attachment is bad.   It is the play of life to be attached to those we love deeply.   I've always felt we come here to be attached, to stumble and fall and to rise again.  When does non-attachment become disassociated, not fully in the body and in life?  I remember a reporter described Ramana Maharshi as a dead man walking.  I'm glad he did that for us and lived beyond, beyond, beyond.  It is not my path to be a dead woman walking, however.  I'm here to play the human game...stumbling on rejoicing or bitching as the case may be.  I think there is a balance and art in discovering when attachment is poisonous or unhealthy and when it  is a healthy human experience.  That is certainly my journey and story...and I love a good story!  Lovingly Yours!

 
Yes, I have an addiction to reliving my husband's journey while hospitalized and I saw millions of errors being made. I cannot release this as it is all I have of him.  He died in 2008. 

 
Yes, I have an addiction to reliving my husband's journey while hospitalized and I saw millions of errors being made. I cannot release this as it is all I have of him.  He died in 2008. 

 Sherry, would you like a response to your comments and question?

Hello David.  What would you like to share with me?

 Warm and kind regards. Thanks for sharing this with us. you will be fine.
I'm sure the entire wakin group supports you. Be peace.Conrad

 Sherry -- I wanted to know if you would like a response to your comments and question.  I'll take a chance.  My thoughts:  I don't know if attachment is bad -- I see it as a different way of being than nonattachment.  I see attachment being a problem when I'm consumed by what I'm attached to, and it has me rather than I have it.  I do think we are here to grow or rise, to use your word, and I think learning through attachment and learning to not attach is an important way we grow and rise.  Non attachment never becomes disassociation.  They are two different phenomena -- like an apple never becomes an orange.  Non attachment is being very aware of the person or thing and being with and enjoying the person or thing while  holding onto me, not getting gobbled up by the attachment, not being enslaved, being in the world but not of it (to use that phrase).  Dis-association is denying of the person or thing -- like someone who has been sexually traumatized and denies/dissociates from sexual feelings.  I do see attachment as being an important part of living, and I suppose in real life we all go through a lot of attachment-detachment in the process of living and learning.  I see detachment being an important part of living too.  The art and balance for me is in being present, involved, engaged, close and detached in most circumstances.  It appears there are situations when I still want to be attached/consumed, though it seems to me that I'm not attached/consumed very often any more -- I think that has a lot to do with aging which is a process of detaching.  I do think that unhealthy unnecessary attachment makes for unhealthy unnecessary suffering.  I like what you say about playing and stumbling and rising and learning -- to me that's the way to go.  Those are my thoughts about those difficult to navigate issues.  Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts. 

 Hello David Doane,  Thank you for sharing your thoughts!  I resonate with what you're saying.  The one phrase that creates some tension in me is "in the world but not of it".  It makes the world substandard, something to be transcended.  I know there is a long tradition of seeing matter as "less than......."  I like the Tantric view of the world - it's all Divine.  It's all a play of the Divine, including our attachment.  We're God playing 'Hide and go seek'.  I certainly have more happiness and joy as I learn to be more open and less stuck on my attachments.    I do see that I've interpreted detachment as not engaged where it may be the opposite, allowing more engagement.  The prison of self obsession is a cruel and familiar one to me and, it seems, to most of us. Aging seems to have helped, yes! Thank you again for your open and kind response.  May we all be happy and live in ease and joy!  Blessings!

 Sherry -- Thanks for responding again.  I don't at all think the world is substandard.  I do think Being manifests in many different forms, and every form is an expression of Being.  So, they are the same and they are different.  For me that's more than I can really comprehend, I guess it's some of the incomprehensible mystery of Being -- as the Buddhists say, "not one, not two."  What 'be in the world but not of it' means to me is for me to realize that Being gets packaged in many different forms, for me to not be caught at the packaging level and for me to keep awareness also of Being.  I very much agree that all is Divine -- Divine in different forms -- being in the world but not of it is a way for me to be mindful of that.  That seems to be as clear as I think of it for now.  Dave   

 I agree to the Dave comments. If you read the Gita or dhammapada it comes to the point attachment is misery and that leads to aversion. From my view best way to come out is understanding the attachment and be in awareness or mindfulness and let-go, kindness,gentle and patience those qualities to developed to come out of attachment ( Habitual Thinking).. 
Thanks
Raghu