Monday, April 8, 1996

The freedom of detachment

Most of us are imprisoned by our attachments: to material things, to other people, to our pride, to money, to the past. Many of the actions we take every day are in an attempt to hold on to things we think we need.

True freedom comes when we learn to discard our need for ownership, when we realize that we don’t need to own things or people in order to value and enjoy them.There’s a song that Linda Ronstadt sang which sums this up very well:

Love is a rose but you better not hold it
It only grows when it’s on the vine
A handful of thorns and you know you’ve lost it
Lose your love when you say the word “mine."

And then there are the words of Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and saughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

When you try to hold water in your hand, it will drain away and you’ll lose it. Immerse yourself in the water, never trying to hold on to it, letting it flow past you, and you can experience as much of it as you want.

Don’t need what you have -- have what you need.

If always you think in terms of needing what you have, then you will never have enough. Instead, think in terms of having what you need and you will always enjoy abundance.

— Ralph Marston

What do you expect?       The goal in sight