Getting Stuck

Here's the scenario: You're moving along at a pretty good speed. Then (WHAM!) it happens. This is something you thought could never happen again! How could this be? How could a known issue still cause a problem for you?

This scenario is vague enough to describe any life experience where a past problem has resurfaced or is being experienced yet again. It is an issue we thought we had resolved, transcended, or were previously enlightened about.

Even after an awakening. which is nothing more than a widening and deepening of your perspective, it is possible to become entangled in issues you previously thought conquered. The attachment to ideas and the people closest to you can seem to disappear for a time, only to remind you of its continued existence later on. This is only proof that the attachment still resonates with you.

It is neither a good or a bad thing. It just is. And being aware of it, you can make the best of it. Embracing the idea of abundance in the attachment as opposed to the lack of it will turn it into your advantage.

You absolutely can turn an attachment into an affirmation of abundance. If you are attached to a loved one you can't be with the way you like, you have the ability to envision yourself with them in a setting to your pleasing. You can interact with that person and all the qualities you love about them. Even when you were physically with them, the loved one was only an impression on you that YOU interpreted. You can bring life to this interpretation of them at any time. It only takes concentration. The same goes for any concept or object you may feel a lack of. You have the ability to conjure it and feel it's presence.

Getting stuck or caught up on the way down your path does happen. From the perspective of a third person, you were stuck for a very short time. Maybe from your own perspective, you were stuck for a long while. Either way, time is relative and forward is the only direction. Recognize that getting stuck is only an illusion and that the evolution never stops. All adversity is worth it.

Related posts:

• Awakening Relapse
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Wearing Attachments

Imagine having a very stylish jacket with one very irritating feature. This one thing (one stress causing attribute) is that the jacket is full of little grappling hooks (just like the one in the picture).

The only thing that gets caught in the hooks of the jacket are ideas and concepts. Not every and any idea. Only the ones that you identify with to the point of confusing them with your very identity. In other words, ideas like race, culture, religion, nationality, status, and the like, are the types of things that get caught in theses hooks. These ideas are the kind people more often than not, confuse with their very identity.

Whatever gets caught in the hooks, will be defended by the person wearing them as if they were defending their very lives. As a result, these attachments will inevitably bring pain and suffering to the wearer. When the ideas are questioned, threatened, disproved, or shown to be irrelevant, great amounts of stress are experienced by the person attached to them.

On the road of life, these attachments we wear often bog us down and get snagged on other things along the way. They can be looked at as both a gift and a curse though. When we are aware of these facts, they are a gift in that they are excellent reminders and can help us measure how attached we are to certain things in our lives. When we are unaware of them, they are the cause of an endless stream of stress. Paradoxically, this stream of stress will help us become aware of attachments and put an end to the cycle. In either case, these hindrances to our peace of mind only help us to move closer toward that peace once recognized.

A big attachment (like a romantic relationship or a source of money) can sometimes work as a wake up call once the hook it hangs on comes under pressure. It's like the attachment gets snagged on an immovable object. Either you get stuck where you are along with this outdated idea and suffer from the lack of progress you are making or suffer the temporary growing pain of freeing yourself of the idea and move on.

Accepting attachments in order to free yourself of them is a process I am becoming more familiar with and starting to get really good at. I was blessed with certain life situations that helped me realize I had some attachments left when I thought I had none. At first, it seemed like a curse. Stepping back a bit, it is easy to see the gift I have been given.

The Renunciate (The Monk)

Ever wonder why people on religious or spiritual paths consider renouncing their worldly belongings and positions to become monks? As a child, I never really questioned it. The way I see things now, the reasons behind it are a little more clear.

The general idea of becoming a renunciate is for a person to give up their identity and give up their desires. In doing this the person hopes to give up their pain and suffering. This is perfectly logical when you consider many spiritual and philosophical teachings. Buddha says that desire is the root of suffering. Naturally, if you eliminate your desires, you should eliminate suffering. Desires are rooted in ego identity. To eliminate your identity should also be a big help.

On the other hand, it can be said that the person is really only leaving their old identity behind for the new identity of a monk. The same can be said of their new desire to have no desires. So where does that leave a well intentioned renunciate?

Truth be told, whether or not you are a renunciate or a monk has nothing to do with how you dress and what you own. It has more to do with what's in your mind and heart. Corny as that may sound, it really does depend on how attached you are to the less important details in life. You could be a monk for fifteen years and not have learned how to really renounce and transcend the attachment to something. You could be a man living worldly existence and be unattached to anything and everything you deal with.

To become focused and one pointed on experiencing the true Self is to be free of attachment. At the same time you may enjoy what there is to enjoy and not be attached to it, and you may move through more difficult experiences knowing that, "this too shall pass." There is a middle ground to be attained. This is where true enlightenment takes hold.

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Attachment and Identity

Ever take a good look at what personal attachment really is and what gives it it's power? This is a topic that is mostly overlooked but has a tremendous effect on our everyday lives. It holds one of the keys to happiness or lack there of.

Attachments are, in all reality, thoughts and concepts. They are bonds that we have formed in our minds with people, places, things, and ideologies. We maybe attached to the relationship we have with another person. We maybe attached to our house, our car, our country, our freedom, an idea about the past, an idea about the future, or any number of other things. We may even be attached to the way we feel about ourselves physically. When you really get down to it; these are all constructs existing in our minds alone. If you could wipe clean a person's memory of any particular attachment, the person would be able to be just as happy without it as they were with it. Even if the person had to adapt to a new scenario, the pain and suffering of losing an attachment that they never knew they had, would not exist.

Don't take my word for it. Take look at your own life. Look at what you hold near and dear to your heart. If you do not feel this way about anything in your life, then congratulations! You have no worldly attachments. However, the truth is that this does not describe the vast majority of people alive (myself included).

So how did these attachments get so powerful in our lives? We were not born with any of them. The reason these thoughts and concepts are so powerfully ingrained in us, is because they have literally become part of our identity. They have become part of who we think we are. They have become ego identified meaning they have become absorbed by the ego helping to broaden our ego identity. (See Why So Serious?)

Think about what identity theft is and how it affects the victim. Essentially, the person who has been "robbed" is physically in the same state before and after the crime. What has changed for them is totally psychological. They feel violated because of the breach of trust. The concept of their financial status and security may be diminished. The concept of the well being of their identity has been tarnished. This is to illustrate the difference between our identity (who we think we are) and the true essence of our selves. During the time the person was unaware of the theft, they felt exactly as they had before. It is only the concept of being robbed that causes any pain or stress.

We live our lives addicted to our identities; addicted to attachments. We cause our selves undue and self inflicted stress as a result of seeing life through the perspective of the ego. Learning to live relatively free of attachment is not as hard as it may sound at first. It is more of a matter of becoming self aware. Freedom from stress is the result.

For more on this, read the book, What Is Really Good? and stay tuned!