Monday, October 13, 2008

My Thoughts on Detachment


Detachment is not “totally cutting off from” or “putting distance” between me and the problem. Detachment is ending identification with the problem, ending being one with the problem. If I merely put distance between me and the problem, the problem persists. I take it with me or it resurfaces when the distance is reduced, when I return.

What do I mean by “being one with the problem?” What is the problem? Is the problem that which I don’t like, but which is? Or is the problem my inner state of discontent about that which is, and which is in fact different to what I want it to be? Is the problem my negative inner state or is the problem that situation or person that caused my negative inner state, that something which is “wrong,” not how it “should” be?

Logic tells me the immature view is that the problem is that which caused my negative inner state and that the more mature view is, get a hold of your inner negativity, it is the only part of the situation you can control--Restore your serenity, accept that which you cannot change. Yes, it’s more mature, but is it the answer, to accept something that may not be acceptable?

I don’t have to accept it. I don’t have to like it. But I also don’t have to be completely engulfed, swallowed up, consumed by my negative inner state. That’s what I mean by “being one with” my inner negativity; to let it take me over completely. When a part of me can stand back and observe, see the whole, I’m no longer at one with the problem, completely identified with it. There is a part of me that is observing all. This higher self sees the cause as a trigger, something I cannot control. It sees my not liking it as an inner state. But it also knows that these two things are not me. They are a part of my life and of now and of being. There are other components besides these, things that are positive and enjoyable and I am all of these, not just “problem” When I’m there, I am detached from the problem and I’m in touch with more of me and with now—I am free to choose to focus on something that pleases me and that I enjoy—I am not tied up in my negative inner state.