REDEFINING NON-ATTACHMENT
I've continued exploring the relationship between non-attachment and dissociation the past couple weeks . Some of it was frightening because I discovered some New Age programs often lead to the latter, and I don't want that to be me. I didn't give up hope of finding an answer, however, and it finally came to me today.
While mulling over it yet again this morning, I began by noting that non-attachment in the face of negative experiences seems perfectly reasonable. I then wondered, on the other hand, whether I'm expected to remain detached from positive experiences as well, and realized this second part is the crux of my issue.
If I am unaffected by what people do, what am I do do with joy, love, happiness? At that point, wouldn't Heaven and Hell be one and the same? There would be no qualitative difference. As I sat, tumbling through these ideas in no apparent order, with no particular urgency, a resolution surfaced. Being non-attached to an event only leads to dissociation when I make it about me.
It's proper to experience both joy and sorrow in the face of life's experiences, but to do so from a broader perspective than my own limited preferences. My perception must embrace a certain self-transcendence. Jesus wept when Lazarus died. He felt it, felt it profoundly in the sorrow of those he loved. The key is to feel life for all it's worth, just not framed in terms of myself, my own personal pride, selfishness, or insecurities - to either build them up or tear them down.
And just like that I realized this was describing divine love. For the longest time, I had labored under the unconscious illusion that God's impassibility meant he was unaffected by our joys and sorrows. Now, it's crystal clear God experiences life with us, intimately with us, yet not in the egotistical terms that enslave us to circumstance. God's is love and does so infinitely, regardless of how we respond. For those who receive it, they can become conduits of it and interact with life in the only terms that matter, without pride or insecurity.
I have stumbled upon something that is simple to understand, yet difficult to embody. Easy to describe, but hard to hold in the mind. Still, it's received with much gratitude. More to come.