Attachments
It seems that us humans can easily become attached to person, places, and things. I was thinking about this issue this morning as I was listening to a news report of some of the concerns of the voters in India. Religion and religious symbols are a factor for some people in that nation. In Great Britain attachments to an earlier way of living or to an openness to change are clashing in many places. Attachments can be very similar to addiction even resulting in physical symptoms when one is faced with the loss or the possibility the loss of the person, place, situation or object to which one has become attached. One can also become attached to the need to be right or the need to have others think you are right about some particular issue.
Perhaps the most common attachments are to particular people, nations or places. I know many who have a very strong association with a particular house or community; so strong that they cannot imagine having a good life if something happens to a house or community. Often natural disasters such as fires, floods, tornadoes, cyclones, and hurricanes suddenly steal a house or even an entire community. Often folks get attached to rebuilding in a community even if there is a high probability they will face another similar loss in the future.
The most difficult attachment to let go might be the belief that we are meant to outlive our children. When a child dies some parents give up any hope or belief that they can have a meaningful life. Not only do they grieve the loss of their child they grieve the loss of a belief “in the natural order of this life journey.” Healing insists that one give up the attachment to not only sharing the life journey of their child but to the belief in the natural order.
As a father I have had to own and face many attachments head on. I begin fatherhood with very clear ideas of what it meant to be a good father. This included raising our son in an intact, healthy marriage and ensuring that our son had a stable, enriched environment in which to blossom. Illness, divorce and many other factors intervened and forced me to keep letting go of my attachments. While I never let go of my attachment to being a good father, I had to let go of my attachment to having even the illusion of control over how his mother parented or even my access to parenting him.
I avoided many of the common attachments. While grateful for being a citizen of the United States I have never felt fierce attachment to the belief this nation is better than many other nations. I do not feel an attachment to it being more than the imperfect country than it is. I am never formed an attachment to a state, a community or a particular living space. I am attached to creating a home.
Although I was ordained a Presbyterian minister I was never attached to being a Presbyterian or believing that the Presbyterian church or even the Christian religion is the only possible container for one’s relationship with the God of one’s understanding.
I am strongly attached to being the best possible friend.
All my friends will attest to the fact that I can get very attached to completing my list of tasks, keeping the house and car clean and my personal hygiene I am attached to learning but not to titles or degrees
I have struggled to let go of my attachment to lies I learned or was told about my worth and abilities. Today I have more self-confidence but still need to be intentional about owning my strengths while not denying my weaknesses.
All of us who actively work on spiritual growth will continues to have to work at identifying and letting go of attachments until finally we will let go of our attachments to this life journey.
Written April 23, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
It seems that us humans can easily become attached to person, places, and things. I was thinking about this issue this morning as I was listening to a news report of some of the concerns of the voters in India. Religion and religious symbols are a factor for some people in that nation. In Great Britain attachments to an earlier way of living or to an openness to change are clashing in many places. Attachments can be very similar to addiction even resulting in physical symptoms when one is faced with the loss or the possibility the loss of the person, place, situation or object to which one has become attached. One can also become attached to the need to be right or the need to have others think you are right about some particular issue.
Perhaps the most common attachments are to particular people, nations or places. I know many who have a very strong association with a particular house or community; so strong that they cannot imagine having a good life if something happens to a house or community. Often natural disasters such as fires, floods, tornadoes, cyclones, and hurricanes suddenly steal a house or even an entire community. Often folks get attached to rebuilding in a community even if there is a high probability they will face another similar loss in the future.
The most difficult attachment to let go might be the belief that we are meant to outlive our children. When a child dies some parents give up any hope or belief that they can have a meaningful life. Not only do they grieve the loss of their child they grieve the loss of a belief “in the natural order of this life journey.” Healing insists that one give up the attachment to not only sharing the life journey of their child but to the belief in the natural order.
As a father I have had to own and face many attachments head on. I begin fatherhood with very clear ideas of what it meant to be a good father. This included raising our son in an intact, healthy marriage and ensuring that our son had a stable, enriched environment in which to blossom. Illness, divorce and many other factors intervened and forced me to keep letting go of my attachments. While I never let go of my attachment to being a good father, I had to let go of my attachment to having even the illusion of control over how his mother parented or even my access to parenting him.
I avoided many of the common attachments. While grateful for being a citizen of the United States I have never felt fierce attachment to the belief this nation is better than many other nations. I do not feel an attachment to it being more than the imperfect country than it is. I am never formed an attachment to a state, a community or a particular living space. I am attached to creating a home.
Although I was ordained a Presbyterian minister I was never attached to being a Presbyterian or believing that the Presbyterian church or even the Christian religion is the only possible container for one’s relationship with the God of one’s understanding.
I am strongly attached to being the best possible friend.
All my friends will attest to the fact that I can get very attached to completing my list of tasks, keeping the house and car clean and my personal hygiene I am attached to learning but not to titles or degrees
I have struggled to let go of my attachment to lies I learned or was told about my worth and abilities. Today I have more self-confidence but still need to be intentional about owning my strengths while not denying my weaknesses.
All of us who actively work on spiritual growth will continues to have to work at identifying and letting go of attachments until finally we will let go of our attachments to this life journey.
Written April 23, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
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