September/October 1999
Articles on the theme "Attachment & Detachment"
Life's Parade
by Bob Gonzalez
Of death, meditation, possessions and
true detachment.
Responding Resourcefully to Criticism
Cydné Battreall
Learning to detach or disassociate
to create new ways of responding to criticism.
The Ultimate Release
by Constance Felos
Forgiveness: the conscious, energetic
release of debilitating attachment. Death of the body: the ultimate release
of physical attachment.
You and Your Thoughts
by Patrick Plaskett
The problems of identifying ourselves
with our thoughts and emotional responses.
Cultivating Detachment
by Dr. Neil Cooper
Detachment as part of a spiritual practice.
Its role in connecting us with Source, Spirit, Energy, Qi, Consciousness.
In The Heart of God
by Ron Graham
How attachment and detachment can be
good or bad. Sorting out which is which.
Attachment & Detachment - Their Hidden Meaning
by Magzcha Westerman
The numerological significance of the
words Attachment and Detachment.
The Rewards of Release
by Dr. Audrey Craft Davis
The rewards of releasing losses to
the universe. Releasing others from the bondage of our thoughts.
Transcending Attachment
by Rev. Pat Cross
Using attachment and detachment to
help us reach a higher spiritual level - a connection with our true Source.
Detachment Brings Joy
by Rev. Nancy L. Buchanan
Of going with the flow to achieve a
positive lifestyle.
Other Feature Articles
Natural Health Q & A
by Dolores Puterbaugh
A discussion of some of the physical
and emotional changes and challenges women face going through menopause.
2000 and Beyond!
by David Findlay/ Patricia Diane Cota-Robles
What is . . . Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)?
by Sam Jarcynski and Greg Stanek
Mineral Kingdom
by Judy Power
Featured stones for September and October:
Peridot and Natrolite.
Cultivating Detachment
by Dr. Neil Cooper
I will first attempt to define attachment and detachment as Eastern Buddhist terms and then try to explain how they can be applied to one's everyday life and integrated into a spiritual practice.
Attachment is an attraction to or repulsion from something. It is fed by the personality ego and one's desires to obtain, identify or not identify with a particular thing or belief system. Most people in our Western culture, being outer-focused and egocentric, tend to draw to them people, things or belief systems that they can identify with. As Buckminster Fuller once said, "People are 99% conditioned and don't even know it." People's attachments are unconsciously formed from their outer sociological-cultural conditionings.
Detachment, in its true sense, is full involvement in life. If trained, one can step back in a neutral place without being 'attached to' or 'repulsed from', and therefore perceive things much more clearly, without judgment from preconceived ideas. To be able to develop detachment in our everyday lives we need to cultivate and develop our inner being and inner voice. There are a number of spiritual practices that cultivate one's inner awareness and detachment.
A true esoteric spiritual practice should connect one to the Source, Light, Consciousness, Energy, Qi, the Creative Force behind all life. In this state of detachment we transcend ego, judgment or personal opinions and can see with clarity, vision, and acceptance. People are mirrors, reflections that can teach us much about ourselves. What we see in them we see in ourselves.
Here is how we can work with emotions and detachment. We need to honor our emotions, they're part of us and contain a lot of energy. If a feeling comes up, be it anger, sadness or fear, honor and acknowledge the feeling, it is part of you. Secondly express the emotion(s) verbally, or act them out, in a non-physical and non-harmful way to yourself or others. Finally, where the right spiritual practice is so tremendously helpful, one can process the emotions and emotional energy. This involves detachment. Let the emotion(s) come up, don't attach or hold on to them, feel them and let them go. This processing with detachment involves balancing emotional and mental energies by filling energy centers (i.e. brow, heart, throat, solar plexus, back of head/jade pillow) with Light, Source, Qi, Energy. This processing work involves both the nervous and endocrine systems.
A complete essential spiritual practice should not only connect the practitioner-teacher with Source, Consciousness, Qi, Chi, Energy, but also develop all higher senses such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience. These can be developed as the person learns to process and free up emotional energy. The teacher must have a clear mind, and detachment is a prerequisite to clarity of mind and sharpening one's senses.
Detachment is an essential part of the teacher-facilitator's approach to expanding his or her awareness. If something is perceived as threatening to our belief systems or outside our perceived 'comfort zone', many people will pull away from a 'new' approach or idea. This is attachment to old belief systems. Unfortunately this is the case with too many health care professionals in all areas. Detachment allows for true objectivity and the ability of deeper perception which creates a receptiveness to new ideas and the ability to integrate and understand these new experiences/ideas.
In any healing art, the practitioner can lose his or her objectivity and become attached (attracted or repulsed) to his or her patients. In the realm of psychotherapy and emotional/spiritual healing/development, objectivity and therefore detachment is essential. One can feel a person's pain without being drawn into that person. Most all health care providers have had at least one experience where they personally and/or emotionally identified with a patient. Compassion and empathy are requisites to an open heart. The healer should have an open heart and work with detachment from the Source, Spirit, Energy, Qi that flows through him or her.
Healing work is all about empowering the individual to access their own inner healing potential. The teacher-facilitator (physician means teacher) gives the individual the tools to heal their lives at the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical levels. The spiritual practice is the major vehicle to do this. Other tools are nutrition, herbal medicine, acupuncture, qi gong, movement therapies - they're all interconnected. True healing is about self-empowerment and self-responsibility to love and care for oneself.
Dr. Neil Cooper OMD is a 4th degree master-teacher, lineage holder of the Complete Usui Reiki System and a practitioner of Oriental Healing Arts for 25 years. He is visiting the Tampa Bay area in September (see ad). NC (336) 773-0066.
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