And so the question of attachment becomes a new question, because one sees that attachment invariably forms through feeling – desire – and that it is invariably attached to either the ordinary things of this world, that is, cravings of the flesh in one form or another, or it's attached to configurations of anger and vengeance towards others for depriving me of those things.
It’s ironically common to be perversely angry that others have deprived me of love, disrespected me. All of these attachments come from things that have already happened — my past. To consider them them constantly from within and perceive them as wrongs done which I’m angry about sums up my attitude and my attachments. It's as though I ate a bad piece of meat and then spent the rest of my life thinking about how awful it tasted, instead of eating the good food that’s in front of me now.
Of course it's not quite like that; but it’s something like that. The goodness or badness of the meat isn't the point; it's my attachment to what already happened that needs to be dealt with.
What already happened is over. There's no need for me to interpret the present through it. The present has its own rightful Being which does not need to be inflected by my attitudes about the past. My feeling needs to be grounded in the sensation of the present so that it can perceive the goodness of what is taking place now and respond to it with respect, thanksgiving, and love. If I have real intelligence and use it respectfully according to its original intention and purpose, I can perceive through this much better focus, instead of the distorted lens of my past and what already happened.
The inflow of being in terms of spiritual sensation carries with it the absolute ability to do this kind of work in an objective sense.
May your heart be close to God,
and God close to your heart.
Lee
Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.