Thoughts on Attachments and Loss

Attachment or aversion leads to fear. Attachment to an object, idea, outcome or person leads to fear because of loss. Loss is inevitable because of change. Everything subject to time experiences change, therefore everything subject to time is eventually lost, and thus all people will experience the loss of all objects, ideas, outcomes, or people either during their lifetimes or upon their own physical death as the immaterial part of the psyche is separated from its connection to the material world through the physical body.

When we are attached to a thing or person we believe that we need that thing or person for our survival. We tell ourselves we cannot live, be happy, be successful, etc. without that thing or person and become afraid at the idea of losing the object of our attachment as though it threatens our personal survival.

Aversion to an object, idea, outcome or persn also leads to fear. We do not fear the loss of the object of our aversion, but the acquisition of it. We believe that acquiring this object, idea, person, or outcome would in some way be harmful to our continued survival. Acquisition, like loss, is inevitable and uncontrollable because of our subjection to change. If nothing else, we will subconsciously acquire ideas throughout the course of our lives even if we consciously attempt to repel them.

Fear leads to anger. We become angry as a defensive mechanism when a threat to our survival is perceived we respond with fear and then we respond in self-defence by either fleeing the perceived threat or becoming angry and attempting to fight the perceived threat. We become angry at the perceived cause of either the loss of our attachment or the acquisition of our aversion.

Anger leads to hatred. We move to hatred of the perceived cause of our loss or acquisition. We label this perceived cause as our enemy and wish for its destruction or non-existence in some way.

Hatred leads to suffering. Hatred of the perceived cause of our loss or acquisition causes us to suffer because the continued existence of that cause reminds us of our loss or acquisition. We come to believe we are better off without that perceived cause and think evil thoughts towards it. Our hatred thus colors our actions towards that cause and expands the suffering we experience to include that cause as we attempt to cause it to suffer.

For these reasons, to remove the attachment or aversion to a thing, person, or outcome is to remove the foundation of suffering. Without attachment or aversion, suffering cannot exist. If we do not wish to suffer, we must sever our attachments to objects, ideas, people, or outcomes. If we do not sever these attachments or aversions we must accept that we will suffer and accept the suffering which follows.

We know that we will experience the loss of contact with and experience of the material world upon the death and dissolution of the physical body. If we hold an attachment to material existence, then we will fear the loss of the experience of the material world. We will hate this loss and the perceived cause of it and we will suffer at the idea of this loss. Once it occurs, we will suffer as the mind turns in upon itself in hatred at its loss unable to interact with anyone else due to the loss of its connection to the material world. We suffer as we spiral into self-contained insanity until resurrection. And then once the material body is reconstituted and the psyche is made whole, we will stand in judgment. Not that we are judging but that we are being judged for every word and action. Suffering in our insanity we will be a threat to ourselves and to others and must be locked away to prevent harm to ourselves and to others.

If we do not hold an attachment to material existence, then we will not fear the loss of the physical body. We will not hate the perceived cause, and we will not suffer at the idea of it.

Human beings by nature, not by created nature but by the nature of our malfunction, are attached to their own existence as the center or basis of absolute existence. We experience the world around us as it relates to ourselves. We see the world around us first and foremost through our own eyes. We base our judgments of moral good or evil on what is acceptable to ourselves. The loss of the physical body is a perceived threat to this absolute existence.

Because of the malfunction, human beings cannot recognize or experience the presence of God or His love which surrounds everyone and everything. We cannot experience the world as it relates to Him or see it through His eyes. Instead of seeing the creation as just “good” as He does, we label things as “evil” and so ourselves bring evil into our experience of the world.

If we could experience the presence and love of God from the moment of our conception and personal awareness then we would not be attached to this material world because of our attachment to what is superior, that is God Himself. God is not subject to the movement of time. Time flows through Him, not He through time. Furthermore, God is omnipresent. All of creation exists as waves which move through His own existence as sound through air. There is nowhere in all of creation where God does not exist because all of creation requires God in order to exist and continue to exist. For this reason, God cannot be lost through the inevitable change of created existence We do not experience God in this way from conception because of the malfunction of the human psyche. It is not that God is not present, but that we are unable to recognize and experience Him because of the transference of the experience of the center of absolute existence from God to ourselves and cannot imagine existence apart from this “me” centered relationship to the material world.

In order to experience God and His love and to be attached to Him and detached from this material world, we must be reborn and made one with Him. In order to be reborn, one must first die. This is why Jesus Christ died, so that we might die with Him. This is why we are baptized into His death, that we are joined to His death. Those who have been joined to His death have therefore died. Those who have died have been therefore freed from the constraints of the malfunction unless they choose to place themselves back under those constraints through unnecessary attachments to the material world which lead to fear, which leads to anger, which leads to hatred, which leads to suffering.

We will suffer temporarily from the loss of material attachments now, or we will suffering eternally from the permanent loss of material attachments. It is our choice to what we will be attached, either to God, suffering the loss of material attachments now, or to objects, ideas, people, or outcomes and suffering eternally.