Thanks for your share today! I wanted to offer the following...a small part of a larger course I created some years ago that further explores ideas around attachment.
Carl Jung, the brilliant psychoanalyst said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Understanding that attachments are the keys to unlocking our unconscious and the motivations of the ego, gives us the power to defeat these limited ways of being. This is also how we free the vital energy that gets stuck through habits of body and mind that the ego perpetuates.
Attachment and detachment . . . do we need them?
When we can train our minds to be the observer of the process, we liberate ourselves from cycles of self-deception. We can see stimuli move through our awareness without creating attachments to it. The observer is already safe, because safety is inherent to our soul: nothing that ever happens to us will ever damage or destroy our soul. In this way, we can contain paradox without reactivity. It’s the reactivity that leads to our own deception and the perpetuation of narratives that do not serve us in the long term. To paraphrase Michael Singer, from his delightful book, The Untethered Soul, there is nothing more important to sustainable growth than realizing you are not the voice in your brain - you are instead, the source that hears it. (I will address the neutral witness specifically shortly.)
The difference between attachment and detachment . . .
Attachment requires no explanation, really. We use something to define who we are: our job, our house, our car, where we went to school, where we were born, our sexual identity, our political party. Attachment is anything within our socio-economic, cultural environment that we associate ourselves with in order to belong; attachments are labels. Usually they’re based on what we desire or approve of, because that’s what we want to be or the tribe we’re looking to join or garner approval from. Sometimes, it can be based on aversion or a differing perspective, like choosing not to be associated with a particular religion. But it’s always based in polarity: we become attached to one side of a dynamic by virtue of desire or aversion, thus rejecting everything else . . . banished to the unconscious where it festers and becomes our shadow side.
Detachment, by contrast, is simply being indifferent. Detachment is the opposite extreme in the polarity of attachment. To be detached is to willfully practice having any kind of associations. In this way, detachment can be a form of solipsism and/or nihilism. Turning a blind eye to injustice perhaps, because of a lack of empathy. This too is an egoic response and as such, further pushes what we don’t claim as potential within ourselves, to the unconscious.
Detachment erodes the fabric of our human experience in that it undermines the value of the soul’s experience of being human. A human experience is social: one of connection, intimacy, and ultimately common cause. If we’re detached, then the necessary engagement required to process through life’s experiences will elude us, and hence so will our necessary lessons.
How non-attachment is the source of our liberation . . .
The transcendent position is non-attachment: here the neutral observer or witness watches stimuli in a flow without grabbing a hold or pushing away as a means to identify one’s sense of self. The true sense of Self exists in a constant that simply observes, chooses to mindfully respond or not, and let’s go. The Self understands that what’s happening is happening for a reason that perhaps exists outside our realm of comprehension. It can require a leap of faith. It means that being invested in the outcome as a means to define ourselves or have emotional reactions doesn’t serve our highest potential. What does serve our highest potential is the process of engagement itself.
Practicing non-attachment doesn’t divorce us from our feelings or a concern for outcomes. It simply means that we understand that we’re pure potential and life exists in a flow that we do not need to try and control in any way. We can observe and choose to act in accordance with the highest good when needed and then let go. Free to move on to the next experience mindfully. In this way, we are active participants in the co-creation of existence and the best possible outcomes for our common humanity.
Hi Tyler,
Thanks for your share today! I wanted to offer the following...a small part of a larger course I created some years ago that further explores ideas around attachment.
Carl Jung, the brilliant psychoanalyst said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Understanding that attachments are the keys to unlocking our unconscious and the motivations of the ego, gives us the power to defeat these limited ways of being. This is also how we free the vital energy that gets stuck through habits of body and mind that the ego perpetuates.
Attachment and detachment . . . do we need them?
When we can train our minds to be the observer of the process, we liberate ourselves from cycles of self-deception. We can see stimuli move through our awareness without creating attachments to it. The observer is already safe, because safety is inherent to our soul: nothing that ever happens to us will ever damage or destroy our soul. In this way, we can contain paradox without reactivity. It’s the reactivity that leads to our own deception and the perpetuation of narratives that do not serve us in the long term. To paraphrase Michael Singer, from his delightful book, The Untethered Soul, there is nothing more important to sustainable growth than realizing you are not the voice in your brain - you are instead, the source that hears it. (I will address the neutral witness specifically shortly.)
The difference between attachment and detachment . . .
Attachment requires no explanation, really. We use something to define who we are: our job, our house, our car, where we went to school, where we were born, our sexual identity, our political party. Attachment is anything within our socio-economic, cultural environment that we associate ourselves with in order to belong; attachments are labels. Usually they’re based on what we desire or approve of, because that’s what we want to be or the tribe we’re looking to join or garner approval from. Sometimes, it can be based on aversion or a differing perspective, like choosing not to be associated with a particular religion. But it’s always based in polarity: we become attached to one side of a dynamic by virtue of desire or aversion, thus rejecting everything else . . . banished to the unconscious where it festers and becomes our shadow side.
Detachment, by contrast, is simply being indifferent. Detachment is the opposite extreme in the polarity of attachment. To be detached is to willfully practice having any kind of associations. In this way, detachment can be a form of solipsism and/or nihilism. Turning a blind eye to injustice perhaps, because of a lack of empathy. This too is an egoic response and as such, further pushes what we don’t claim as potential within ourselves, to the unconscious.
Detachment erodes the fabric of our human experience in that it undermines the value of the soul’s experience of being human. A human experience is social: one of connection, intimacy, and ultimately common cause. If we’re detached, then the necessary engagement required to process through life’s experiences will elude us, and hence so will our necessary lessons.
How non-attachment is the source of our liberation . . .
The transcendent position is non-attachment: here the neutral observer or witness watches stimuli in a flow without grabbing a hold or pushing away as a means to identify one’s sense of self. The true sense of Self exists in a constant that simply observes, chooses to mindfully respond or not, and let’s go. The Self understands that what’s happening is happening for a reason that perhaps exists outside our realm of comprehension. It can require a leap of faith. It means that being invested in the outcome as a means to define ourselves or have emotional reactions doesn’t serve our highest potential. What does serve our highest potential is the process of engagement itself.
Practicing non-attachment doesn’t divorce us from our feelings or a concern for outcomes. It simply means that we understand that we’re pure potential and life exists in a flow that we do not need to try and control in any way. We can observe and choose to act in accordance with the highest good when needed and then let go. Free to move on to the next experience mindfully. In this way, we are active participants in the co-creation of existence and the best possible outcomes for our common humanity.
💗