[thoughts from ~burning woman~ by Sha’Tara]
“I’ve always felt that what we are taught of detachment at home is an illusion. I think the ancients know this too, but let us discover it on our own. They equip us to go with a story that makes sense only until it is tested. A truly detached ISSA*, seems to me, at this point at least, is an oxymoron.” (Antierra monologue speaking of her teachings on detachment while on her home world of Altaria – Antierra Manifesto)
Once the basics of one Earthian incarnation have been experienced – surviving, satisfying desires, experimenting with physical senses, what’s left but death, or entering upon a quest for the greater meaning of Life as a self aware being?
If one chooses “death” which to me means going on repeating experiences pointlessly, then that’s that. If one chooses the quest, there has to be a sure way to enter into that which guarantees one will not fall back into such silly behaviour as being a sports fan, chasing the opposite gender for sexual gratification, “making” money, hating, fighting, killing then dying to find out it was all a chimera.
Seems to me the way to freedom is opened through detachment. What keeps us enslaved to the wheel of the System is an array of attachments each one justifying and strengthening the other. It behooves us therefore to relinquish all our attachments to the things this world offers more as bait than as satisfaction (since none ever completely satisfy, and that should be a very broad hint).
OK, so I want to learn the meaning of Life, not just the meaning (if there be any) of one little incarnation on this little world but the meaning of Life as expressed through an infinite and timeless cosmos: that meaning! Only a free being can ever hope to enter into such a quest. Attachments are all those things, big and small, that translate as chains, shackles, stanchions, locks, doors, walls, perimeters, limits that take one to termination. In this situation, death becomes the final attachment.
Before one tackles the difficult concept of death, one should consider the pattern of lesser attachments that enslave us to our body and its world and how we are connected to the pattern. As long as a single attachment remains unexplored and connected, death remains the final enigma. Yet unless one can know all about death, even if the words to describe this certainty do not exist, the quest for Life remains closed. Death was invented to create the impression that there is no such thing as “Life” as an infinite concept; that “Life” had been conquered. All attachments are lies and death is the final and greatest lie of all when living under attachments.
How then does one person achieve a place of total detachment? As said above, it isn’t easy. To my heroine (granted she is under extreme stress in that part of the story) it seems impossible. But nothing is impossible! Impossible is just another attachment!
Detachment, once decided upon, comes through self empowerment. All my choices are mine and I take full responsibility for the results. Sure, there will remain many little itches of attachments, like cold sniffles or skin blemishes, but my immune system is self empowerment and that is how I heal myself, as much and as many times as it takes. I learn not to repeat stupid or pointless moves. I learn to be satisfied with an experience that I know will not improve the more I do it.
Prayers will not be answered with greater alacrity or better overall results. Hockey games won’t improve. TV won’t demonstrate a higher level of intelligence. Cigarettes or booze won’t taste better. Crossing borders won’t become easier or safer and sex… well I think we all know the answer to that one.
I learn not to waste my time on the treadmill or the merry-go-round and I learn to use that salvaged time to better my understanding. If I have any problem on how to direct this new understanding, I cradle it within compassion thus guaranteeing a successful continuation to the quest I am on.
Yes Antierra, it is possible to become totally detached. You have to learn to take the broader view of the concept.
*ISSA: acronym for intelligent, sentient, self aware
~Burning Woman~ 