Detachment: The Third Corner

I've had a hard time writing this post.  I would start, then stop, then start again only to find the curser blinking away and an empty page staring at me.  Perhaps it's because I find myself struggling everyday with the concepts of attachment and detachment.  I am possessive, territorial, and sometimes find it hard to let go.  I'm working on it.

However, in terms of intentions and detachment...I'm very good at that.  I've written multiple intentions, set them aside, and have forgotten about them.  I was able to let them go, always with love in my heart for them.  I allowed divine intervention to hold onto them, to keep them safe.  To allow whatever could manifest...manifest.  It has never failed me and often, brighter intentions were formed from them and even more manifested.    

Attachment and detachment.  They're concepts we claim we understand, yet time and time again, we are bound by our material world and what we believe is "ours".  The sense of entitlement is ever growing in our society and we live in a world of "now".  Instant gratification--life is literally at our fingertips.  We formulate grand plans for ourselves, with timelines and must-haves and perfect ideals.  We are bound by these.  If they do not occur in the order we wish, by the date we stated, with all the requirements we demanded, we panic.  We don't know how to respond.  I often hear, "I didn't expect my life to look like this..."  "I thought by this time I would have ________".  And therein lies our flaw.

When you become attached to a material object or an idea, it rules you.  You come home after a long day of being out, and your house with all your possessions, has burned down.  You suffer.  Someone you know insults something you are fond of or disagrees with you about something you are passionate about.  You become upset.  These are different forms of suffering through attachment.

There is a story that proves this point.  Hunters trap monkeys by cutting a small hole into a coconut, hollowing out the inside, and placing a sweet morsel into the empty coconut.  Then, they place the coconut with the treat inside high into the trees, where a monkey will find it.  The monkey is able to put his hand into the coconut to retrieve the morsel, but when he grips the treat, and his hand curls into a fist, he is unable to remove the treat.  The monkey refuses to let go because he wants that treat and the hunter is able to trap the monkey.

We are the monkey, closing our fist stubbornly around what we believe is OURS, our possessions, our ideals, our desires.  We can't let go, even with our hand caught in a coconut, even through the pain, the suffering.  But when we set intentions, we must release our grip.  We must be detached from the outcome.

By practicing non-attachment, you are free to make choices, to love, to serve others without the suffering.  When setting intentions, be sure to give them love.  But set them free.  In time, the coconut will be turned upside down, and the morsels of our intentions will be dropped into our open hands.