A Different View on Attachment

by Joyce Shafer

A thought about attachment popped into mind during meditation: Attachment is denial of who we are, what our true nature is, what we can actually create. It's a learned behavior that becomes a habit, the glue that holds us in place, in limitation, from unfolding into and embracing our inherent potential. The companion of attachment is the belief that "this" (whatever we desire) is what we must have to satisfy or fill the void we perceive in any area of our lives. We even become attached to our attachment and abandon what "This or something better" can do for us.

As I cleaned my apartment one day, I thought, "Get a lamp for that corner," and also thought it should be interesting and fit the pre-war building motif. The original thought had intention in it, I fully intended to get a lamp. Thirty minutes after the thought, I went to the basement of my building and found someone had discarded the perfect lamp. The lamp is an outcome, a manifestation of a thought-form. This is certainly not the only occasion I've experienced this. That I now have the lamp is great, but isn't the most significant aspect. That I was able to "conjure" it is. The ability to do so means I can repeat this process. The power is not in the outcome, but in conscious participation in the process.

In this example, there was no attachment involved, just intention. No thought went into where I'd find it, what it might cost, when I'd get it, or how I was going to get the lamp home. The only energy I expended was going to the basement and carrying the lamp back to my apartment. Note: Different levels of energy are required. Be open.

The moment we see the magician's trick for what it is, is the moment we step into who we are. No matter what we've done prior to this moment, this is the first step onto our true path or path of truth. We believe we are the masters at the helm; but, what we miss is that the helm is an illusion, a hologram, created by our deeper imagination. We may even believe an outside source is at the helm and we are passengers. We are correct and incorrect about both. There is "someone" outside the hologram involved in what it looks like and how it performs, but it's us. No matter what name we apply to this, it's us. Stepping into this reality or truth is like putting the Law of Attraction (Manifestation) on steroids, with one exception: The effects are not artificial, nor short-lived, nor ultimately detrimental to us. They are, however, life-changing.
There is a term that says it best: Passionate Detachment. I believed I understood this, but really just had a sense of it. Moment by moment, I'm putting it into practice. Attachment to illusion, any illusion, has no personal power in it. Acknowledgment and engagement of our true nature and capabilities does.

Think of what your own "magic lamp" is in your life. If you manifested that, what stops you from manifesting anything else? Just remember the moment you attach, you plug up the stream.
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...Life is but a dream.


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%