Attachment: A Small Whisper in the Ear

tkscovill ♦ October 30, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but downsizing is a good lesson in attachment. After giving up all his worldly belongings and heading to the forest to seek enlightenment, the Buddha concluded that attachment is the #1 cause of suffering. (Actually, it’s ignorance of attachment that is the cause, but that gets complicated.) Basically, the more we get, the more we want. Enough is never enough, until you realize that it is. Then you enter a different phase of suffering—freeing yourself from all your attachments. This is an ongoing process for us humans as we get older and wiser, and realize how little we need to be happy. 

As a person living in this world who understands attachment, still I am convinced that someone will want this table or that set of dishes, or those antique chairs, and that they will want it enough to give me some money. But money is not the issue. Value is. How do you let go of things that aren’t yours? What did that ring mean to her? Where did that table come from? Why did she have so many office supplies? It’s forcing me to face my own shadows. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.